Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (or simply The Cat in the Hat) is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1957 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. Directed by Bo Welch and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, the film stars Mike Myers as the titular character, alongside Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin. It follows siblings Sally and Conrad Walden getting paid a visit by the Cat in the Hat, who plans to lighten up their rainy day with activities that ensue mayhem.

DreamWorks Pictures originally acquired the film rights to the book in June 1996, although production did not begin until after the 2000 live-action film adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (which Universal and Imagine also worked on) was commercially successful. Several actors were considered for the titular character, before Myers landed the role in March 2002. Principal photography commenced mostly in California from October 2002 to January 2003, and 24 houses were constructed for the film's primary setting. David Newman composed the score for the film, while Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote two original songs for the film.

The Cat in the Hat premiered in Universal City, California, on November 8, 2003, and was released in North American theatres by Universal Pictures on November 21. It was a box-office disappointment, grossing $134 million worldwide on a budget of $109 million, and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. This led to Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, forbidding any further live-action film adaptations of her husband's works, including a planned sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. The film was nominated for eight awards at the 24th Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Director, as well as two awards at the 25th and 30th Golden Raspberry Awards.

Plot

Conrad and Sally Walden live in the city of Anville with their mother Joan, who works for neat-freak Hank Humberfloob as a real estate agent and is dating their next-door neighbor Larry Quinn. One day, Joan leaves her children at home with a lethargic babysitter, Mrs. Kwan, while she goes to the office, forbidding them to enter the living room, which is being kept pristine for her company's bimonthly Meet & Greet office party which she is hosting that night.

After Mrs. Kwan falls asleep, Sally and Conrad meet the Cat in the Hat, a sarcastic, wisecracking humanoid cat with a red-and-white striped top hat and a large red bow tie, who wants to teach them how to have fun despite the objections of the family's pet fish. In the process, the Cat leaves a trail of destruction throughout the house and releases twin troublemakers, Thing 1 and Thing 2, from a red crate which he locks and forbids the children to tamper with, explaining that it is a portal to his world. Despite the Cat's warning, Conrad picks the crab lock on the crate, which grabs onto the collar of the family dog Nevins, who runs off. The trio leaves the house and sets off to search for Nevins and get the lock back.

Meanwhile, Larry is revealed to be a rude, disgusting, and unemployed slob in debt due to being lazy to work for a living, and is pretending to be a successful salesman in order to marry Joan for her wealth, as well as planning to send Conrad to military school so that he can get him out of the picture. Larry sees Nevins and kidnaps him, but the trio drives in the Cat's super-powered car after them and the Cat tricks him into returning the dog. When Larry tells Joan, the trio has the Things stall them by posing as police officers, but Larry races after them.

When the trio return to the house, Larry cuts the children off and orders them inside, where he sneezes uncontrollably due to his cat allergy. The Cat takes advantage of it and scares him, only for them to find that the house has been transformed into "The Mother of All Messes", with Larry falling into a purple gooey abyss. The Cat, Sally, and Conrad ride on the still sleeping Mrs. Kwan and navigate through the surreal house to find the crate and lock it, whereupon the house returns to its normal proportions but immediately collapses. In a heated argument, the children discover that the Cat planned the whole day and furiously order him to leave.

Conrad and Sally realize their mistake and resign themselves to facing the consequences when Joan comes home, but the Cat returns with a cleaning invention and, with the help of the Things, fixes the house. Conrad and Sally reconcile with the Cat and thank him for everything, and he departs just as Joan arrives. Larry, having survived the fall and merely covered in goo, comes in, thinking he has busted the children, and tries to tell Joan about the mess and the Cat's world. Joan, having seen the clean house, does not believe his story and says that Conrad, while indeed a troublemaker, is nice on the inside before outrightly dumping Larry, much to his humiliation and dismay. After the successful party, Joan spends time with her children by jumping on the couch with them, while the Cat and the Things walk off into the sunset.

