Sci&Tech Editor Sophie Webb defends 2003’s misunderstood Seuss comedy
The 2003 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in The Hat, starring Mike Myers and directed by Bo Welch, holds a score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as ten Golden Raspberry nominations and 12 Stinkers Bad Movie Award nominations, with one win for Worst Picture. One of the film’s performers, Spencer Breslin, had a Stinkers Award named after him: the Spencer Breslin Award for Worst Child Actor Performance. Dr. Seuss’ widow Audrey Geisel was so horrified by the film that she restricted the filmmaking rights to her husband’s work, essentially banning any future live-action adaptations. And yet, If I tried hard enough, I could probably recite entire sections of the film’s script from memory – I adore everything about this comedic masterpiece.
Instantly eye-catching
I say this unironically. I watched the film on DVD hundreds of times as a child, each viewing as zesty and fun as the last. Instantly eye-catching is the vivid and brightly-coloured set design: in the fictional town of Anville, the houses and cars are uniformly yellow and green, respectively. The city centre is a lurid parody of an American city’s central district, with its purple pavements and oversized shopfronts. The set seems almost too meticulously designed to feature in a film primarily for children; its craftsmanship is most likely lost on its target audience. However, even if the merits of set construction are not the principal interest of young viewers, they can certainly appreciate the popping colours and shapes, as I did. The costume design is just as stylistic and detailed, inspired by American fashions of years past, to give Anville a certain timelessness – the film’s events could take place in modern day, but equally they could take place in the 1950s.
Reading endless scathing reviews for one of my favourite films provided a stark reminder that comedy is entirely subjective. One of its Stinkers nominations was for Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy, which is baffling given the film’s wonderfully fast-paced script and barrage of quotable one-liners. The dialogue ricochets back and forth between characters, with a sense that these characters are not entirely in control of it – which, if you ask me, only makes it funnier. With the witty wisecracks and references coming thick and fast, the film zips along at break-neck speed, never once feeling heavy or laboured.
Mike Myers was born for this role
Growing up, I loved the bickering dynamic between Sally and Conrad, the two siblings who happen across the eponymous Cat. I could see vivid similarities between their relationship and that of me and my own sister; to me, they were relatable and fully-realised characters, making it all the more shocking that the performance of Spencer Breslin (Conrad) became a byword for poor child acting at the Stinkies. Both he and Dakota Fanning (Sally) were nominated.
Tim Allen was originally considered for the role of the Cat, which draws a blank for me – Mike Myers was born for this role. He throws his whole body into the demanding physical movements and vocal tics of the hyperactive Cat, leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of weirdness. In this regard, comparisons can be made with another notorious Dr. Seuss live-action adaptation, How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). In that staple of the festive period, Jim Carrey likewise became possessed by the spirits of Old Hollywood slapstick comedy and aggressive irreverence – as a result, both films were scorned for diverging from their source material.
The film zips along at break-neck speed
Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide declared The Cat in The Hat “a betrayal of everything Dr. Seuss stood for”. But in more recent times, Dr. Seuss’ position in the canon of children’s literature has been re-evaluated. The author’s cartoons have seen accusations of racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism; and his stories have been criticised for racist imagery in modern interpretations. What are the Dr. Seuss purists trying to protect exactly?
This surreal fantasy comedy may have gone down in film history as universally panned, but in the hearts of a few loyal fans, including myself, it will live on as a rebellious, anti-establishment testament to childhood fun, made a classic by its rejection of its source material.
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