Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat
I hated How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which was a smash for Jim Carrey. Cat, another over-blown Hollywood raid on Dr. Seuss, has a draw in Mike Myers, who inexplicably plays the Cat by mimicking Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. It all smacks of exhausted inspiration. Dr. Seuss' slim volume (barely 1,600 words) is about a cat who teaches two bored kids (Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin) to have fun by looking inside themselves. The film bloats it with frenzied action, vulgar jokes and padded roles for Mom (Kelly Preston), her boss (Sean Hayes) and her smarmy boyfriend (Alec Baldwin). Talk about your quick-buck exploitation.