Cast

Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat, a wisecracking anthropomorphic cat who wears an oversized red bow-tie and a magical red-and-white striped top-hat containing comical gadgets. Alec Baldwin as Lawrence "Larry" Quinn, the Waldens' arrogant, lazy, unscrupulous, and unemployed next-door neighbor. He is allergic to cats which makes him sneeze, steals food from the Waldens, and is determined to marry Joan to mooch off of her wealth and send Conrad to military school to get rid of him. Kelly Preston as Joan Walden, Conrad and Sally's mother, a workaholic real estate agent for Humberfloob's Real Estate. Dakota Fanning as Sally Walden, Joan's dull, somewhat bossy, well-behaved and rule-obeying 8-year-old daughter, and the younger sister of Conrad. Spencer Breslin as Conrad Walden, Joan's imaginative, yet destructive and misbehaved 12-year-old son, and the older brother of Sally. Amy Hill as Mrs. Kwan, an overweight and elderly Taiwanese woman who was hired to watch the children, but sleeps through her job, which serves as a running gag along with her weight. Sean Hayes as Mr. Hank Humberfloob, Joan's germophobic boss. He is seemingly friendly, but is quick to fire employees for the smallest infractions, often in a loud tone of voice. Hayes is also the voice of the somewhat cynical, pessimistic and sensible family fish. Danielle Chuchran and Taylor Rice as Thing 1, and Brittany Oaks and Talia-Lynn Prairie as Thing 2; two gibbering trouble-making creatures that the Cat brings in with him and only do the opposite of what they are told. Dan Castellaneta provided the voices for the Things. Clint Howard as Kate, the caterer of party food, such as brownies, cakes, etc. Paige Hurd as Denise, Sally's former best friend who does not invite her to her birthday party after an argument. Steven Anthony Lawrence as the Dumb Schweitzer, an intellectually and socially inferior pre-teen boy with a Bronx accent. When Cat disguises himself as the piñata at a birthday party Sally is left out of, he whacks Cat in the groin with a wooden bat. His name is not mentioned in the film, but it is included in the credits. Candace Dean Brown as a secretary who works for Humberfloob Real Estate. Paris Hilton as a female club-goer. Bugsy as Nevins, the Waldens' pet dog. Frank Welker provided his voice. Victor Brandt as the Narrator; he is revealed to be the Cat using a voice-changer at the end of the film.

Production Development

DreamWorks Pictures originally acquired the film rights to Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's book The Cat in the Hat in June 1996 after filmmaker Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Eric Roth made several trips to Seuss's widow Audrey Geisel in her home in La Jolla. However, production did not officially start until after the 2000 film adaptation of Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 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.Welch, Bo. (2004). Commentary for The Cat in the Hat [DVD]. Universal Pictures. Although Welch and a publicist for star Mike Myers denied it, several people said Myers had considerable input into the film's direction by telling some of the cast (namely co-stars Alec Baldwin and Kelly Preston) how to perform their scenes. Screenwriters David Mandel and Alec Berg pitched the film as a child-friendly version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Casting Tim Allen was initially 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 said that as a child he was afraid of Seuss' "mischievous feline babysitter" and it was his dream to give the edge that scared him for the role. He described the Cat as a human who turns into a cat, like either a werewolf or a vampire, as he gets more frustrated with the children. However, the studio did not commission a screenplay until late February 2001, when Berg, Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer were hired by the studio to rewrite the film (replacing the original draft of the film that was written by Eric Roth a few years prior), so the film would not be ready to shoot before the deadline. By this point, Allen was also committed to shooting Walt Disney Pictures' 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. Afterwards, Will Ferrell, Robin Williams, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Jerry Seinfeld, Martin Short (who would later voice the Cat in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!), Dana Carvey and Billy Bob Thornton were considered for the role. However, in March 2002, the role of the Cat was given to 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. Soon after, Myers, Dave Foley, Jay Kogen and Stephen Hibbert did uncredited rewrites of the script. In April 2002, Dakota Fanning was selected to play the role of Sally. Peri Gilpin was originally attached to play Joan Walden, but was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with Frasier. The role of Joan Walden was given to Kelly Preston.

Visual effects and makeup