Bad:  And that’s where I have a problem with this movie. It’s tricky to be able to take a beloved children's story and make it into a movie that will attract the children, but keep the adults entertained and satisfied as well. Although I was expecting the story to have some scenes of chaos and fun, what I wasn’t expecting was some of the crude and “adult” elements. The essence of the story is about the kids getting into mischief and learning to have fun while their mom is away, so a few scenes like Conrad creating an “indoors stairs luge" and destroying the house or the Things riding on top of the sleeping babysitter down the steps with her head bouncing on each step follow in that vein. The heightened level of violence and bad behavior in this movie come with scenes that were never in the book, but are played here for laughs: The Cat pretends to be a piñata at a child’s birthday party until a boy smashes him in the crotch area with a large wooden bat and The Cat reacts in pain, The Cat does an infomercial on TV and accidentally cuts off the end of his own tail with a large cleaver (no blood), plus lots of other scenes using physical comedy. There’s no profanity, but there is some crude humor that is at times cleverly disguised with innuendoes so parents and older kids will “get it,” but younger ones probably won’t and at other times, it’s just blatant. The Cat looks at a hoe with dirt on it and says, "You dirty hoe" (it’s a play on "ho" for "whore"), the fish utters “Oh my cod" which sounds like you-know-what, and there are other comments like “your demonic children” and an incomplete "what the ... ", "the mother of all messes" and "not so fast you little maggots." Lines like that just don’t create that “warm and fuzzy” Dr. Seuss feeling that I remember being in the book. The Cat makes a comment about the fish swimming in his own pee, the dog urinates in the car, there’s a “son of a __" (bleeped out) and the word “ass” is heard. There’s a clever play on words where the Cat mentions an acronym for his car and implies that the word spells the “s” word. Then there’s Myers' “Cat impersonations”: Carmen Miranda with plastic shapes covering his breasts, an auto mechanic with a plastic shaped bottom that makes it look like it’s the cats rear end hanging out of his cat suit, an infomercial chef that cuts off his tail and a few others that take the “teacher” out of the cat and replace it with Myers the comedian doing his thing in a cat suit. There are a couple of references to smoking and drinking. In one scene, The Cat comments on not having a drink but is later seen holding a tropical drink. The disgusting boyfriend is carrying a six-pack of beer through the kids' living room while hurling verbal insults at them. That may not be a shocking scene in any other movie, but in a PG kids' story? What were the writers and director thinking?

Bottom Line:  Although there are some clever and funny scenes in this movie and it is visually a wonder for kids to behold, there is still something “dark” that takes all of the fun out of it. It just doesn’t have the book's charm or “feel good” quality. Part of the problem is that it’s too much Mike Myers being Mike Myers instead of creating a wise and “kid friendly” personality for The Cat. The other part is the storyline that's been added to make the book into a movie. You can clearly tell where Dr. Seuss ends and the scriptwriters begin. Will kids enjoy this movie? I’m sure many will, especially if they are conditioned to watching movies or television with the elements I’ve mentioned above and don’t think there’s anything wrong with that kind of humor. Adults and parents who are fans of the book may be disappointed. I took my teenage son, who loved the book as a child and who enjoys Myers' style of comedy, and he didn’t think it was funny or entertaining. Sure, there are lessons and positive points made about telling the truth, learning to have fun and staying out of mischief, but it’s hard to remember those lessons or walk away with those truths when you’re exhausted from the frenetic pace the movie maintains until the end. I enjoyed “The Grinch” because it is a different kind of story, and Jim Carey was able to take liberties with that kind of character. “The Cat” has a different standard to live up to because his character takes on the role of teacher to get the kids to realize how they need to make changes in their lives. Although Myers completes the task and lessons are learned, it’s the process and what he teaches them along the way that I’m not so sure would earn Dr. Seuss' approval.