FILM review: 'Cat in the Hat' paints distorted world of Seuss

By Daniel C. Hartman
Iowa State Daily

AMES, Iowa (U-Wire) -- "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" is one rowdy party animal of a movie. While the film version strays far from the book version most of the time, it more than makes up for it in many ways. Like the title character, much of what happens on screen is magical and unexpected.

As in the good doctor's books, the live-action version exists in a universe where the laws of physics and logic are routinely and happily mocked. The bad thing is, there's not much of a story to go with the rapid-fire pranks on screen.

The basic plot of the film involves a brother and sister (a slovenly Spencer Breslin and an anal-retentive Dakota Fanning) who are ordered not to mess up the house before their mom (Kelly Preston) hosts an important party.

When the title character appears all hell breaks loose. How the baby-sitter sleeps through all the ensuing chaos is never explained. Is the woman a narcoleptic, or what? The Cat, played by Mike Myers, is mischief personified. As the kids watch in equal parts horror and delight, the feline fury proceeds to turn their formerly sterile house (and lives) upside down.

Alec Baldwin provides some dramatic tension as the kids' next-door neighbor and would-be stepfather. The cat himself is like a wisecracking naughty uncle. Mike Myers brings an incredible gift for physical comedy to the role.

He never walks; he prances, with his hands fluttering as if he were a jazz dancer. Myers' every line is delivered with a nod, a wink or a leer, yet he never becomes annoying, which in itself takes a skilled actor to pull off.

With the aid of a prosthetic gut, Alec Baldwin adds gross-out humor to the mix. The movie even manages to show the popularity among ravers of red-and-white top hats, which feature a cameo by "professional party girl" Paris Hilton.

"The Cat in the Hat" mirrors the book's quirky look with screwball set designs and special effects. The film has a Tim Burton kind of look which is no surprise since first-time director Bo Welch was the production designer on "Edward Scissorhands" and "Beetle-juice."

While the visuals are bizarre, they're not gloomy like they would be if Burton were in charge. "Cat," on the other hand, is as bright as you can possibly get. Welch fills the screen with scenes that contain much more visual information than the eyes can possible process in a single viewing. The film has one strike against it. Why does Welch find it necessary to toss naughty words and innuendo into what is, after all, a children's' movie?

The best example of this is when the cat discovers a foldout picture of the kids' sexy mom. His hat stands at "attention." When he realizes who he got excited over, the hat deflates and he sighs, "Awkward."

While this in itself isn't much more suggestive than the sexually charged animated antics of the wolf in the classic Tex Avery cartoons from the 1940s, it just feels wrong here.