Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat (2003)

All Critics (163) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (140) | DVD (17)

First published in 1957, The Cat In The Hat is one of the most-loved and best-selling children's books ever. It's also a mere 1,600 words -- and even at 82 minutes, the movie version seems like a big stretch.

November 24, 2003 Full Review

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

The best argument yet made for extending artists' rights beyond the grave.

November 22, 2003 Full Review | Comments (2)

Charles Taylor

Salon.com

Top Critic

About as creatively inspired as a giant hairball.

November 21, 2003

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

So good it breaks your heart for not being better.

November 21, 2003 Full Review

Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Top Critic

The younger the viewers, the better reactions are bound to be, while grownups will sit still in varying states of bemusement and discomfiture.

November 21, 2003 Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

The Cat in the Hat is long on visual dazzle but short on warmth, and the humor is excessively raunchy for a family film.

November 21, 2003 Full Review

Claudia Puig

USA Today

Top Critic

Too mature for the kids who are reading the book.

December 22, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Dumb, crude, and gross...

April 29, 2009 Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

Is Dr. Seuss rolling in his grave yet?

February 3, 2008 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

much of the film is padded out by the comic business of Mike Myers' cat, in a deeply flawed role falling somewhere between a stand-up dying on stage or an alcoholic clown harassing kids at a birthday party.

September 10, 2007 Full Review

Anton Bitel

Movie Gazette

Unless you are prone to laugh at endless urination, expectoration, regurgitation, defecation, flatulence, and belching, avoid this rip-off at all costs.

April 22, 2007 Full Review | Comments (3)

Kam Williams

Princeton Town Topics

Burn the negatives.

January 10, 2006 Full Review

Oz

eFilmCritic.com

Mike Meyers brings this troublesome feline to life in an action packed adventure.

May 26, 2004 Full Review

Vince Koehler

Entertainment Spectrum

Comedian Mike Myers creates a cat who is more annoying than charming, and most of the gags are out of step with Seussian sensibility.

April 9, 2004

Forrest Hartman

Reno Gazette-Journal

What's on sale in The Cat in the Hat is a free-for-all, postmodern pastiche that feels like a seizure

March 10, 2004 Full Review

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS)

The filmmakers seem to have decided that the Dr Seuss charm was too simple for them, opting instead for knowing, crude humour full of pop culture references

January 30, 2004 Full Review

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

I remember watching The Smurfs on TV as a kid--that doesn't mean I want to see a film with 100 shirtless, singing idiots that have been dipped in blue paint.

January 15, 2004

Andrew Manning

Radio Free Entertainment

What sick mind thought this was appropriate humor for a holiday movie geared to youngsters?

December 31, 2003 Full Review

Daniel M. Kimmel

Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Fascinating to look at though we hate to sound sore, but this cat should have known that less is way more.

December 16, 2003 Full Review

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Just in time for Thanksgiving: the Paris Hilton movie.

December 5, 2003 Full Review

Cynthia Fuchs

PopMatters

A flea wouldn't have anything to do with it, but dogs certainly have.

December 3, 2003 Full Review

Christopher Smith

Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Ever catch a family member sniffing your underwear? I haven't either, but I suspect it feels something like how I felt leaving the theatre...Argh!

December 1, 2003 Full Review

Karina Montgomery

Cinerina

The Cat in the Hat isn't so much a movie as an extremely long commercial for Universal's Dr. Seuss-inspired products and tie-ins.

December 1, 2003 Full Review

Nick Schager

Nitrate Online

...the film's gags degenerate into a kind of seedy burlesque...

December 1, 2003 Full Review

Tony Toscano

Talking Pictures (U.S.)

I laughed once. That's it. The jokes fell flat every other time.

November 30, 2003

Eric Lurio

Greenwich Village Gazette

Perverts Geisel's complicated legacy as storyteller, cartoonist, and political radical.

November 28, 2003 Full Review

Stephen Himes

Flak Magazine

• 1. The Cat in the Hat: [cat chops his tail]
  2. Sally Walden: Um, Cat. Your tail!
  3. The Cat in the Hat: What about it? Oh I see! I chopped it off. Well that's interesting because... Son of a bi... [it goes to the technical difficulties screen]
  – Submitted by Sterlin R (5 months ago)
• 1. The Cat in the Hat: The name S.L.O.W is better than the last name we had. Super Hydraulic Instantaneous Transporter.
  2. Conrad Walden: Oh! You mean...
  3. The Cat in the Hat: Doh! Quick to the Slow!
  – Submitted by Sterlin R (5 months ago)
• 1. Fish: Aah!
  2. The Cat in the Hat: *flush fish in toilet*
  3. Fish: *escape sewers and toilet* Water... water... *death*
  – Submitted by Beth S (12 months ago)
• 1. The Cat in the Hat: Who's this?
  2. Sally Walden: That's our babysitter.
  3. The Cat in the Hat: So wait, you mean that you pay this woman to sit on babies? Well that's disgusting!
  – Submitted by Domenica D (12 months ago)
• 1. The Cat in the Hat: I'm your host, the guy in the sweaterwho asks all the obvious questions.
  – Submitted by William Z (20 months ago)