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Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat More at IMDbPro »

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429 reviews in total

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131 out of 194 people found the following review useful:
Abomination, 31 October 2004
Author: Ripshin from North Carolina

For any forty-something pseudo-Boomer like myself, who grew up and learned how to read with the Seuss books, well, this film is an insult. There is NO way I'd let my kids watch this crude, stupid garbage. My jaw dropped scene, after scene, after scene. What Hollywood "suit" OK'd this thing? It is mean-spirited, raunchy and ugly. My little nephew started CRYING about thirty minutes into the film. Characters burp, curse, urinate, pick their nose, expose their posterior, etc.

I realize that young viewers don't understand the significance of Dr. Seuss, and the change his many children's books brought to the world of publishing.

This film is the antithesis of what he had in mind, and I am furious with his family for allowing this Hollywood monster to be unleashed.

PARENTS - don't let your kids think that this is what the Seuss universe is all about.....buy them the books, and skip these LAME films. Or, show them the "Horton Hears a Who" animated classic from the 70s.

Universal & Dreamworks, you have a really ANGRY viewer. Stop allowing inexperienced PRODUCTION DESIGNERS to direct your big-budget films. You could have had a classic on your hands, but instead you have the honor of having spent millions on one of IMDb's "Bottom 100 Films."

One of the worst films I have ever seen.

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85 out of 117 people found the following review useful:
They should never have let this cat out of the bag., 26 December 2003

Author: Panner55 from Vua

There is no way to avoid a comparison between The Cat in the Hat and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, so let's get that part out of the way. First of all, let me start by saying that I think Grinch was an underrated and unappreciated film. Cat was... well, just awful.

Jim Carey was cast because he is a brilliant physical comedian, and fearlessly commits to over the top, outrageous characters. Mike Myers fell back on his old bag of tricks.

Why, why, why Mike Myers?? The kids could care less, and the Austin Powers demographic isn't going to spy this film. So, what was the studio thinking?

The Cat was also apparently related to Linda Richmond. Can we talk? Why a New York Accent? Not entirely consistent with anything Dr. Seuss has ever written. Myers was even allowed to sneak in his Scottish shtick. I wonder how many different voices the director and the studio tried to edit out of before they just gave in and said "as long as you don't say fahklempt', you can keep the accents." Meyers never seemed to find any sort of comfort, either with the costume, make-up, or dialogue.

The jokes, what few there were, were crude and age inappropriate. When Myers picks up a garden hoe and delivers to the camera: "dirty ho", everything but the rim shot was missing, and even that wouldn't have helped.

The same folks who created 'Whoville', clearly had a hand in the creation of the town and the houses in 'Cat'. The sets and props were very appealing, giving the viewer a much needed distraction from the bad writing, direction, and Myers.

There was some fun to be had with Alec Baldwin and Kelly Preston. Dakota Fanning was the only actor who seemed to be aware she was in a movie based on a Dr. Seuss classic, and stayed true to the genre.

Call the SPCA. This Cat should be neutered and never be allowed to reproduce again. Please, please, no sequel.

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56 out of 69 people found the following review useful:
I should've known better..., 9 December 2003

Author: elispaul from Oregon

Film critics of the world, I apologize. It is your job to give advice to the moviegoing public so that they can wisely choose what to spend money on. But I ignored your advice and I have been deeply hurt. However, my decision to see "The Cat in the Hat" wasn't made haphazardly. You see, three years ago all of you critics said that we should all avoid the "calamity" known as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Then some friends of mine took me to see it and it turned out to be a colorful, funny and almost hypnotic yuletide treat. So when the critics unleashed their fury against "The Cat in the Hat", another big budget Seuss update with a big name star in the title role, I thought that it must be the same old song. How wrong I was.

For five whole minutes I thought I was in the clear. The opening credits are clever, the kids are charming and the production values are top notch. Then the cat showed up. There are many problems from this point on, but the biggest one was the woeful miscasting of Mike Myers. Where "The Grinch" was saved by the inspired casting of Jim Carrey, "The Cat" was destroyed by Myers. He can be very funny when his energies are applied where they belong, comic sketches. Every movie he's made that was truly funny was really just a feature length comedy sketch, from "Wayne's World" to "Austin Powers". So he tries to do the same thing here, it's just that these comedy sketches are more like the stuff that they stick at the end of SNL, not funny, just painful. Not that the writers helped him out any. After the charming prologue the movie turns into an hour of repulsive bodily humor gags, poorly timed pratfalls and insultingly stunted attempts at hip humor. This movie was the most disheartening cinematic experience I have ever had. Period. So much talent and work went into something so vile. I know that the adult stars of this movie will be relatively unscathed by this mess, I just hope that the wonderful Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning will get more chances to show their charms in far better movies. If you are a parent, please avoid this like the plague. With movies like "Elf" and "Brother Bear" currently in theaters, you have far better choices.

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95 out of 149 people found the following review useful:
Torture for the whole family, 30 November 2003
Author: cash76667 from Denver, CO

This movie isn't entertaining. It's that simple. The jokes aren't funny, the acting by the main character is terrible. Dr. Seuss is spinning in his grave. The makers of this movie took a childrens book, threw in unnecessary sexual innuendo, and stuck it on a screen near you.

The movie plays itself out with joke-a-minute style. Unfortunately, none of the jokes are funny. Both the children's humor and the adult humor fails to please. Which brings up another point. Adult humor has no place in this movie. I have no problem with adult humor, but it shouldn't be in a Dr. Seuss movie. Not only was the adult humor unfunny, it did nothing more than cause confusion for the kids in the audience. Not to mention the explanations parents have to come up with when kids question the jokes.

