I'm a mum of two girls and work part-time at a playgroup.
I'm a mum of two girls and work part-time at a playgroup.
Member since:16.03.2003
Reviews:7
Members who trust:1
I went to see the 'Cat in the Hat' today at my local UGC cinema. The film, I think, is aimed at the 5-12 age bracket. Older kids would probably be bored. It ran for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The film is based on the book of the same name by Dr Seuss. I have read bits of the book but not enough to know if the film follows it closely or not (I doubt it though because the film is quite modern and the book's really old).
The main cast members are:
Mike Myers as the Cat Alec Baldwin as Laurence/Larry Kelly Preston as Joan/Mom Spencer Breslin as Conrad Dakota Fanning as Sally.
Conrad is a very naughty boy who always does the opposite to what his mother tells him. His sister, Sally, is the perfect child who never does any wrong or has any fun. Their mother is a real estate agent who juggles being a single parent with trying to hold down a job where her boss is a hygiene freak who sacks someone who shakes
his hand! She also has a slimy boyfriend, Lawrence, who wants to marry her and ship Conrad off to military school. He pretends to her that it will be the making of him but secretly tells Conrad it will break his soul!
One day she has to return home from work because the baby sitter has left. Her son has tried to sledge down the stairs and made a huge mess and her boss is due at her house that night for a 'meet and greet'. She is mad at him but has to leave the house for work again and reluctantly leaves the children with a baby sitter who seems to suffer from narcolepsy! Once she has gone and the sitter is asleep the children are very bored. They hear banging from the closet and when Conrad goes in the Cat in the Hat appears. After lots of screaming and running around he tests their 'fun' levels. Sally is a 'control freak' and Conrad is 'a rule breaker'. After making the children sign a huge contract, with lawyers present, they set about having fun.
The Cat first starts with fixing the settee so it's really bouncy and goes onto make purple cakes which explode and cover the house in purple gunge. Throughout this a neurotic goldfish tries to tell everyone not to be so bad and behave. The Cat produces a big trunk with a magic lock and out springs Thing 1 and Thing 2 who make matters even worse. Conrad is told not to open the trunk because it is the portal between his world and the Cat's world. Of course Conrad takes the lock off, but puts it on their pet dog which promptly escapes.
The children and the Cat then have to leave the house and try to capture the dog, closely pursued by the horrible Lawrence who is trying to make Conrad look so bad that his mum will send him away to military school.
Eventually they catch the dog, outfox Lawrence and return to the house in the Cat's supercharged 'car' complete with three steering wheels and what appears to be a turbo charge on the back.
In the meantime the trunk has sprung open and the house has been turned into the Cat's world - complete with slides, luminous colours and a pink river on which the babysitter (still asleep) has turned into a water ride. The children manage to return the magic lock to the trunk and the house is returned to normal and cleaned up with the help of another one of the Cat's machines, Thing 1 and Thing 2. Lawrence is slimed completely with purple goo and when mum returns, to a perfect house, she sees him as the creep he really is - ahh a happy ending.
My two girls aged 5 and 8 really enjoyed this film. They understood most of the jokes and thought the whole thing was very funny. There were also a few adult jokes thrown in for good measure to keep the 'oldies' happy. The one thing I did notice is that the Cat sounded uncannily like Austin Powers! Obviously Mike Myers does do difference accents, i.e. Shrek and Wayne Campbell, but this one sounded a bit weird - American but with a twang of Liverpudlian coming through. I found it quite amusing though, even though I expected him to shout 'yeah baby, groovy' at any minute. This is a fun film, well timed for the Easter holidays and if you go to a UGC cinema before 1200 at the weekends (and I assume weekdays) all tickets are £2.95, so it's not that expensive either.
Don't go and see this film if you're an old cynic but if you like a happy ending and listening to the kids giggling around you then you'll enjoy it. It made me laugh and I'd recommend it to while away an hour and a half.
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Family - Director: Sarah Ball - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Neil Morrissey, Noddy Holder, Alison Steadman, Stephen Tompkinson, Chris Evans, Elton John, Bob The Builder
Production Year: 1993 - Family - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Michael Caine, The Muppets, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, David Rudman, Steve Whitmire
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Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Cat in the Hatis a marketing ploy disguised as a wildly designed movie for hyperactive ... more
kids, and it could use a dose of Ritalin. It hardly matters, though, because kids will surely enjoy the rampant romp that occurs when the top-hatted feline convi...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
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a wonderful Dr.Seuss treat! The Cat in the Hat who goes by that name is played by Mike Myers of comedy fame! It starts with two kids on a cold cold wet day. Th...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Grab a place on the couch, or go find a seat for you're in for a wonderful Dr. Seuss ... more
treat! The Cat in the Hat who goes by the name Is played by Mike Myers of comedy fame! It starts with two kids on a cold, cold, wet day there mum is at work, and they'...
Advantages: The props and furniture etc are bright and chunky making its very unusual and funny to watch! Disadvantages: Sally and Conrad's mum have an admirer who is a disgusting man who wants to send Conrad away.
![Cat In The Hat, The [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78496498.jpg "Cat In The Hat, The [DVD] [2004]")
Apr 4th, 2004
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