The Cat in the Hat (film)
The Cat in the Hat (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat) is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Bo Welch in his directorial debut and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer. Loosely based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 book of the same name, it was the second feature-length Dr. Seuss adaptation after "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000). The film stars Mike Myers in the title role with Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill and Sean Hayes in supporting roles . Production on the film began in 1997 with Tim Allen originally cast in the title role. After Allen dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with "The Santa Clause 2", the role went to Myers. Filming took place in California and lasted three months from late 2002 to early 2003. As with the previous Dr. Seuss adaptation, many new characters and subplots were added to the story to bring it up to feature-length. Released in theaters on November 21, 2003 in the United States by Universal Pictures and internationally by DreamWorks Pictures, the film grossed $133.9 million against a  budget of $109 million and received negative reviews from critics. Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, was also critical of the film and decided not to allow any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works, resulting in the cancellation of a sequel based on "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back"; all Dr. Seuss film adaptations have since been produced using computer animation. In March 2012, an animated remake was announced by Universal and Illumination but did not happen. In 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures via Warner Animation Group announced an animated reboot was again in development. Plot. Conrad  and Sally Walden live in the town of Anville with their single mother Joan who works for neat-freak Hank Humberfloob as a real estate agent and is dating next-door neighbor Lawrence "Larry" Quinn. Scheduled to host an office party that evening at her house, Joan forbids her children from entering the living room which is being kept pristine for the party, which would result in her dismissal if it becomes messy. Conrad trashes the front hall, causing the family's dog Nevins to run off in fright to Larry's yard (Larry subsequently returns him). When Humberfloob calls  Joan back to the office, she leaves her kids with lethargic babysitter Mrs. Kwan after the previous one abruptly quits. After Mrs. Kwan falls asleep, the kids encounter the Cat in the Hat, an oversized, anthropomorphic humanoid talking cat with a red-and-white striped top hat and red bow tie who expresses a desire to teach them about having fun, though the family's pet fish is extremely reluctant to have the Cat around in Joan's absence. In his presence, the Cat causes destruction throughout the house, and soon releases two troublemaking creatures named Things 1 and 2  from a crate, who end up trashing the house as they only do the opposite of what they are instructed. After witnessing Conrad open the crate, the Cat warns him to keep it closed as it is a portal to his world, but Conrad picks the crab-like lock on the crate, which grabs on to Nevins' collar as the Things throw Nevins out the window. While the Things stay behind and continue to trash the house, the trio go outside to retrieve Nevins and the lock. Meanwhile, Larry is revealed to be an unemployed, destitute slob, posing as a  successful businessman to marry Joan for her money and send Conrad away to military school. Larry sees Nevins running across the street and, believing that Conrad had let him out again, calls Joan to notify her. While spying on Nevins, the trio see Larry kidnapping him to use as leverage, prompting them to follow him into the city using the Cat's super-powered car, the S.L.O.W. Upon discovering Larry going into Joan's office, the Cat tricks him into giving them Nevins and they escape. Larry attempts chase, but subsequently loses them at an underground party where the Cat  loses his hat and takes a normal one instead. Seeing Larry return home with Joan, Conrad uses the Things to stall the two by posing as police officers in order to get home first. Despite being distracted by the Things, Larry witnesses the trio drive past in his car and races after them on the Things's police motorcycle. The trio return to the house, but Larry intercepts them and orders them inside. The Cat reveals himself to Larry, who, in fright and due to his cat allergy, accidentally tears through a wall and falls into a purple gooey ocean , revealing that the house has been transformed into "The Mother of All Messes" within the Cat's world. The trio ride a sleeping Mrs. Kwan through the surreal house to find the crate, which the kids seal using the lock, whereupon the house returns to its normal proportions but immediately collapses. In a heated argument, the kids discover that the Cat, who had his hat all along, planned the whole day and angrily order him to leave. Conrad resigns himself to facing the consequences upon Joan's return with Sally sharing the blame, but the Cat returns with a cleaning  machine, revealing that his planned day was intended to make the kids learn from their flaws, and fixes the house. Conrad and Sally reconcile with the Cat and thank him for everything before he departs just as Joan arrives. Larry, covered in purple goo, reappears and attempts to tell Joan about the kids' shenanigans and the Cat's existence, but Joan dumps him, saying that while Conrad "is" indeed a troublemaker, he