Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.  
OK, I'll admit it, I went to this movie with pretty low expectations, and they seemed to meet everyone of them. I have been a Dr Seuss fan since I first loved to read. Now I have two kids of my own and when the kids bring me a Dr Seuss book to read at bed time, I have as much fun reading it as they do hearing it.  
 
WARNING!!! This gets long winded and I apologize for it, but there is so much to complain about.  
 
Overall Problems (in my opinion):  
 
The Cat: Apparently the only thing Mike Myers had to base his character on was old copies of the Wizard of Oz. The cat looked too much like the lion AND laughed too much like the lion AND often sounded too much like the lion. I never met the Doc, but I have to believe after reading as much as I have of his material, the cat he had in mind was not a vulgar pervert with bad taste in music. I really thought for this part, someone would have put a leash on Mike Myers.  
 
The Language:  
While they never actually said any curse words, They got way too close on several occasions. Based on the load at the theatre I was at, and the fact that it's been on for about 5 days now, I'd guess that approx 1000 kids are going to be walking around school looking at one another and quoting the cat when he said "SON OF A BI...", never actually saying it, but getting to close. Lots of kids will be saying with no understanding of what it was meant to imply, but would you want them to walk up in front of your parents, their teacher, someone at church, or someone in a store and spout off that phrase?? It was one of many. There is another scene where the boy starts to say SH** (as a lady I used to work with would say..."Sugar-Honey-Iced-Tea"). I think if this was going to be marketed to kids, Mike and the producers could have done a lot of house cleaning in this area.  
 
Alec Baldwin:  
Although it was a bit confusing to my 4 year old why Mr. Conductor from the Thomas the Tank movie was in the Cat In The Hat, Alec's character did a good job of being the guy any kid could hate. He taunts the boy to the point that you just want to see this kid really give him what's coming to him. What I didn't like was the over the top job they did on Alec's character making him the opposite of what the children's mother thought he was. We comes through the kitchen at one point carrying a 6 pack of beer, eating a sandwich, and burps in the kids faces. Then another scene shows home removing what looks like the "girdle" that surgery patients wear on their abdomen to prevent tearing the stitches. A LARGE gut comes rolling out and he proceeds to sit there being as gross as possible.  
 
 
 
The good points (ok, this should be quick)  
Kelly Preston: If I really have to explain why she is in the "good" section, then you haven't seen her. (big grin)  
 
The Story Line:  
OK, I'll give credit here, although I really didn't like the path they took to get there, the story line was basically the same. Fun is good, but only if you know when to stop.  
Some added touches... The brother and sister who had issues before the adventure, were now a lot closer and even willing to stand up for one another. The mother who was starting to doubt not only her ability to raise her son, but also her son's ability to accept responsibility and do the things we was asked to do, now had now doubt that they would all be just fine together.  
 
Did I mention Kelly Preston yet??  
 
Overall, this would be an ok movie for older kids, maybe, if they had a firm grasp on the understanding that some of the things you see on a movie are not acceptable in the real world. It would probably be a good teenager movie. It seemed to have a lot of the type of humor teens are accustomed to seeing. (not saying that's good or bad, just that this movie wouldn't be their first exposure to this type of humor).  
 
Imagine if you will, Mike Myers dressing the part of the Lion from the Wizard of OZ, and filming the next installment of Austin Powers dressed that way through the whole movie.  
 
If you haven't figured it out by now, I wasn't real impressed with this movie. Being a long time Doc fan, I didn't like the Grinch with Jim Carey, but it was a masterpiece compared to this one. I really hope that Horton Hear A Who isn't up for the next book to be butchered.  
 
 
