Genre:  Comedy, Family, Fantasy

Rating:  PG (for mild crude humor and some double entendres)

Release Date:  November 21, 2003

Actors:  Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill, Sean Hayes

Director:  Bo Welch

Special Notes:  Mike Myers said this book is his favorite because his actress/mother used to read the story to him with a Liverpool accent.

Plot:  Conrad (Breslin) and Sally (Fanning) live with their single mom, Joan (Preston), in a neat home next door to a nosey neighbor (Baldwin). On a Saturday when Joan had planned to host a party, her demanding boss (Hayes) asks her to come in to work, so Joan decides to leave the children with a babysitter (Hill). Bossy Sally and rule-breaking Conrad are so bored that the only thing they can do is stare out the window. That is, until a special cat in a very tall hat arrives and teaches the kids that “it’s good to have fun … but you have to know how!”

Good:  If ever there was a children’s book that you'd think would be an automatic success as a movie, it would have to be “The Cat in the Hat." Originally published in 1957, this children’s primer, written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss), has been a classic favorite of children and adults for years. I not only read this book (and many others he wrote) to my children, but I spent hours reading it to my little sisters as well. Who can forget “Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in 2000 and how it became the number one box office film that year? So, as a fan of "The Cat," I was eagerly anticipating the combination of the timeless story and a very funny Myers. Basically, the story is about how children should have fun and this simplistic message rings even truer in a day and age when computers, cable TV and video games consume our children’s imagination and time. The production value of the film is incredible with special effects that satisfy the imaginative universe of the book (especially when they fall into the world of the box). Aside from the adorable talking fish that is voiced by the hilarious Sean Hayes (who has perfected a comedic flair for talking fast), the kids are perfectly cast and are incredibly good. I’ve loved Breslin since I saw him in “The Kid,” and Fanning made a powerful impression with her “I Am Sam” performance. So these two were the redeeming additions to the story. Thing One and Thing Two are cute – and annoying – as they bounce all over the room destroying everything, and Preston barely gets a chance to play the mom. But she does a good job with what screen time she does have. I wish I could say that Myers fulfilled my fantasy as The Cat. Incredible costumes and funny one-liners aside, it was his jokes and innuendoes that changed the personality of The Cat from “kiddie friendly” to “adult friendly” that really bothered me. That and the fact that new characters are introduced who aren’t even in the book: the bizarre looking babysitter who is always sleeping and can’t seem to wake up to watch the children and the next door neighbor (Baldwin). He tells Conrad that he doesn't like him and wants to send him to military school so that he's out of the picture and he (the neighbor) can marry the mom. This brought a weird element to the story that I can only describe as well … creepy.