The Cat in the Hat

11/21/20031h 22m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Don't mess with the hat. ~

Overview:

During a rainy day, and while their mother is out, Conrad and Sally, and their pet fish, are visited by the mischievous Cat in the Hat. Fun soon turns to mayhem, and the siblings must figure out how to rid themselves of the maniacal Cat.

Director:

Bo Welch

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$109,000,000.00

Revenue:

$133,800,000.00

Key words:

sibling relationship
chaos
cat
boredom
surrealism
stepfather
slapstick comedy
house party
police impersonator
based on children's book
goldfish
impersonation
talking cat
talking fish
live action and animation
mother son relationship
mother daughter relationship
absurd
hilarious
ridiculous

Cast

Mike Myers

~ as ~

The Cat

Dakota Fanning

~ as ~

Sally Walden

Spencer Breslin

~ as ~

Conrad Walden

Kelly Preston

~ as ~

Joan Walden

Alec Baldwin

~ as ~

Larry Quinn

Amy Hill

~ as ~

Mrs. Kwan

Sean Hayes

~ as ~

Mr. Humberfloob / Fish (voice)

Danielle C. Ryan

~ as ~

Thing One

Taylor Rice

~ as ~

Thing One

Brittany Oaks

~ as ~

Thing Two

View full cast & crew

Reviews (4)

Kamurai
Written 5 year(s) ago
6
Decent watch, might watch again, and can recommend, but more for older audiences.

While "The Cat in the Hat" is a famous children's book, this is clearly just aimed at the folks that might have read it when they were children. That mixes the nostalgia factor with the slew of adult oriented jokes (like infomercials) and the unnecessary addition of mother being single and dating. Kids aren't going to find humor in those situations.

The material that is closer to the original book is much more charming and I imagine that kids will relate to it more as the kids are much more involved, or even the focus of the scenes.

The Cat in the Hat, even though he is the title character, is a support character to the two kids, played by Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin, who both do all they can with the writing to balance out Mike Myers as the Cat. I don't feel like Mike Myers understands the idea of being a supporting character: he gives me a very Tom Cruise / Jimmy Fallon vibe where if there was a pause, then would just center himself in the camera and do something to draw attention. "Oh yeah!" is a good example for this movie, a repeated, unnecessary line that doesn't once help the scene let alone the movie.

One would think after Jim Carey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000) there would be a formula for how to adapt Dr. Seuss books (20 pages) to full length feature films, and someone clearly figured it out later in "The Lorax" (2012) and "The Grinch" (2018), so I'm....gonna blame Mike Myers.

Him aside, the movie has a lot of charm to it, and Alec Baldwin manages to work an unnecessary part to at least be a believable antagonist, though the best acting in the world can't make a bad part good.

If you're just really into Dr. Seuss, then give it a watch, but you're not going to miss anything special if you skip it.
G
Gammon
Written 4 year(s) ago
10
lifechanging, thank you so much the guy from shrek and the white mask man who kills. You did a good job creating a masterpeice Xx.
HaltingTuber
Written 3 year(s) ago
1
Bad!
F
FloppyDriver
Written 5 month(s) ago
8
A funny, catotic masterpiece. But not suitable for 7yr old kids.