Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat

Directed by Bo Welch, Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat follows Mike Myers’ title character as he wreaks all kinds of havoc within the home of two young children (Spencer Breslin’s Conrad and Dakota Fanning’s Sally). There’s little doubt that Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat fares best within its promising, entertaining opening stretch, as Welch, armed with a screenplay by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, delivers a bright and colorful endeavor that boasts seriously impressive (and eye-popping) visuals and production design – with the appealing atmosphere heightened by the compelling, larger-than-life efforts of such scene-stealing performers as Kelly Preston, Alec Baldwin, and Sean Hayes. It’s clear, then, that the picture’s downfall is triggered by the inevitable arrival of Myers’ increasingly intolerable figure, as the actor offers up a frenetic and thoroughly over-the-top turn that becomes more and more grating as the picture unfolds – with the progressive arms-length vibe compounded by an exhausting, special-effects-heavy third act. The end result is an ambitious failure that has absolutely no business running 82 minutes, although, to be fair, it does seem likely that small children will thrill to the central character’s anarchic exploits.

** out of ****