Cat In The Hat - Strikes again!
As with any popular book, eventually games and movies spawn from it. Remembering the content of the Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat, as a child, I couldn’t imagine what the plot of a movie would entail. It would seem to take a colorful imagination to make a full length movie out of this simple children’s book, but alas the Cat in the Hat has hit the big screen, and very colorfully, I might add.
This adaptation of the book published in 1957, features a talking cat with his trademark red and white striped cap. It tells a story about a sister and brother who pass the time during a rainy day with their babysitter. The Cat in the Hat comes along and shows these bored kids how to have fun and to show them the power is within them and they simply must appreciate it. What he accomplishes to do renew the excitement and joy within these kids for the things they have taken for granted.
The Cat in a Hat pays a visit to them and soon they embark on a fantasy adventure in the Cat in the Hat world. Characters including, their mother, her boyfriend and her boss, all serve as obstacles in this adventure.
Each page of rhyming lines in the original Cat in Hat book is referenced in the movie, but more attention is given to television advertisements and pop psychology. Each child’s character is portrayed at the opposite ends of a spectrum. There is Sally who is so orderly and task-oriented that her continual need for control has driven away her friends. Conrad, on the other hand, is out to try anything on the path to fun, even if it means crashing through boundaries and rules set in place for safety’s sake.
Here is where Conrad’s and Sally’s pet, a nervous fish, serves as their conscience, warning them of the rules they are breaking and the trouble they are causing. The fish finds many ways to say “I told you so!”
The Cat in the Hat is packed with the acrobatic stunts of little Sally and Thing 1 and Thing 2, making it an entertaining treat for the whole family.
The Cat in the Hat ends with the rainy day turning to sunshine, but they find the house is now wrecked and the dog ran off.
The video of Cat in the Hat was released on March 16, which is available on DVD, 2004 and was preceded by a theatrical play on November 21, 2003.