In the film, Mike Myers donned a furry suit and striped hat to play the titular troublemaker, but somewhere between the crude jokes, vaguely creepy character design, and creative liberties that nobody really asked for, the childlike whimsy of Dr. Seuss’s original book got lost. The result was a downright bizarre film that critics thoroughly hated, earning a dismal 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. Among those less than impressed was Dr. Seuss’s widow, Audrey Geisel, who decided she’d seen quite enough of live-action adaptations of her husband’s work and forbade any more.
23 years later, the Cat is getting another shot. This time, mercifully, he’s animated.
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s The Cat in the Hat hit theaters November 6, with Bill Hader voicing the titular Cat and Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni writing and directing. But rather than retread the rainy afternoon of the 1957 book, the filmmakers have decided to find out what the Cat gets up to when he’s not turning a couple of unsupervised children’s afternoons upside down.
Apparently, cheering up bored children is his day job. He’s employed by the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, LLC (which has the good sense to abbreviate itself to I.I.I.I.), an organization that sends its agents out to brighten the days of unhappy kids. Unfortunately, the Cat’s performance at work leaves something to be desired. He has a habit of making things worse before he makes them better, and his job is hanging by a thread.
His latest assignment is to cheer up Gabby and Sebastian, two siblings having a hard time adjusting to a new town. It’s his final chance to prove he’s any good at his job. If he succeeds, he gets to keep it. If he fails, he’ll lose his magical hat. It’s a pretty ridiculous premise but one that builds on a question left unanswered by the original book: Where does the Cat go when he isn’t wreaking havoc in someone’s home?
The filmmakers have run very far with that question, developing an entire world beyond the rainy afternoon that started it all. The Cat now has coworkers, office politics, and even an HR department. Quinta Brunson voices his friend in human resources, Bowen Yang plays an intern, and Giancarlo Esposito takes on the thankless role of his progressively exasperated boss. Also along for the ride are Matt Berry, America Ferrera, and Xochitl Gomez.
But the biggest difference this time around is staring us right in the face. Dr. Seuss’s illustrations were never that concerned with the laws of physics, or anatomy, or whether a building could actually stand upright. Trying to recreate all that in live-action was always going to be a tall order. This time, the filmmakers have let animation do what it does best. Working with DNEG Animation, they’ve created several distinct visual worlds, each with its own aesthetic and peculiarities. The wobbly shapes, odd proportions, and gravity-defying buildings of Seuss’s drawings are all accounted for. But the film also ventures into entirely new territory, including 3 fantastical worlds hidden inside the family’s moving boxes where their belongings and memories take on a life of their own.
And really, that’s much of the fun of Dr. Seuss. His stories are as much about the look of the worlds he’s dreamed up as what happens inside them. Nothing appears quite right, nothing behaves quite right, but somehow it makes completely perfect sense — or, at the very least, you never think to question it. Why should a movie adaptation be any different?
Early reviews suggest that all this world-building is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Critics have praised the imaginative, eye-popping animation and lively voice performances, though some aren’t convinced the Cat needed quite so much backstory in the first place. Fair enough. Still, there’s something to be said about an adaptation that goes beyond giving a familiar story a fresh coat of paint. The filmmakers could have sent the Cat back to that same house, with the same 2 children and the same poor fish, but instead they’ve gone looking for what else might be hiding in Seuss’s peculiar universe.
With a new look, a new voice, and considerably more professional responsibilities than anyone expected, the Cat has quite a lot going on these days. And while it’s anyone’s guess whether this outing will become the definitive Cat in the Hat adaptation, it’s exciting to see just how far filmmakers can run with Seuss’s imagination when they’re not bound by the laws of the real world. After all, he certainly never was.
