‘The Cat in the Hat’ Review: An Animated Delight with Very Few Laughs
Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni’s readaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, following Bo Welch’s disastrously received 2003 live-action transposition of the popular children’s book, is a marvel of animation. It might be even more dazzling than the previous Dr. Seuss animated film we’ve seen in theaters, The Grinch, because it fundamentally understands the imaginative power of a child’s mind.
The plot of The Cat in the Hat (2026)
The film’s titular Cat in the Hat (Bill Hader) knows how to lead children into places of pure wonder that only dreams seem to be made of, to remind you of what kind of human being you should strive to be. In that regard, they more than succeed in bringing to life an ambitiously realized world from an author whose work still impacts generations of younger readers even almost seventy years after the book’s release.
It is, thus, a shame that the film’s screenplay, also written by Rivinoja and Carloni, does not live up to its dazzling animation work. The Cat in the Hat could’ve actually been something substantial if the filmmakers cared about what it was presenting on screen instead of attempting to mine the IP to sell more ancillary products.
In any event, the film’s story doesn’t give us much to latch onto and is so predictable that an audience member might check out as soon as they are introduced to siblings Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) and Sebastian (Tiago Martinez).
The two have recently moved from a bustling suburban neighborhood to a harsh town apartment with their mother (America Ferrera) and desperately want to return to the life they thought was better. It doesn’t help that the apartment’s landlady, Patty (Paula Pell), enacts rules that make it easy for her to evict anyone who doesn’t respect the ban on animals, candles, and parties.
Of course, the Cat in the Hat might break all three by the time he is done with both children. An employee of the Institute of Imagination and Inspiration, he has been assigned to them by his boss, Mr. Hoogeboom (Giancarlo Esposito). This was done as a means of failure, knowing he will create a giant mess, which will serve as an excuse to fire him.
Hoogeboom points the Cat toward an object locked away in the institute’s supply closet, which will awaken a monster looking for it. Another reason to get him fired! This thingamajig is dubbed “the Go-Backer” and allows anyone to go back to any point in time and fix things they don’t like about their current life. Gabby believes such a device can allow her to ensure her mom never accepts the job offer that makes them move to town, but, of course, the device malfunctions and chaos ensues.
A dazzlingly animated film with nothing much to offer
This is a situation that is obviously rife from the pages of Theodore Geisel, but, for reasons explained, family filmmakers believe contemporary references will somehow enhance the material on screen. There’s an entire set piece scored to an orchestral rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” which is so 2014, and jokes that feel incredibly dated.
It’s almost as if this film has been in development hell since then. Well, the film has been in various stages of development since at least 2012, after Illumination’s successful adaptation of The Lorax. Warner Bros. eventually acquired the rights in 2018, and the movie has been officially greenlit since 2020.
The Cat in the Hat‘s release was delayed a few times, and one knows exactly why. The film’s mediocre brand of laugh-less humor, save for a recurring (and thoughtful) visual joke involving the siblings’ goldfish, Mr. Waffles (Matt Berry, always hilarious), seeps through every ounce of the frame, even when the action is often arresting and the animation jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
At least the filmmakers understand that such an animated film shouldn’t strive for realism but should be expressive and an illustration of the imaginative power of a child discovering a world filled with joy, wonder, and hidden dangers. The three boxes the Cat and the children visit perfectly illustrate this. One even illustrates the repressed memories of their mother’s childhood. When they eventually discover who she was, the two siblings have a much deeper respect for their maternal figure than they ever did.
Stuff like this works because the film’s visual style is so incredible that it almost makes up for many of its shortcomings. Almost, because you have to remind yourself you’re watching a Cat in the Hat movie with limited imagination in the screenwriting department, and character arcs so familiar they even sanitize some of Dr. Seuss’ most vivid storytelling.
It’s a movie that seems only interested in creating a brand-new intellectual property to trove for Warner Bros.—now “A Skydance Company,” a grotesque text underneath the logo after its end credits that will represent a new era of creative bankruptcy for Hollywood. This is especially true after the unjust firing of DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran to replace them with a Bible and grandma-loving Christian.
The Cat in the Hat final thoughts
Before David Ellison acquired the studio, Warner Bros. Animation was planning a Seussverse with Jon M. Chu’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! acting as the second installment of this new franchise. That film, starring Ariana Grande and Josh Gad, is in production and planned for release in 2028. However, The Cat in the Hat’s critical and box-office results paint a pretty grim picture for a newly minted studio that seems to not give audiences what they want and keeps pumping out garbage.
At least the animation in The Cat in the Hat is moving, because films greenlit under this new iteration will not instill any awe-inducing wonder or imagination if crap like Matchbox: The Movie is any indication of where the landscape is going.
- Film Title: The Cat in the Hat
- Director: Alessandro Carloni, Erica Rivinoja
- Writer: Caroline Williams, Erica Rivinoja, Alessandro Carloni, and based on a book by Dr. Seuss
- Cast: Bill Hader, Mayabella Sage Mccrillis, Johnny Haemmerle, Bowen Yang, Giancarlo Esposito, America Ferrera, Xochitl Gomez
- Genre(s): Animation, Comedy, Family
- Rated: PG
- Running Time: 107 minutes
- Theatrical Release Date: November 6, 2026 (United States & Canada), December 4, 2026 (United Kingdom & Ireland)
- Reviewer’s Score: 2 out of 5 stars
