The Cat in the Hat--don't waste your money--Here's a brief review:

[Maddy McCall]

I took my son to see the Cat in the Hat today. What a waste!

Here are several points I would like to make about the movie.

1) Mike Myers is a great character actor, but he totally missed this time. His Cat is a cheap imitation of Charles Nelson Riley doing a cheap imitation of Dr. Bombay doing a cheap imitation of the Cat in the Hat.

2) Sophomoric humour--after, oh, the 15 loud burp, I thought that anyone who enjoys that as humour should have been satisfied. To me, however, it is an indication that writers who have difficulty developing scripted hilarity rely instead on body functions to get laughs.

3) Set--If you like putrid, puke green, you will be in aesthetic heaven, since most of the set is painted in varying hues of the same color. Pea green was obviously the set designer's favorite color.

4) Double entendres? No, the writer wasn't that slick or high browed. Just cheap shots--for instance, Myers picks up a hoe and says "Dirty Ho." hahaha--not very funny. No one in the theatre laughed, and I noticed several parents actually showing disproval.

5)Bad treatment of elderly people. The cat and kids abused the elderly babysitter (what elderly babysitter, you may ask--Seuss's book had no babysitter)throughout the whole movie. They jump on her, hang her in a closet, and ride her as if she were a cart at an amusement park.

6) Grotesque behavior -- cat coughing up a hairball, cat puking, Alec Baldwin with a fake, fat hairy tummy digging in his bellybutton--you get the idea.

7) The fish--even though he was a digital image, he was the best character in the whole movie. But he is shown so infrequently that he in no way makes up for the disaster that is the rest of the movie.

Well, this is just a quick review of what to expect. If you go to this movie thinking that it will be anything like the Seuss book, you will be disappointed. I never saw the Carey-version of the Grinch, so I had no biases going in. Let's just hope that this producer doesn't find another childhood classic to mutilate.

[WindRavenX]

1. This movie got horrible reviews...

And everyone I've talked it is PISSED that Suess' masterpiece got butchered to make this POS.
I love Mike Myers, but it seems that he was waaay over his head in this one.

[JohnKleeb]

2. You mean I shouldnt use my first day of work's pay on the movie *wink*

;)
Thanks though, I thought it was gonna be bad.

[Alenne]

3. Did your son like it?

I didn't like The Grinch or Shrek but my kids like them.

[Maddy McCall]

4. He seemed indifferent.

When we came out of the theatre, he didn't rave about it, like he did with other movies he has enjoyed. He didn't laugh during the movie, either.

His only comment was that it wasn't very much like the book. I said, "I can't believe we wasted our money on it," and he said, "We should have gone to Chuck E Cheese instead."

Most kids don't watch movies with a critical eye--they go to be entertained. I don't think either of us were entertained.

My son liked Shrek and Nemo. He also liked Spy Kids 3 (which I didn't enjoy). His favorite movie of all time is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and, let's face it, they just don't make 'em like that anymore. He is kind of at that point between animated kiddie movies and action movies.

[WindRavenX]

5. Shrek and Nemo

...are quality movies that children AND adults enjoy. Cat in the Hat tried to pander to the adults by being crass; Nemo won adults with smart writing.

[Maddy McCall]

6. And, there's going to be a Shrek II in theatres soon...

they showed the previews at the theatre. The other movie that I want to see is the new Peter Pan--it looked AWESOME.

As far as Shrek, I can't give an objective opinion because I ADORE John Lithgow.

[NashVegas]

9. That Was Pandering to ADULTS?

I guess it didn't pander to adults who loved Dr. Seuss books. Too bad.

[SheilaT]

11. Shrek is wonderful.

So is Nemo.

I have a cat who is EXACTLY like the donkey in Shrek. I swear, if my cat could talk she'd be nattering on and on like that donkey. My kids agree with me.

[KoKo]

7. OMG! This sounds like a disgusting movie. Why not keep it simple like

the story with some fun light script written in that was silly.....Or, why do it at all, if it turned out like this.

