‘The Cat in the Hat’ review: A fun way to step into the holiday season

LOS ANGELES: Dr. Seuss’ 1957 children’s book, The Cat in the Hat, gets a colourful animated adaptation, following the live-action version in 2003 starring Mike Myers as the Cat.

The book, in verse, tells the story of two children stuck at home on a rainy day and the Cat in a striped red hat, who comes to their home and shows them a bunch of magic tricks.

The movie starts with the original story. After his assignment, though, the Cat (Bill Hader) scores high on the emotoscope, with the children deliriously happy, but his Mess-o-Meter score, which tracks the chaos he creates, is off the charts.

The humour is a nice mix of subtle and loud visual gags, the review notes, with sweet jokes, inventive visuals, and energetic voice work making it a colourful adaptation of Dr Seuss’s beloved children’s classic.

Bill Hader brings charm and chaos to the Cat, while Matt Berry steals scenes as Waffles the goldfish, and Quinta Brunson, Giancarlo Esposito and the rest of the voice cast add to the fun.

The Cat in the Hat might be a bit too busy at times, and all that red might give a case of retinal fatigue, but the Cat is sweet, and so are the children, the grown-ups, the Things, and even poor Something.

After the horrors of Halloween, The Cat in the Hat might just be what the doctor ordered to ease into the tinsel and ugly jumpers for the festive season.