The Cat in the Hat (film)

The Cat in the Hat
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bo Welch
Screenplay by	Alec Berg David Mandel Jeff Schaffer
Based on	The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Starring	Mike Myers Alec Baldwin Kelly Preston Dakota Fanning Spencer Breslin
Cinematography	Emmanuel Lubezki
Edited by	Don Zimmerman
Music by	David Newman
Production companies	Universal Pictures[1] DreamWorks Pictures[1] Imagine Entertainment[1]
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (North America) DreamWorks Pictures (International; through United International Pictures)
Release date	November 21, 2003 (2003-11-21)
Running time	82 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$109 million[3]
Box office	$133.9 million[3]

The Cat in the Hat (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat) is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Bo Welch in his directorial debut and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer. Loosely based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 book of the same name, it was the second and final live-action Dr. Seuss adaptation after How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). The film stars Mike Myers in the title role along with Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill and Sean Hayes in supporting roles.

Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat was released in theaters on November 21, 2003, in the United States by Universal Pictures and internationally by DreamWorks Pictures. It grossed $133.9 million against a budget of $109 million. The film received largely negative reviews from critics, but it has since developed a mild cult following and some positive critical retrospectives.^[4][5]

After the film’s release, Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, prohibited any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works during her lifetime, resulting in the cancellation of a sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. All adaptations have since been produced using computer animation.^[6][7] Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is developing another adaptation, and is scheduled to be released in 2026.^[8]

Conrad and Sally Walden live with their single mother Joan, who works for neat-freak Hank Humberfloob as a real estate agent. One day, while at work, Humberfloob announces that Joan will host their annual meet-and-greet party that night but firmly warns her that she will be fired if it is messy.

Meanwhile, Conrad proceeds to trash the house (after Sally and Joan told him to keep the house clean) which causes the family's dog Nevins to run off down the street in fright and him to almost ruin Joan's dress for the party. Joan grounds him from playing video games for a week. Their next-door neighbor Larry Quinn whom Joan is dating returns Nevins who ran off to his yard and Sally is grateful. Later that day, Humberfloob calls Joan and asks her to come back to the office so she hires lethargic babysitter Mrs. Kwan to watch the kids and also forbids them from entering the living room which she is keeping pristine for the party.

After Mrs. Kwan falls asleep, Sally and Conrad meet The Cat in the Hat, an anthropomorphic talking cat with a red-and-white striped top hat and a large red bow tie who wants to teach them how to have fun despite the family's pet fish's objections. In the process, the Cat leaves a trail of destruction throughout the house (such as jumping on the couch, baking gross cupcakes that explode in the oven, and even ruining Joan's dress by cleaning the wall with it) and releases two troublemakers Thing 1 and Thing 2 from a crate which he locks and forbids Conrad to tamper with, explaining that it is a portal to his world. He asks the Things to fix Joan's dress but they instead trash the house as they always do the opposite of what they are told Despite the Cat's warning, Conrad picks the lock on the crate, which grabs onto Nevins' collar, who the Things throw out the window resulting in him running off again. The trio then go out to search for Nevins during which they find themselves at a birthday party for Sally's former friend Denise. The Cat then attempts to hide to posing as pinata and is hit by the kids.

Meanwhile, Larry is revealed be an unemployed, destitute slob, posing as a successful businessman to marry Joan for her money. He also plans to get Conrad out of the house by sending him to military school.

While the trio spy on Nevins from a bush, they see Larry kidnapping him which forces them to chase them into the city with the Cat's super-powered car. When they see Larry anxiously riding with Joan, Conrad has the Things stall them by posing as police officers so they can get home first. Despite being held up, Larry witnesses the trio drive past in his car and races after them on the Things' police motorcycle.

When the trio return to the house with the lock, Larry cuts them off and orders them inside the house, where he sneezes uncontrollably due to his allergy to the Cat, who takes the advantage and scares him away, only for them to find out that the house has been transformed into "The Mother of All Messes", with Larry falling into a gooey abyss within the Cat's world. The trio ride on Mrs. Kwan and navigate through the surreal house to find the crate and lock it, whereupon the house returns to its normal proportions but immediately collapses. In a heated argument, the kids discover that the Cat planned the whole day and orders him to leave.

Conrad resigns himself to facing the consequences when Joan comes home with Sally sharing the blame, but the Cat returns with a cleaning invention and fixes the house. The trio subsequently reconcile and The Cat departs just as Joan arrives. Larry, covered in goo, comes in, thinking he has busted the children, but Conrad reveals Larry's flaws and Joan's opinion of him. Larry then begs Joan to accept his feelings for him but Joan reveals that while Conrad is indeed a troublemaker, he is nice on the inside and politely dumps Larry, much to his humiliation and dismay. After the successful party with Humberfloob congratulating Joan on the clean house, Joan spends quality time with her children by jumping on the couch with them, while the Cat and the Things walk off into the sunset.

• Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat, a 6 ft. tall, anthropomorphic and large humanoid wise-cracking cat who wears an oversized red bow-tie and a magical red-and-white striped top-hat that reveals many humorous gadgets. Tim Allen was initially considered for the role of the Cat.
• Spencer Breslin as Conrad Walden, Joan's imaginative, yet destructive and misbehaved, 12-year-old son, and the older brother of Sally.
• Dakota Fanning as Sally Walden, Joan's dull, somewhat bossy, well-behaved and rule-obeying 8-year-old daughter, and the younger sister of Conrad.
• Kelly Preston as Joan Walden, Conrad and Sally's mother, a workaholic real estate agent.
• Alec Baldwin as Lawrence "Larry" Quinn, the Waldens' arrogant, lazy, unscrupulous, and unemployed next-door neighbor. He is allergic to cats which makes him sneeze, steals food from the Waldens unnoticed, and is determined to marry Joan to mooch off of her wealth and send Conrad to military school to get rid of him.
• Amy Hill as Mrs. Kwan, an overweight and elderly Taiwanese woman who was hired to watch the children, but sleeps through her job, which (as well as her weight) serves as a running gag.
• Sean Hayes as Hank Humberfloob, Joan's germophobic boss. He is seemingly friendly, but is quick to fire employees for the smallest infractions (such as for shaking his hand which he does not allow since he dislikes germs), often in an extremely loud tone of voice.
  • Hayes is also the voice of the somewhat cynical, pessimistic and sensible family fish.
• Danielle Chuchran and Taylor Rice as Thing 1, and Brittany Oaks and Talia-Lynn Prairie as Thing 2; two gibbering trouble-making creatures that the Cat brings in with him. Dan Castellaneta provided the voices for the Things.
• Steven Anthony Lawrence as the Dumb Schweitzer, an intellectually and socially inferior pre-teen boy with a Bronx accent. When Cat disguised himself as the piñata at a birthday party Sally was left out of, he whacks Cat in the groin with a wooden bat. His name is not mentioned in the film, but it is included in the credits.
• Paris Hilton as a female club-goer.
• Bugsy as Nevins, the Waldens' pet dog. Frank Welker provided his voice. Welker had previously provided the voice of Max the dog from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
• Candace Dean Brown as a secretary who works for Humberfloob Real Estate.
• Victor Brandt as the Narrator, who tells the story; he is revealed to be the Cat using a voice-changer at the end.

DreamWorks Pictures originally acquired the film rights to the original Dr. Seuss book in 1997.^[9] However, production did not officially start until after the 2000 Christmas/comedy film How the Grinch Stole Christmas, produced and distributed by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, both of whom also joined to finance, distribute and produce the film with DreamWorks, and based on another Dr. Seuss book of the same name, became a commercial success. Brian Grazer, the producer of The Grinch, stated: "Because we grew up with these books, and because they have such universal themes and the illustrations ignite such fantasy in your mind as a child—the aggregation of all those feelings—it leaves an indelible, positive memory. And so when I realized I had a chance to convert first The Grinch and then, The Cat in the Hat, into movies, I was willing to do anything to bring them to the screen."^[10] Grazer then contacted Bo Welch over the phone with the offer to direct the film, and he accepted.^[11] When production began, songs written by Randy Newman were dropped because they were deemed inferior; Newman's cousin, David, instead composed the score for the film. Although Welch and a publicist for Myers denied it, several people said Myers had considerable input into the film's direction by telling some of the cast (namely co-stars Baldwin and Preston) how to perform their scenes.^[12]

Tim Allen was initially considered for the role of the Cat. The script was initially based on a version of the original book's story conceived by Allen, who admitted that as a child he was afraid of Seuss' "mischievous feline babysitter" and it was his dream to give the edge that scared him for the role.^[13] However, the studio did not commission a screenplay until late February 2001, when Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer (best known for being writers on the television series Seinfeld) were hired by the studio to rewrite the film (replacing the original draft of the film that was written by Eric Roth a few years prior),^[14] so the film would not be ready to shoot before the deadline. By this point, Allen was also committed to shooting Disney's The Santa Clause 2, which was also delayed because Allen wanted a script rewrite.^[15] Due to scheduling conflicts with that film,^[16] he dropped out of the role. Afterwards, Will Ferrell, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Dana Carvey and Billy Bob Thornton were considered for the role.^[17] Eventually, in March 2002 the role of the Cat was given to Mike Myers,^[18] whom Grazer had an argument with regarding a proposed film adaptation of Myers' Saturday Night Live sketch Sprockets, which Myers cancelled in June 2000 after being dissatisfied with his own script for it.^[19][20] Myers stated in an interview that he was a long-time fan of the original Dr. Seuss book, and that it was the first book he ever read.^[21] Myers was obligated to appear in the film as a result of a settlement related to the Sprockets film's cancellation.^[22][23] Soon after, Myers, Dave Foley, Jay Kogen and Stephen Hibbert did uncredited rewrites of the script.^{[citation needed]} Peri Gilpin was originally attached to play Joan Walden, but was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with Frasier.^[24]

