As a child I adored Dr. Seuss. I had the entire collection read them almost every day. When my sister brought home the DVD of the Cat in the Hat, which had always been one of my favourite characters I was sceptical. I was worried that it would spoil my childhood memories of the wonderful Dr. Seuss. Nevertheless I sat down and watched the movie from start to finish.
The rhyming at the beginning eases gently into the story while still remaining Dr. Seuss-esque. A nice normal family living on a wonderfully normal street. The mother working in real estate with a troublesome son, Conrad, and well behaved daughter, Sally. The apparently perfect boyfriend living next door. All seemed about right for a Dr. Seuss until the cat arrives on the scene. I felt the voice of the cat could have been selected better as Mike Myres is somehow overpowering and not really what I had expected. This was the first major disappointment that the film brought for me, from here in I found it more difficult to watch.
The story after the cat has appeared is weak as mayhem insumes making the story disappear. The children sign a contract despite Sally's better instincts. And before long the house is wrecked which is terrible as their mother is hosting a party that evening and if it doesn't go well she'll lose her job.
The doorway to cat's world is opened when Conrad removes the lock which finds its way onto their dog's collar. The dog escapes and in his attempts to rid the family of Conrad the boyfriend finds the dog and tries to take it to the mother. The cat dressed as a hippy distracts the boyfriend and the dog is stolen back. The children, the cat and now the dog plus very important lock try to rush back to the house before their mother gets there.
Other Dr. Seuss creatures help in slowing her arrival but her boyfriend reaches the house before she does and ends up covered in purple goo. The children try to sort out the Dr. Seuss styled house but can't until at the end of the film they decide to stick by each other and many cliches follow. Will they get the house ready in time before their mother returns from the office? Will they see the cat again?
If I had never read a Dr. Seuss book in my life I think I would have enjoyed this film a lot more than I did. In parts the film is funny. It is possible to pop in and out of the film and not really miss anything. The film is well animated and the special effects in places are great. The characters are believable apart from the cat. Having watched the Austin Powers movies also spoiled it a bit as every time the cat spoke I thought of Austin Powers as there is a lot of "yeh baby" type phrases thrown in. Some of the gags just aren't funny. Kids seem to love the film, maybe as they are too young to remember the original Dr. Seuss. I really hope they don't decide to butcher anymore Dr. Seuss the way the have done to this one.
If you have youngish children they will love it and I would recommend buying for them. They can watch it many times in a day and not become bored. However if you are buying it because you enjoyed Dr. Seuss I think you are making a large mistake. It won't appeal to you and you'll regret the purchase. Its really up to you but personally I wouldn't waste the money.
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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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![Cat In The Hat, The [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78496498.jpg "Cat In The Hat, The [DVD] [2004]")
Aug 21st, 2004
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