is still a good kid whom she believes in. Later, after her successful party, Joan spends time with her kids at home while the Cat (who is revealed  to be the narrator himself) and the Things walk off into the sunset. Production. Development. DreamWorks Pictures acquired the film rights to the original Dr. Seuss book in 1997. However, production did not originally start until after the 2000 Christmas/comedy film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", based on another Dr. Seuss book of the same name, became a commercial success. Brian Grazer, the producer of "The Grinch", stated: "Because we grew up with these books, and because they have such universal themes and the illustrations ignite such fantasy in your mind as a child—the aggregation of all those  feelings—it leaves an indelible, positive memory. And so when I realized I had a chance to convert first "The Grinch" and then, "The Cat in the Hat", into movies, I was willing to do anything to bring them to the screen." Grazer then contacted Bo Welch over the phone with the offer to direct the film, and he accepted. When production began, songs written by Randy Newman were dropped because they were deemed inferior; Newman's cousin, David, instead composed the score for the film. Although Welch and a publicist for Myers denied it, several people said Myers had  considerable input into the film's direction by telling some of the cast (co-stars Baldwin and Preston) how to perform their scenes. Casting. Tim Allen was originally considered for the role of the Cat. The script was initially based on a version of the original book's story conceived by Allen, who admitted that as a child he was afraid of Seuss' "mischievous feline babysitter"; "My dream is to give it the edge that scared me," stated Allen. However, the studio did not commission a screenplay until late February 2001, when Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer (best  known for being writers on the television series "Seinfeld") were hired by the studio to script the film (replacing the original draft of the film that was written a few years prior by Eric Roth), so the film would not be ready to shoot before the deadline. By this point, Allen was also committed to shooting Disney's "The Santa Clause 2", which was also delayed because Allen wanted a script rewrite. Due to scheduling conflicts with that film, he dropped out of the role. As a result, in March 2002 the role of the Cat was given to Mike  Myers, whom Grazer had an argument with regarding a proposed film adaptation of Myers' "Saturday Night Live" sketch "Sprockets", which Myers cancelled in June 2000 after being dissatisfied with his own script for it. Myers stated in an interview that he was a long-time fan of the original Dr. Seuss book, and that it was the first book he ever read. Myers was obligated to appear in the film as a result of a settlement related to the "Sprockets" film's cancellation. Makeup and visual effects. Originally, Rick Baker was set to be the prosthetic makeup designer for the  film after his previous experience with "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", but due to conflicts with the studio and production team, particularly with Myers' behavior (showing up late to meetings, refusing to come to makeup tests) and the complex challenge of designing the character’s makeup, he left the project and was replaced by Steve Johnson, one of his earliest apprentices. The Cat costume was made of angora and human hair and was fitted with a cooling system. To keep Myers cool during the outdoor shoots, a portable air conditioner was available that connected a hose to the suit between  shots, while the tail and ears were battery-operated. Danielle Chuchran and Brittany Oaks, who portrayed Thing 1 and Thing 2, respectively, wore a prosthetic face mask and wig designed by Johnson as well. The Fish was considered somewhat of a unique character for Rhythm and Hues Studios (responsible for the visual effects and animation in films such as "Cats & Dogs", "" and "Scooby-Doo"), in that the character had no shoulders, hips or legs, so all of the physical performance had to emit from the eyes, head and fin motion. Sean Hayes, who provided the voice for the Fish, found  the role significantly different from his usual on-camera jobs; he did not know how the final animation would look, resulting in all of his voice work taking place alone in a sound booth. Filming. Prior to filming, giant props for the film were stolen from the set; the local police found the props vandalized with graffiti in a shopping mall car park in Pomona, California. Despite this, no arrests had been made and filming was to start the next week. Principal photography took place mostly in California from October 2002 to January 2003. The neighborhood and the town center  was filmed in a rural valley near Simi Valley, where 24 houses (each 26 feet square and 52 feet tall) were constructed. The downtown area outdoor shots were filmed along a Pomona street where a number of antique and gift shops are located. The community decided not to redecorate after filming ended, so the surreal paint scheme and some of the signage could still be seen today as it appears in the film. Because of so much smog in the area, the sky had to be digitally replaced with the cartoon-like sky and colors of the background had to  be digitally fixed. According to co-star Amy Hill, Myers was difficult to work with on set, refusing to talk to anyone on the production (other than director Welch) and isolating himself from the cast and crew during breaks in filming. She also noted that there would be retakes of scenes