The Cat In the Hat
Reviewed by Sarah Downing

Mike Myers is The Cat In The Hat, a mysterious oversized cat in a red and white stripy hat, who arrives to bring mischief and fun to the Walden house.

The Walden children are what can only be described as brats. Conrad loves causing trouble by doing the exact opposite of anything that is asked of him, while Sally is a control freak, older than her years and so bossy that no one wants to be her friend.

The Cat soon pays these awful children an unexpected visit and, with the help of his two accomplices, Thing 1 and Thing 2, takes an afternoon of fun one step too far and turns it into messy mayhem.

This tactic soon does the job and teaches the horrible Walden children the error of their ways.

Based on the hugely popular Dr Seuss books, this film fails to do them the justice they deserve.

Although it captures the setting perfectly with bold, bright sets and wonderful special effects, The Cat In The Hat seems to have forgotten the importance of its content and exactly who its audience is.

Mike Myers is so in-your-face that, even though he might have initially appeared to be a good choice for the role, actually becomes quite irritating although, admittedly there is a small chance that a young audience could find him amusing.

If this is the case, surely the use of blatant advertising schemes would quickly lose their appreciation. During its 82 minutes, the film shamelessly plugs Universal Studios, one of its investors, and the soundtrack. It seems the movie is trying to be quite tongue in cheek to appeal to older viewers but, like the cat and the chaos he causes, goes one step too far.

It is a shame that The Cat In The Hat fails on so many levels. There’s no doubt that, with the books’ broad fan base, this movie could be huge. Unfortunately, it seems only to be concerned with its money making franchise and, as a result is such a big disappointment that it is difficult to tell whether the all important younger viewers will even enjoy it.