Originally, Rick Baker was set to be the prosthetic makeup designer for the film after his previous experience with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but due to conflicts with the studio and production team, particularly with Myers' behavior (showing up late to meetings and refusing to come to makeup tests punctually) and the complex challenge of designing the character's makeup, he left the project and was replaced by Steve Johnson, one of his earliest apprentices. The Cat costume was made of angora and human hair and was fitted with a cooling system. To keep Myers cool during the outdoor shoots, a portable air conditioner was available that connected a hose to the suit between shots, while the tail and ears were battery-operated.^{[25][better source needed]} Danielle Chuchran and Brittany Oaks, who portrayed Thing 1 and Thing 2, respectively, wore a prosthetic face mask and wig designed by Johnson as well. The Fish was considered somewhat of a unique character for Rhythm and Hues Studios (responsible for the visual effects and animation in films such as Mouse Hunt, Cats & Dogs, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Scooby-Doo), in that the character had no shoulders, hips or legs, so all of the physical performance had to emit from the eyes, head and fin motion. Sean Hayes, who provided the voice for the Fish, found the role significantly different from his usual on-camera jobs; he did not know how the final animation would look, resulting in all of his voice work taking place alone in a sound booth.^[26]

Before filming, giant props for the film were stolen from the set; the local police found the props vandalized with graffiti in a shopping mall car park in Pomona, California. No arrests were made.^[27] Principal photography took place mostly in California from October 2002 to January 2003. The neighborhood and the town center was filmed in a rural valley near Simi Valley, where 24 houses (each 26 feet square and 52 feet tall) were constructed.^[28] The downtown area outdoor shots were filmed along a Pomona street where a number of antique and gift shops are located. The community decided not to redecorate after filming ended, so the surreal paint scheme and some of the signage can still be seen today as it appears in the film. Because of so much smog in the area, the sky had to be digitally replaced with the cartoon-like sky and colors of the background had to be digitally fixed. Mike Myers was unaware that a piece of the house would fall behind him near the end of the film during his scenes with Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning. His reaction was real and left unscripted in the final film.^[29]

According to co-star Amy Hill, Myers was difficult to work with on set. Hill called her experience "horrible, nightmarish", and said that Myers refused to talk to anyone on the production (other than his assistants and director Welch) and isolated himself from the cast and crew during breaks in filming. She mentioned that while Welch was "really lovely", there would be retakes of scenes because Welch, who was a first-time director, would often let Myers decide whether they were good enough or not. In addition, she stated that Myers had an assistant who held chocolates in a Tupperware, and whenever Myers needed a piece of chocolate, his assistant would come over and give him one.^[30]

Grazer's frequent collaborator David Newman scored the film. The soundtrack was released on November 18, 2003.^[31] Originally, Marc Shaiman was going to compose the score for the film, but due to Newman already being chosen for the film score, Shaiman instead wrote the film's songs with Scott Wittman. The soundtrack also features a song by Smash Mouth ("Getting Better"), which makes it the third Mike Myers-starring film in a row to feature a song by Smash Mouth after Shrek and Austin Powers in Goldmember. The trailer for the film uses a version of "Hey! Pachuco!" by the Royal Crown Revue. The soundtrack also includes two songs performed by Myers, who plays the Cat. Newman's score won a BMI Film Music Award. Hang On by Smash Mouth was also featured in the film but was not included on the soundtrack.

