The Cat in the Hat is in theaters on on November 6.
Having received a 2003 live-action adaptation that left much to be desired, the Cat in the Hat is back with a new feature film. This time, it’s in animated form, and fortunately the end result is a much better one.
With Mike Myers having starred in the live-action version, another group of filmmakers have once more turned to a Saturday Night Live alum, with Bill Hader now voicing the Cat. Dr. Seuss's beloved children's book is far too short to make for a feature-length story on its own, so things are rather drastically reinterpreted and expanded upon here, with writer-directors Erica Rivinoja (South Park, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) and Alessandro Carloni (Kung Fu Panda 3) essentially just taking the basic idea of the fantastical Cat in the Hat appearing to children to encourage imagination and mischief.
The opening scenes feel somewhat similar to Monsters, Inc., establishing an entire imagination-based business of sorts with the Cat in the Hat as an employee. Other anthropomorphic animals work alongside him, all in the service of providing entertainment and encouragement to kids needing an imagination boost. Fortunately, the film doesn’t get too bogged down in the “company” scenario, mostly using it as a fun way to incorporate nods to the Seuss-y source material in the form of rhyming rules explained by staff members (voiced by the likes of Giancarlo Esposito, Bowen Yang, and Quinta Brunson), along with some visual depictions of the Cat in that Hat that also harken back to the book. From there, the story follows the Cat appearing to sister and brother Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) and Sebastian (Tiago Martinez), who are trying to deal with moving to a new city with their mother, Carmen (America Ferrera).
The Cat in the Hat shows genuine creativity from the start, beginning with its distinct visual interpretation of its two worlds. The realm the Cat and his colleagues live in appears much more bright, colorful, and off-kilter compared to the more realistic and muted feel given to Gabby and Sebastian’s apartment life. The film thankfully provides solid laughs on a fairly frequent basis too, from sight gags and slapstick that can entertain all ages to some notably multilayered jokes that can easily work for kids but arguably hit harder for the adults in the audience.
It also certainly helps to have Bill Hader voicing the Cat, bringing his deft sense of humor to the role along with his ability to do impressive voices. In addition to Hader, the movie has a bit of a cheat code in the form of Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows) as the voice of Gabby and Sebastian's pet fish, Waffles, who the Cat promptly gives the ability to speak. Is there a greater and more innately funny voice than Berry's these days? Hearing his bombastic delivery as an overwhelmed and frustrated fish is continually funny.
The film’s storyline involves the Cat introducing and then promptly losing a device that functions in a manner similar to Doctor Strange's Time Stone, enabling the user to rewind recent events. The search for this device takes the Cat, Gabby, and Sebastian inside incredible versions of the moving boxes that still fill the kids’ apartment; they travel through worlds where everything inside these boxes appears larger than life, often having actually come to life in the form of various toys, objects, and drawings they encounter. While some of this is a bit reminiscent of the journey through the mind in Inside Out, there are a lot of unique and appreciated touches throughout as everything from musical instruments to IKEA instructions can and do express themselves in various ways.
The one big drawback with the film is that it’s simply too long for its subject matter, losing energy as it nears its conclusion. Running just a few minutes shy of two hours, it starts to drag in its third act; an obvious reason for this is that there are just too many overlapping conflicts introduced. The film is ultimately juggling the Cat’s quest to get back his lost device; a monstrous creature called “Something” who is pursuing our heroes; the fact that the Cat in the Hat's job is in jeopardy thanks to recent screw-ups; and another subplot about Carmen’s snooping landlord (Paula Pell), who is itching for a reason to evict the new family in the building thanks to her strict rules. It feels like Rivinoja and Carloni overcompensated for how slight the book is; the movie would have been better served by dropping at least one of these storylines, as the movie feels noticeably stretched out as it nears its resolution.
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