My favourite review so far: "If the producers had dug up Ted Geisel's body and hung it from a tree, they couldn't have desecrated the man more."

Such a graphic review for a kids' movie.

My son is 16 and would seem to be in the target demographic; in addition, he grew up with me reading him all the Dr. Seuss classics.

He told me that the movie was so bad that he almost walked out.

Prior to this, the most scathing movie review I ever read was of "BioDome" in the Chicago Sun-Times. "It makes you long for the comic genius of such pairings as Wayne and Garth, Bill and Ted, or Beavis and Butthead."

Not all of these are as memorable, but all are as scathing.

OTOH, I'd love to have had the contract to build the S.L.O.W. the Cat drove.

My daughter (11 yrs old) was invited to a birthday party for her best friend and her former "boyfriend" (her best friend's twin brother.) They were going to go see Cat in the Hat. The trailer showing Mike Myers getting a cat-tail boner from looking at the picture of the kids' mother was enough to convince me that Cat in the Hat was going to be too much Austin Powers to be suitable for preteens. So I said no.

Her best friend's mother, wanting my daughter to be at the party, changed it to a bowling party. Later, she told me her high school age son went to see the movie, and told her that, indeed, it was not suitable for children. So she thanked me for helping her avoid taking the kids to an unsuitable movie, and I felt vindicated in my decision.

(Note: My wife and I have established relationships with all of our children's friends and we share information with each other. Also, grade school romances are benign. My children are allowed to have boyfriends and girlfriends in grade school, but not in Jr. High.)

I have a similar feeling about the movie Elf with Will Farrell, but it has been getting great reviews. I may go see the movie myself just to see if I can allow my kids to go see it. I wasn't too impressed with the big burp scene in the advertisement, and I have never seen a Will Farrell skit, much less a movie, that I particularly enjoyed.

Does anyone have an opinion on Elf? I really don't trust the collective judgment of Hollywood to correctly classify movies and suitable for children.

It's all a matter of taste. Bunch of fuckin lame-ass critics the lot of you! You sound like the old windbags that were condemning teens to hell-in-a-hand-basket when they started wearing (gasp) jeans in public or when Elvis and his "devil music" was polluting the airwaves.

Scott,

I've rarely seen a Will Farrell sketch that didn't leave me in stitches. The guy kills me!

Sure the movie is not going to be the same as the book series, but it was entertaining. You people with your negative energy and pessimistic outlook on modern culture. Why don't you just go out and buy your pathetic Buicks, move to Florida and get the hell out of the way. Some of us are trying to enjoy American culture. Sheeesh!

If you don't like it and it's not hurting you, shut up and turn the channel.

Ah the Great Democratic Voice of Tolerance invites everyone to meet under the Big Tent.

Not.

You couldn't make that more ironic if you filled it with steel shavings, Tim... :)

There is no joy in Dean's World, the mighty Casey has struck a chord....Jackass!

Watch the name-calling, boys.

I hated the book too. It's only benefit was that it brought a more complex story to easy readers but it is enough to convince one to learn to read better and leave that dreck behind. On the other hand, green eggs and ham is brilliant.

I'm proud to be one of those old windbags, elitist and reactionary, who values Western culture, and culture as such, in all its discriminations. A movie must be faithful, at least in spirit, to any book or other work on which it is based, whether that is "The Cat in the Hat" or the Bible or "120 Days of Sodom". This isn't a question of protecting The Children (I don't have any) but of artistic integrity.

Dean, what's with the plural? I was playing nice.

I even put a smiley-face at the end of my post. But I did find Tim's post ironic. Heh.

Actually, I thought Tim was referring to another nitwit movie, not calling me names. ;)

Tim was calling himself some names by implying that he had no aesthetic standards. I respect his military service and I agree with some of his political views, but he sets the bar way too low on what he accepts as "culture". Call me a snob. I am one.

Steven,

Would it make any difference if I told you that my favorite films are by Krzysztof Kieslowski - the Trois Colours Trilogy?

I am reminded of Morticia Addams line in 'Addams Family Values' as she reads The Cat in The Hat to her poor, possessed offspring...

"Oh no, He lives."

well if the film elf is representative of american culture im heartily glad to be 3000 miles away hahahah :)))

I have not seen cat in the Hat. I did enjoy reading your posts on the movie , and the culture it seems to either imitate or distort.
I'm appalled by how far we need to go now just be entertained. Nothing phases us anymore, but we still can't have suggestive content in our movies! The new generation are changing ; I imagaine they think Cat in the cat is pretty funny! (teenage range) But funny doesn't always include well put together, thought provoking or enriching. The previews I've seen did not look promising. It's filled to brim with what my freind Sky calls Raspberry filling.