The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
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The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat is an animated musical crossover produced by Marvel Productions in association with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, it starred Dr.Seuss' famed characters The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat. The special won two Emmy awards for Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Individual Achievement. It premiered on May 20, 1982 on ABC. The special is currently available on DVD alongside The Hoober-Bloob Highway. It was directed by Bill Perez and starred the voices of Bob Holt and Mason Adams.
[edit] Synopsis
The story opens on a morning so beautiful that even the Grinch wakes up in a good mood. But his cheerfulness is soon revoked when his reflection in the mirror talks back to him and reminds him that he's a Grinch and therefore shouldn't be cheerful. Out to prove himself to his reflection, the Grinch goes out to cause misfortune.
Meanwhile, the Cat in the Hat goes on a picnic and soon crosses paths with the Grinch when the Grinch crashes into his car. The Grinch demands that the Cat "get this crate out of my way", but when the Cat willingly and cheerfully agrees to his demands, the Grinch pursues him in a car chase. Realizing he's upset this person, the Cat returns to his house, but the Grinch tracks him there and messes with his voice using a device he has invented, the "Vacusound Sweeper", to garble the sounds of anything that gets caught in its waves. Then the Grinch goes back to his house and builds a "Darkhouse" with which to mess with the Cat's sight, proclaiming, "That Cat's gonna suffer like never before!"
The Cat becomes upset with the Grinch's hijinks and has a psychiatry session with him in a thought bubble. He then decides to go over and have a talk with him, but in the process, the Grinch makes it so dark he can't see where he's going, and he crashes his car. The Cat attempts to hide from the Grinch in a nearby restaurant, but the Grinch's machine continues to mess with reality. The Cat is now furious with the Grinch and ponders to himself how he can change the Grinch, eventually racing through a door and sending himself hurtling into the Grinch's Dimension. There, as he ponders, he has to endure visions of a floating Grinch head of laser lights, a spinning spiral, and getting split into four different-colored outlines - blue, green, red, and yellow, which join together to become a white outline, and he turns back into himself. He soon figures out how and rallies everybody in the restaurant to follow him to the Grinch's house. There, he sings a song about how the love the Grinch received from his mother; the Grinch, having a soft spot for his mom, weeps when he hears this, and is afterward told by the spirit of his mom that "everything's going to be all right." Touched, the Grinch disassembles his machines and goes through his change of heart again. But when his reflection tries to revert him back to a grouch, his dog Max shuts the mirror up with the Vacusound Sweeper.
[edit] Trivia
- Production began at DePatie Freleng and then was completed at Marvel Productions Ltd.
- The Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched was the working title for the movie.
- This film was originally distributed by Random House.
- Where Thing One and Thing Two are during the period of this short is unknown.