because Myers overruled Welch on whether they were good enough or not. In addition, Hill stated that Myers had an assistant who held chocolates in a Tupperware, and whenever Myers needed a piece of chocolate, his assistant would come over and give him one. Music. The soundtrack was released  on November 18, 2003. Originally, Marc Shaiman was going to compose the score for the film, but due to David Newman already being chosen for the film score, Shaiman instead wrote the film's songs with Scott Wittman. The soundtrack also features a song by Smash Mouth ("Getting Better"), which makes it the third Mike Myers-starring film in a row to feature a song by Smash Mouth after "Shrek" and "Austin Powers in Goldmember". The trailer for the film uses a version of "Hey! Pachuco!" by the Royal Crown Revue. The soundtrack also includes two songs performed by Myers , who plays the Cat. Newman's score won a BMI Film Music Award. Release. Home media. "The Cat in the Hat" was released on VHS and DVD on March 16, 2004. The DVD features 13 deleted scenes, 36 outtakes, 13 featurettes, a "Dance with the Cat" tutorial to teach children how to do a Cat in the Hat dance, and an audio commentary with director Bo Welch and actor Alec Baldwin. On February 7, 2012, the film was released on Blu-ray. Reception. Box office. "The Cat in the Hat" opened theatrically on November 21, 2003 and grossed $38.3  million in its opening weekend, ranking first in the North American box office ahead of "Brother Bear", "Elf" and "". The film ended its theatrical run on March 18, 2004, having grossed $101.1 million domestically and $32.8 million overseas for a worldwide total of $133.9 million. Critical response. On Rotten Tomatoes, "The Cat in the Hat" has a 9% approval rating based on 163 reviews and an average rating of 3.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Filled with double entendres and potty humor, this "Cat" falls flat." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 19 out  of 100 based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of on an A+ to F scale. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film one star, stating: ""Cat", another overblown Hollywood raid on Dr. Seuss, has a draw on Mike Myers, who inexplicably plays the Cat by mimicking Bert Lahr in "The Wizard of Oz"." Roger Ebert of "The Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film two out of four stars. Although he praised the production design, he considered the film to be "all effects and stunts and CGI  and prosthetics, with no room for lightness and joy". Ebert and co-host Richard Roeper gave the film "Two Thumbs Down" on their weekly movie review program. Roeper said of Myers' performance that "maybe a part of him was realizing as the movie was being made that a live-action version of "The Cat in the Hat" just wasn't a great idea." Ebert compared the film unfavorably to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas": "If there is one thing I've learned from these two movies, it's that we don't want to see Jim Carrey as a Grinch , and we don't want to see Mike Myers as a cat. These are talented comedians, let's see them do their stuff, don't bury them under a ton of technology." Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four in his "Movie Guide": "Brightly colored adaptation of the beloved rhyming book for young children is a betrayal of everything Dr. Seuss ever stood for, injecting potty humor and adult (wink-wink) jokes into a mixture of heavy-handed slapstick and silliness." Maltin also said that the film's official title which included "Dr. Seuss ' The Cat in the Hat" was "an official insult". Todd McCarthy of "Variety" praised the film as "attractively designed, energetically performed and, above all, blessedly concise." Alec Baldwin was disappointed with the film and addressed complaints the film received because of its dissimilarity to the source material. He expressed a belief that a film is "an idea about something" and that because Dr. Seuss' work is so unique, making a feature-length film out of one of his stories would entail taking liberties and making broad interpretations. Accolades. The film also received three nominations at the Hollywood Makeup & Hairstylists Guild  Awards. Future. Canceled sequel. On the day of the film's release, Myers stated in an interview that he expected a sequel where the kids meet the Cat again. A sequel based on the original book's sequel "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" was in development just over a month before the film's release, with Myers and Welch to return to their duties as actor and director, respectively. Following the film's poor reception however, Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, decided to disallow any subsequent live-action adaptations of her late husband's works to be produced , to which the sequel was eventually scrapped. Animated reboot. In March 2012, a computer-animated "Cat in the Hat" film remake was announced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment following the success of "The Lorax", with Rob Lieber set to write the script, Chris Meledandri to produce the film and Geisel to executive-produce it, but it never came to fruition. On January 24, 2018 it was announced that Warner Animation Group picked up the rights for the animated "Cat in the Hat" film as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises. Video game. A platform game based on  the film was published by Vivendi Universal Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance on November 5, 2003, and Microsoft Windows on November 9, 2003, shortly before the film's theatrical release.