“The Cat In the Hat” (Universal Pictures)
All the magical memories of reading the Dr Seuss story, “The Cat In the Hat,” are brought back with the film version of the book. Mike Myers stars as the fanciful cat and all of the side characters from “Thing 1 and Thing 2” to the unnerved goldfish are present. Also present are some crude jokes and off color remarks that are certainly not family appropriate. Hopefully these will sail over the heads of the tiny tots who will be the core audience to see the movie.
In the film two young children, Conrad (Spencer Breslin) and Sally (Dakota Fanning) are left at home by their mother (Kelly Preston) and told not to mess up the house. They have a baby-sitter (Amy Hill) but she is obviously narcoleptic and sleeps the day away. Their mother’s obnoxious boyfriend Larry (Alec Baldwin) keeps popping in from time to time just to stir up trouble.
There is also a large cat (Myers) that has magically appeared. This cat leads Conrad and Sally into all kinds of trouble and makes a total wreck of their house. With the time for their mother to return home looming large, Conrad and Sally are in a panic.
The movie is full of bright colors and bustling activity. The cat is a witty creature who owes a lot to Bert Lahr’s cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz.” They sound just alike. It should also be noted that this cat has some words in his vocabulary that are not suitable for children. Luckily they are just hinted at but not said. Still the rawer side of this cat may give some parents pause.
These cruder moments account for the film’s PG rating.
Adults may grow tired of the antics of the cat and his sidekicks. So much color and so much activity are headache inducing. Plus the cat is more annoying and irritating than loveable. If he got in your nerves in the previews, he will drive you bonkers in the full length of the movie.
Kids, the younger the better, will find some fun in the magical activities of the cat. At least they were laughing gleefully at the theater where I viewed the film. There were a few chuckles form the adults but not many.
“Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In the Hat” is a marvelously made film. Visually it has the right look. The wrong thing is the plot padding which stretches the movie to over an hour in length. This is where the crudity arises and the irritation begins.
I scored “The Cat In the Hat” a seuss-less 4 out of 10.
