T.S. Eliot Doesn't Mind If You Hate On Cats

That's according to Alison Flood at The Guardian. In case you've been out of the loop, yes, Cats is back and weirder than ever. But Old Possum would have loved the panning. Flood writes:

Starring big names including Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and Ian McKellen, Tom Hooper’s adaption of the long-running musical is based on Eliot’s book of children’s poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The film has been variously described by critics as “revolting and briefly alluring” and “two seconds away from turning into a furry orgy in a dumpster”.

But Clare Reihill, who administers the poet’s estate – which was not involved with the adaptation – called it beautiful and said she believes the poet would have loved it.

“I don’t have to praise it, I could stay quiet and say nothing if I had doubts about it. But I genuinely love the oddness of it,” she said. “Everything has come from such a place of warmth. Eliot had written the poems for his godchildren, then Andrew Lloyd Webber had fallen in love with the book when he was a child, then Tom Hooper fell in love with the show when he was eight. Everything comes from such a sincere place. It’s quite unique to put that sort of budget against something that’s idiosyncratic. I think that should be celebrated because everything [nowadays] is franchises or sequels or formulaic, and here we have something so crazy.”

Don't take Reihill's word for it. Watch and judge for yourself!