'The Cat in the Hat' Review: A Wacky, Imaginative Love Letter To Seuss
Warner Brothers aims to breathe new life into dr. Seuss’ beloved story The ‘Cat in the Hat’, and luckily this wacky and imaginative new take is a treat for the whole family.
‘The Cat in the Hat’ centers on the titular cat voiced here by Bill Hader, who works for the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration. Unfortunately, his erratic and highly destructive techniques he uses to cheer up depressed children has placed him on the cutting block. However, he is given one last assignment to keep his status, tasked with cheering up two siblings named Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) and Sebastian (Tiago Martinez) who have moved to a new city and find themselves lost and aimless. It’s up to the cat to turn their frowns upside down or he’ll risk losing his position, his signature stripes and of course his magical hat.
Dr. Seuss’ work has always been ripe for adaptation, spawning a wide variety of iterations of his beloved stories. Fortunately, after 2003’s heavily maligned version of this tale starring Mike Myers, there was substantial room for improvement. Fortunately, directors Alessandro Carloni and Eric Rivinoja have crafted the best version of this story yet. From the outset, it’s clear there is a vivid, meticulously detailed vision for this adaptation. The animation is stunning, dynamic and wildly creative, utilizing a variety of animation styles in order to differentiate the real world from the fantastical. Especially as the cat and these siblings enter worlds far more whimsical than their own, the creative flourishes are wonderfully realized and narratively compelling, complimenting and enhancing the emotional journey of these two children as they attempt to find a lost MacGuffin that is also being pursued by an insidious entity that wishes to use it for nefarious purposes.
The voice performances across the board are also terrific. Hader fits the stripes and hat like a glove, his lively, charming and energetic voice work a perfect match for the character as he makes him feel wholly his own. His chemistry with Quinta Brunson’s Sherri, his co-worker and best friend, is especially palpable, the two of them making their close-knit friendship feel infectiously playful and authentic. Gomez and Martinez are also fantastic here, making their sibling relationship feel fully lived-in and three dimensional, especially as their relatively estranged initial dynamic slowly evolves as they delve deeper into the magical worlds the film has to offer. Their dynamic coupled with their relationship with their mother Carmen (America Ferrera) provides the beating heart of the film, especially as the three of them begin to fully understand one another and what they’re currently going through. The cherry on top is Matt Berry’s work as The Fish, his singular and heavily recognizable voice and delivery an added bonus that provides the film with a sizable amount of laughs.
The film also deftly balances the quirky storytelling and humor of Seuss’ work with an earnest and hefty amount of heart, the combination that has helped make the revered author’s work stand the test of time. However, it’s the heart of the film that allows it to truly shine, especially as it delves into the the pains and frustrations of growing up and channeling one’s joys and sense of wonder into what they do. These are themes that many animated films would either glaze over or only explore at a surface level, but thankfully Carloni and Rivinoja’s script refuses to do either, giving these themes time to breathe and develop while also delivering plenty of entertainment value for families with the film’s bombastic and imaginative set pieces that feel like they’ve been ripped straight out of Seuss’ story.
However, the film suffers from a fair amount of setbacks. First and foremost, the first half of the film feels as if its struggling to find its momentum and narrative rhythm, the pacing inconsistent and leaning more toward sluggish as the story fails to grab the viewer initially. The film also suffers from a one-note and uninteresting antagonist named Mr. Hoogeboom (Giancarlo Esposito), a high-ranking executive that schemes to rid the organization of the cat for good. Despite a great voice performance from Esposito, there simply isn’t enough to the character on the page to make him memorable despite his best efforts. Not helping matters is the film’s humor, which is clearly geared toward younger audiences. The majority of the film’s jokes, even the ones more targeted at adults, fail to land and feel far too lazy and uninspired to make much of a lasting impression. Children will certainly enjoy the slapstick visual gags and the predictable jokes, but parents and older audiences don’t have much to chew on here when it comes to the comedy. Fortunately, once the film finds its emotional footing in the second half and settles into a consistent rhythm, it begins to truly shine as the heart takes centerstage and the humor begins to take a backseat as the film reaches its emotional crescendo.
‘The Cat in the Hat’ may not be the best animated film of the year, but it still remains a winning adaptation of Seuss’ work thanks to its stellar animation, game voice performances and emotionally charged storytelling that allow it to stand out from other iterations of his stories. If this adaptation makes anything abundantly clear, it’s that Seuss’ work continues to remain as timeless and emotionally compelling as ever.