The Cat in the Hat was released on VHS and DVD on March 16, 2004.^[32] The DVD release features 13 deleted scenes, 36 outtakes, 13 featurettes, a "Dance with the Cat" tutorial to teach children how to do a Cat in the Hat dance, and an audio commentary with director Bo Welch and actor Alec Baldwin.^[33] On February 7, 2012, the film was released on Blu-ray.^[34]

The Cat in the Hat opened theatrically on November 21, 2003, and grossed $38.3 million in its opening weekend, ranking first in the North American box office ahead of Brother Bear, Elf and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.^[35] The film ended its theatrical run nearly four months later on March 18, 2004, having grossed $101.1 million domestically and $32.8 million overseas for a worldwide total of $133.9 million.^[3]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Cat in the Hat has an approval rating of 10% based on 164 reviews and an average rating of 3.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Filled with double entendres and potty humor, this Cat falls flat."^[36] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 19 out of 100 based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".^[37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[38]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film one star, stating: "Cat, another overblown Hollywood raid on Dr. Seuss, has a draw on Mike Myers, who inexplicably plays the Cat by mimicking Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz." Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars. Although he praised the production design, he considered the film to be "all effects and stunts and CGI and prosthetics, with no room for lightness and joy".^[39] Ebert and co-host Richard Roeper gave the film "Two Thumbs Down" on their weekly movie review program.^[40] Roeper said of Myers' performance that "maybe a part of him was realizing as the movie was being made that a live-action version of The Cat in the Hat just wasn't a great idea."^[40] Ebert compared the film unfavorably to How the Grinch Stole Christmas: "If there is one thing I've learned from these two movies, it's that we don't want to see Jim Carrey as a Grinch, and we don't want to see Mike Myers as a cat. These are talented comedians, let's see them do their stuff, don't bury them under a ton of technology."^[40]

Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four in his Movie Guide: "Brightly colored adaptation of the beloved rhyming book for young children is a betrayal of everything Dr. Seuss ever stood for, injecting potty humor and adult (wink-wink) jokes into a mixture of heavy-handed slapstick and silliness." Maltin also said that the film's official title which included Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat was "an official insult".^[41]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the film as "attractively designed, energetically performed and, above all, blessedly concise."^[42]

Alec Baldwin was disappointed with the film and addressed complaints the film received because of its dissimilarity to the source material. He expressed a belief that a film is "an idea about something" and that because Dr. Seuss' work is so unique, making a feature-length film out of one of his stories would entail taking liberties and making broad interpretations.^[43]

The film also received three nominations at the Hollywood Makeup & Hairstylists Guild Awards.^[45]

In a 2023 interview with Syfy Magazine, Welch defended the film, feeling it was "weird and funny and anarchic […] there's a craziness to it that I think people can embrace."^[4] Writing for social networking website Letterboxd, Jack Moulton wrote, "The Cat in the Hat may not have been parent-friendly, but it was kid-friendly in ways studios did not anticipate in 2003," citing "a weirder niche of younger audiences vibing with [the film's] colorful gooey world [and] the irreverence of Cat's crude 'tude."^[5] Reflecting on the film's "divisive" nature on the site, with a 2.5/5 average user rating, Moulton felt that despite "[the] litany of gag reviews […] we're in the post-ironic era where that can translate into a genuine love."^[5][46] Calum Russell of Far Out felt that the film possessed an "idiosyncratic brand of humour that was surprisingly ahead of its time," and "[couldn't] help but think this is exactly what a contemporary adaptation of The Cat in the Hat would be like if it was released today."^[47]

On the day of the film's release, Mike Myers stated in an interview that he expected a sequel where the children meet the Cat again. A sequel based on the original book's sequel The Cat in the Hat Comes Back was in development just over a month before the film's release, with Myers and Welch to return to their duties as actor and director, respectively.^[48] Following the film's poor reception, Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, decided not to allow any subsequent live-action adaptations of Seuss's works, resulting in the sequel being scrapped.^[7][6][49]

In March 2012, an animated Cat in the Hat film adaptation was announced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment following the success of The Lorax, with Rob Lieber set to write the script, Chris Meledandri to produce the film and Geisel to executive-produce it, but it never came to fruition.^{[50][51][52][53]}

In January 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation picked up the rights for the animated musical Cat in the Hat film as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises.^[54][55] In October 2020, Erica Rivinoja and Art Hernandez were announced as directors.^[56] In June 2023, Hernandez was replaced as director by Alessandro Carloni.^[57] In February 2023, four of the movie's concept art got released to the internet.^[58] In March 2024, Warner Bros. announced that the movie will be released on March 6, 2026, starring Bill Hader as The Cat, alongside Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry, and Paula Pell, with Rivinoja and Carloni writing the screenplay ^[59] Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has not released a full synopsis yet, but the company did explain in a release: In the wonderfully whimsical tradition of Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat comes to the big screen in his animated theatrical feature film debut, doing what he does best—spreading joy to “happyless” kids. In the film, The Cat takes on his toughest assignment yet… to cheer a pair of siblings struggling with their move to a new town.

A platform game based on the film was published by Vivendi Universal Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance on November 5, 2003, and Microsoft Windows on November 9, shortly before the film's theatrical release. The game received mixed reviews from critics.^[60][61]

• List of films based on Dr. Seuss books

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