The Cat in the Hat (film)
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| The Cat in the Hat | |
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| Directed by | Bo Welch |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Written by | Dr. Seuss (book) Alec Berg (screenplay) David Mandel (screenplay) Jeff Schaffer (screenplay) |
| Starring | Mike Myers Alec Baldwin Kelly Preston Dakota Fanning Spencer Breslin Amy Hill Sean Hayes |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | November 21, 2003 |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $109,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is a 2003 live-action film, based on the 1957 book, produced by Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Imagine Entertainment. Long after Dr. Seuss's death, his widow Audrey Geisel authorized a very different filmed version, released in late 2003. This was a live-action movie, produced by Brian Grazer, directed by Bo Welch, and starred Mike Myers as the title role of the Cat in the Hat, Dakota Fanning as Sally, and Spencer Breslin as Conrad. While the basic plot of the live-action adaptation of The Cat in the Hat rotates around the same as that of the book, the film filled out its 82 minutes by adding new subplots and characters quite different from those of the original story, along with an odd touch of off-color humor.
This film, The Cat in the Hat, was flayed by critics, receiving an average grade of D+ from critics in the interpretation of Yahoo's film website.[1] With many of the reviewers stating the movie was gross and out of tune of Dr. Seuss's status quo of a children's content.[citations needed] A characteristic evaluation was that of Ty Burr, writing in the Boston Globe: "The big-screen Cat represents everything corrupt, bloated, and wrong with mainstream Hollywood movies."
The movie and its cast were nominated for several 2003 Golden Raspberry Awards, "winning" in a brand-new category: Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie.
Some viewers who disliked the film felt that the film was a desecration of Seuss's book, left leaning, and even anti-Semitic.[citations needed] However, the film did receive some A+ ratings, notably from fans of Mike Myers's previous work.[citations needed] Respected film critics Joel Siegel and Jeffrey Lyons also gave it good reviews. Fans say it should be watched with a lighthearted attitude and without expecting it to be the same as the books.
Box office receipts for the film topped all competition for the first two weekends, then plummeted. U.S. box office receipts ultimately failed to match production costs.
Mike Myers stated in an interview (on the day the movie came in theatres) that he expected there to be a sequel to the movie, since after all, there was a sequel to the book. This seems highly unlikely; it was believed that Audrey Geisel refused to allow further adaptations of Seuss books following the poor reviews of the Cat in the Hat film. Whether or not this is true remains unconfirmed. One factor against it being true is that Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox are working on a CGI film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! to be released in 2008.
Despite the fact that the movie received vehement criticism, Mike Myers enjoyed every second of playing The Cat.[citations needed]