It's probably good to read at least 5 reviews of a movie for kids/adults before plunking down that money today. It's awful when trying to take a kid to a fun movie and it turns out like a bathroom humor joke.....yuck!

Not saying that lot's of kids would just love it because it was "bathroom humor," some DON'T...and some parents don't like being manipulated.

[INTELBYTES]

8. Sometimes you just shouldn't mess with the classics!

I have to admit, Shrek and Bugs Life are two of my favorites. The first Toy Story was pretty good as well. I'm just a kid at heart.
:)

[Stuckinthebush]

10. It just pisses me off...

That they made the Cat in the Hat PG!!!!

Why in the hell would they do that?

Sick.

[Maddy McCall]

13. The cat in the hat says Son of a Biiiii....

and then they cut to another seen. He says "That really burns my A--" and they cut to another scene. The "Dirty Ho" statement, etc.

It should have been Rated PG. It hardly resembled the book.

[mlawson]

12. What about the billions of dollars of advertising attached to it??

I was in the supermarket; already display after display tying some crappy junk food to the crappy movie. And fast food!!!
And the USPS!! What a fiasco.

And we have just begun to see the endless ads connected with it.

[Maddy McCall]

14. I think the movie was such a bomb that it will take down all the

commercial promos attached to it.

[stopbush]

15. I just got back from seeing it...the kids and audience loved it!

Go figure. Maybe it's because I'm in Vegas, but the audience ate it up.

I read the bad reviews and went to the theatre hoping to see Elf. It wasn't playing for some reason, and the kids (age 10 & 6) wanted to see The Cat. I figured I'd suffer through it, but it turned out to be not at all horrible. Is it on the level of Shrek? No, but Shrek wasn't devoid of double entendres or bathroom humor either ("Boy, my butt was eeking out gases that day," says Eddie Murphy's donkey).

No, it's not faithful to Geisel's book any more than the Jim Carey *Grinch* movie is faithful to that book. How do you expand a 220-word book into a 90-minute movie? Well, you add a bunch of images and jokes that are currently funny to TODAY's kids. The movie is also paced at the frenetic speed of a video game. While I usually find this an ill in most kid movies these days, it sort of works in TCITH in that it captures the zaniness and other-worldly qualities of the original book.

My kids didn't care for Carey's Grinch, and they aren't all that wrapped up in the usual pop culture phenoms. But, they liked this one. I imagine the fact that they like Mike Myers helps, though I will say that he is starting to get repetitious in his use of various character traits from his past movies to flesh out new roles. This one used a bit of Dr Evil, Fat Bastard, Coffee Chat Lady from SNL and a few others too often. Annoying to adults but reference points to kids.

Sidebar: while the movie obviously isn't aimed at an adult audience, I sure enjoyed the eye candy that is Kelly Preston in her 50s-era pink dress.

On edit: I went to TCITH fully expecting to react to it in much the same manner as the original poster. On that account, I was pleasantly surprised and found enough moments that were enjoyable to not be constantly checking the watch. Will my kids want it on DVD next year? I don't know. Will I want to watch it again with them? Probably not, but it's a better movie than some of the other cartoon-to-big-screen efforts I've endured like *The Arnold Movie* and *Inspector Gadget.*

[Maddy McCall]

16. I haven't let my 9 year old watch any of the Austin Powers movies...

And we are much more into classic movies than fad ones. That probably partially explains my reaction. The audience here didn't laugh that much.

I guess it's a matter of taste. If I had known it was going to be so bad in my judgement, I wouldn't even waste three dollars renting the DVD in six months.

You are right about the characters from Myers' other endeavors...He was basically every character he has ever done wrapped in a cat suit--with a Charles Nelson Riley disposition.

JMO

[stopbush]

17. The Austin Powers movies are sometimes shown on TBS

and USA minus the naughtier parts and with bleeped-out language.

Like I said, I had planned to take them to Elf. I certainly wasn't happy about ending up at TCITH.