So-so Dr. Seuss adventure is nauseatingly cute…
film review
THE CAT IN THE HAT
Running time: 107 minutes. Rated PG (motion, peril, gentle language and impolite humor). In theaters.
Oh, the locations you’ll retread.
Once more, Warner Bros. has thrown Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” up onto the big screen. And at least this time, the lanky furball with a penchant for hassle has made the leap with combined outcomes reasonably than a litter box of unhealthy style that was the 2003 live-action model starring Mike Myers.
But, as basic Hollywood household fare loves to do, the better animated film still declaws the “Cat” and places him into a tidy feel-good adventure box. Literally, in fact.
The title feline, voiced by Bill Hader, and two aww-shucks siblings go on a magic-ish journey through three cardboard shifting vessels.
It’s virtually never a good thought to divide up a story that method. Because if the expertise is something short of purrrfect, the viewer finds himself ceaselessly glancing at his watch and muttering, “One down, two to go.”
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In an irksomely fashionable fashion, the flick directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni tries to make the Cat more of a fleshed-out character by turning the mischief-maker into a company worker, a la “Monsters, Inc.” His workplace colleagues embrace Mouse in a Blouse and Sherri from HR.
Their job is to flip sad children’ frowns upside down. And, while the Cat is good at that facet of the gig, he will get unhealthy mess-o-meter scores, which means he goes loco and wrecks houses in the method.
So his boss offers him one more shot to succeed, or else he will get the boot.
It’s all very “year-end performance review,” like we’re prepping toddlers for the tough realities of the workforce. What’s next? “Horton Hears About His Benefits Plan”?
Bill Hader voices the title feline of “The Cat in the Hat.” Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
Cat is despatched to the home of bummed-out “band geek” Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) and her little brother Sebastian (Tiago Martinez), who have just been unwillingly moved by their single mother Carmen (America Ferrera) to a new city.
The duo hopes that with the help of the unusual speaking pet and his harmful time-travel system called the Go-Backer, they will return to their outdated home. Only — oh no! — the Go-Backer has been dropped in one of the shifting packing containers, which have morphed into cavernous universes. They have to trek through each one on a flying sofa to discover it.
(Checks watch.)
The Cat is despatched to help Sebastian and Gabby study important life classes. Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
That trio of worlds — one for each Gabby, Sebastian and mother — deliver to thoughts the colourful mind lands of “Inside Out,” only far less distinct or inventive than in the Pixar film. For occasion, Carmen saves her son and daughter’s pasta artwork, which comes to life and marches around lacklusterly.
There’s not a single second of visible wonderment in this.
The complete look of the film lacks panache. Even when the Cat, in Mary Poppins mode, makes the manilla lounge more vibrant, it’s not so a lot Dorothy arriving in Oz as some man screwing in a higher-wattage lightbulb. The animation itself combines the recognizable traces of the cartoons with a 3D texture that comes off awfully direct-to-DVD.
The trio is helped out by the Things. Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
As the crew is chased by an inoffensive monster called the Something, what the children actually uncover — duhhhh — is typical saccharine messages: Love your mom, recognize your youthful brother more, home means household and so on. The teary takeaways are both anticipated and pointless. “Cat” is geared toward very younger youngsters. Do we actually need to inform today’s seven-year-olds to adore their mommies more?
Maybe we must always start with: Go outdoors.
The motive that of all Seuss properties “The Grinch” interprets best to the screen is the touchy-feely components are balanced out by a humorous neon jackass.
Unlike “The Grinch,” “Cat” is all ooey-gooey. Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
Here there’s a scolding landlady (Paula Pell) and a impolite boss (Giancarlo Esposito), but “Cat” is just about all ooey-gooey. Though Hader tries to course-correct the film’s lean into sap. As anyone who watched him on “Saturday Night Live” is aware of, he is an extraordinarily gifted voice actor. Hader doesn’t go the cute route as he speaks quickly and dry, and he definitely squeezed a few laughs out of me. The jokes are often intelligent.
But that’s not enough to offset 90 commodity minutes of inexperienced eggs and schmaltz.
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