Letting the 'Cat' out of the bag
Will new movie capture darker aspects of Dr. Seuss' tale?
By Todd Leopold
CNN
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Mike Myers in "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat."
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(CNN) -- "The Cat in the Hat" always scared me.
Maybe I was too sensitive a child. Maybe I like too much control as an adult. All I know is that, of all Dr. Seuss' creations, the one I never looked forward to reading was "The Cat in the Hat."
The Cat was about chaos. The Cat was about meanness (look what he let Thing 1 and Thing 2 do to the house!). The Cat was the unrestrained id.
Who would want to let such a beast into their home, even on the most dreadful, awful, boring rainy day ever?
The only thing more frightening to me was "Bartholomew and the Oobleck," or that drawing of snake fangs in "Questions Children Ask."
This is not to dismiss Dr. Seuss, not in the least. After all, it's been more than 30 years, and I still remember "The Cat in the Hat" (and "Oobleck," "Yertle the Turtle" and "The Lorax"). Who knows? Maybe it led to my later fascination with Stephen King and Roald Dahl.
Now there's a movie of "The Cat in the Hat." And not just a movie, but a big-budget holiday season movie with special effects, colorful sets and Mike Myers as the Cat. That's a lot to lay on the back of a slim, 223-word book intended as much as a reading primer as an entertaining story.
And if it doesn't succeed for its studio, Universal, well ... that would really be scary. For stockholders.
Eye on Entertainment takes a peek at the movie, which opens Friday.
Eye-opener
The movie's full title is "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat," a tip of the chapeau to the man born Theodor Seuss Geisel. But the focus is on bringing Seuss' rubbery drawings and outlandish characters to life.
To that end, the filmmakers spent at least $90 million and hired a host of screenwriters (the script is credited to three) to turn the book into a movie. New characters have been added; even Paris Hilton has a role as a "female club-goer," a part she should have down by now.
Myers plays the Cat, with a made-up face that's been described as "[looking] a lot like that Pennywise clan from Stephen King's 'It,' " according to one post on IMDb.com. (Maybe there's a closer relationship between the Cat and King than I thought.)
The two children who are put through the wringer are played by Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin. And Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, handles Thing 1 and Thing 2.
As for the plot, well ... it hasn't changed that much from the book (or books, if you want to include the "Cat" series). Except Alec Baldwin plays a neighbor on the make. And then there's that nightclub scene with Hilton. Well, what do you want with three screenwriters?
Universal hopes, of course, that "Cat" is as popular as "The Grinch," one of the biggest-grossing movies of the past five years. If that happens, could films of "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop on Pop" or a remake of the Seuss-written "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" be far behind?
On screen
• Now that she's got an Academy Award on her mantel, Halle Berry's taking a few chances. Her new film, "Gothika," is a horror tale about a psychologist who blacks out and appears to have committed a murder. But dark spirits may also be having an effect. The film, which also stars Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr., opens Friday.
On the tube
• It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but ABC is wasting no time in broadcasting "Eloise at Christmastime," a new film based on the books about the precocious, Plaza-living girl, her dog Weenie, her turtle Skipperdee and her nanny. The nanny is played by Julie Andrews. 8 p.m. EST Saturday, ABC.
• ABC gets the holiday right the next night when it shows "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Popcorn, anybody? 7 p.m. EST Sunday, ABC.
• The same night brings Gary Sinise and Joely Richardson in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation "Fallen Angel," about a lawyer who returns to his small hometown after his father's death and the woman he meets. 9 p.m. EST Sunday, CBS.
• Then, if local Christmas carolers aren't enough, you can always tune in to "An American Idol Christmas," in which the old "Idol" gang will overemote on your favorite holiday tunes. 8 p.m. EST Tuesday, Fox.
Sound waves
• Nelly Furtado's new CD, "Folklore" (Dreamworks), is due Tuesday.
• Korn (this word processor doesn't allow me to type a backward "R") returns with a new album, "Take a Look in the Mirror" (Sony), on Tuesday.
Paging readers
• In the absence of the book everybody's waiting for -- a back-and-forth chapter-by-chapter battle between husband-and-wife authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman -- readers will have to be satisfied with the new book by the male half of that union, "The Conspiracy Club" (Ballantine). However, this one does not feature his usual protagonist, Alex Delaware -- though his new character, Jeremy Carrier, is also a psychologist. Due Tuesday.