Mike Myers is just bad in this movie. I had to go home and watch my collection of his movies and a few old Saturday Night Live episodes to reassure myself of his comedic ability. He completely failed to give the Cat a unique personality. If you're looking to see Myers perform half of his different SNL and movie characters in the period of an hour and a half, all while wearing a hideous cat suit, then watch this movie.

If you do get stuck seeing this atrocity, there are some redeeming points that will make it bearable for you. The sets are beautiful, almost a perfect rendition of what most people think a three-dimensional version of the Seuss universe would look like. Also, the performances of Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin are applaudable. Had they not been required to share the spotlight with that ungodly cat, the movie could've passed for good. Oh, and there's a scene where Myers is abused by a group of children, which provides some comic relief. Unfortunately, the Cat survives this incident to abuse the audience for another twenty minutes.

Avoid this movie if you can. Some parents will have to be dragged to it because their kids are more concerned with watching the Cat bounce around for 90 minutes than they are with seeing a good movie. Oh, to be young and naive again...

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89 out of 139 people found the following review useful:
Holds the distinct honor of being one of two movies in the theater I've ever walked out on., 22 May 2005

Author: Nevermind10 from United States

Don't get me wrong, I assumed this movie would be stupid, I honestly did, I gave it an incredibly low standard to meet. The only reason I even saw it was because there were a bunch of girls going (different story for a different time). As I began watching I noticed something, this film was terrible. Now there are two types of terrible, there's Freddy vs. Jason terrible, where you and your friends sit back and laugh and joke about how terrible it is, and then there is a movie like this. The Cat in The Hat failed to create even a momentary interest in me. As I watched the first bit of it not only was I bored senseless, but I felt as though I had in some way been violated by the horrendousness of said movie. Mike Myers is usually brilliant, I love the majority of his work, but something in this movie didn't click. One of the things that the director/producers/writers/whatevers changed was that they refused to use any of the colors of the original book (red, black, white) on any character but the Cat. Coincidentally or not, they also refused to capture any of the original (and i hate to use this word, but it fits) zaniness of the original. The book was like an Ice Cream Sunday, colorful and delicious, and the movie was about as bland and hard to swallow as sawdust.

Avoid this like a leprous prostitute.

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44 out of 64 people found the following review useful:
Crap in a Hat, 9 December 2003

Author: ralphies

If you liked the Grinch movie... go watch that again, because this was no where near as good a Seussian movie translation. Mike Myers' Cat is probably the most annoying character to "grace" the screen in recent times. His voice/accent is terrible and he laughs at his own jokes with an awful weasing sound, which is about the only laughing I heard at the theater. Not even the kids liked this one folks, and kids laugh at anything now. Save your money and go see Looney Tunes: Back in Action if you're really looking for a fun holiday family movie.

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38 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Waste of time!, 2 January 2006

Author: gaiafaye (gaiafaye@hotmail.com) from New Jersey

The only good thing about this unfunny dreck is that I didn't have to pay for it. I saw it for free at college. And if a college student can't find humor in something that was free, it's hopeless.

Stale acting and poor jokes cannot be masked by an excellent, yet bewildering set design (that goes out of its way to market Volkswagon Beetles). I don't know what Michaels Myers was doing in this movie, but I have never seen anything more depressing. This was nothing more than a blatant effort to capitalize on the previous success of the Grinch (which has its opponents, but I enjoyed it very much). It's difficult not to sit through this failure and wonder what better projects were passed over to fund it.

You want a funny Seuss adaptation? Go with the Grinch.

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41 out of 61 people found the following review useful:
For People Who Don't Get Dr. Seuss, 14 March 2005

Author: (lizryan@worldwit.org) from Boulder, Colorado US

This movie was physically painful to sit through, maybe because (like many people my age, and younger) I grew up with Dr. Seuss and loved his books - funny, clever, whimsical and subversive at the same time. "The Cat in the Hat" sucks all of the interest and spark out of the story, and Mike Myer's performance as the Cat is mostly bewildering. Why the Borscht Belt accent, the unfunny patter, the inappropriate jokes, the charmless costume? I had to go back and re-read the books to see the real problem: the books are SIMPLE. This movie is OVERBLOWN and way, way too long.

You don't expect every kids' movie to be Toy Story or The Iron Giant, but this one set a new low. How could Mike Myers need the money?

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50 out of 80 people found the following review useful:
Shame on these people, 22 November 2003

Author: regrunion from Long Island, NY

Audrey, I know you truly cherish your husband Ted's memory but PLEASE do his legacy justice and heed his wishes. Dr. Seuss refused to license his characters during his lifetime for a very good reason. We beg of you to please stop cashing in on his stories, images, fantasies and characters. They are getting disemboweled by the powers that be of Hollywood and Broadway. The children of tomorrow will be stuck with these histrionic and grotesque interpretations that will forever pollute the loving warmth and innocence of his books.

It is indeed your property to do with as you wish. I just wish you would listen to the advice of others for a little while. Save what is left of Dr. Seuss. Thank you.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Awful, One of the Worst Films I Have Ever Seen, 2 October 2004

Author: OriginalMovieBuff21 from United States

The Cat in the Hat is just a slap in the face film. Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat is downright not funny and Mike Myers could not have been any worse. This is his worst film he has ever been in. The acting and the story was just terrible. I mean how could they make the most beloved stories by Dr. Seuss be made into film and being one of the worst films of all-time and such a disappointment. I couldn't have seen a more worst film than this besides, maybe Baby Geniuses. But this film is just so bad I can't even describe how badly they made this film. Bo Welch should be fired or the writer should.

Hedeen's outlook: 0/10 No Stars F

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