Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is a film produced by Warner Animation Group based on the popular children's book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. The film was directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, and stars the voices of Owen Wilson, JD McCrary, Brooklynn Prince, Mel Gibson, Salma Hayek, and Bill Hader. The film was released with The Lego Worlds Movie on December 22, 2021.

It was the 2nd film dedicated to Audrey Geisel, widow of Dr. Seuss, after Horton And The Kwuggerbug (also released in 2021). The film grossed $191 million against its $99 million budget, and received negative reviews from critics, who said it was not quite as "fresh" as the live-action film.

Plot
Conrad and Sally Walden live in the city of Anville with their single mother Joan. Joan works for neat-freak Hank Humberfloob as a real estate agent and is hosting an office party at her house. One day, she is called back to the office leaving the children with Ms. Kwan, the babysitter (after the previous one quit) and forbidding them to enter the living room, which is being kept pristine for the upcoming party. Joan is also dating their-next door neighbor Larry Quinn, much to Conrad's disgruntlement because Larry is constantly on the lookout for any mischief Conrad may be up to as he wants nothing more than to send him away to military school for being a "hot-headed troublemaker".

Once Joan leaves on a rainy day, Sally and Conrad meet an anthropomorphic humanoid talking cat with a red-and- white striped top hat and a large red bow tie named the Cat in the Hat. who persuades them to learn to have fun, but the family's fish does not want Cat around while Joan is away. During his presence, the Cat leaves a trail of destruction across the house and in the process releases two troublemaking things named Thing 1 and Thing 2 from a crate that he explains is actually a portal to his world. The Cat tells Conrad never to open the crate and allows the Things to have fun but instead make a mess out of the house. Despite the Cat's warning, Conrad picks the lock on the crate resulting in it to attach to the collar of the family dog Nevins. The three then drive the Cat's super powered car to town in search of Nevins. During this, Conrad realizes that the Things always do the opposite to what they are told and uses this to their advantage to have them stall Joan.

Meanwhile, Larry is revealed to be an unemployed slob with dentures and in financial debut though claiming that he is a successful businessman in the hopes of marrying Joan for her money. Larry sees Nevins running across the street and tracks down Joan to tell her, but Things 1 and 2 have stalled her on the road by posing as police officers. Larry, having somehow deduced what Conrad and Sally were plotting, goes back to the house, telling Joan to meet him there.

By the time the kids and the Cat return to the house with the lock and are moments away from entering an enraged Larry suddenly cuts them off, and orders the three inside the house. Conrad tries to warn him, but simply cannot be bothered to believe him. He then immediately sneezes uncontrollably due to his allergic reaction to the Cat, who takes advantage of this and scares him away, only for the house to fall apart in a paper-like fashion, with Larry falling into an abyss. A huge mess spills from the unlocked crate and engulfs the house, resulting in a surreal dimension-like landscape where the house once stood, aptly named "The Mother of All Messes". They navigate their way through the oversized house and find the crate while cleaning up. The house is returned to its normal proportions, but them immediately falls apart to which the kids angrily order the Cat to exit the house. The Cat feebly attempts to reason with them but they firm their resolve and order him to leave anyway. Conrad prepares to face the consequences when Joan comes home, but Sally says she will share the blame. The Cat, having overheard this, happily returns to clean up the mess with a great cleaning invention, fixes up the house, says goodbye to the children and departs just as Joan arrives. Larry, having survived the gooey abyss of the Mother of All Messes, returns thinking he has busted the kids, but when Joan sees the clean house and a messy Larry, she does not believe and dumps him. After the successful party, Joan spends quality time with her children by jumping on the living room couch while the Cat along with Things 1 and 2 walk off into the sunset.

Cast
Owen Wilson as The Cat in the Hat

JD McCrary as Conrad Walden

Brooklynn Prince as Sally Walden

Salma Hayek as Joan Walden

Mel Gibson as Larry Quinn

Jenifer Lewis as Mrs. Kwan

Diego Luna as Mr. Humberfloob

Bill Hader as The Fish

Dee Bradley Baker as Thing 1# and Thing 2#

Barry Bostwick as The Narrator

Pierce Gagnon as Dumb Schweitzer

Taylor Swift as female club-goer

Frank Welker as Nevins; Welker reprises his role from the original live-action film.

Cobie Smudlers as Humberfloob Real Estate secretary

Chris McKay as Astounding Products announcer

Tony Hale as Kate The Caterer

Iris Apatow as Denise

Val Kilmer as Jim McFlinnigan

Billy Dee Williams as Mr. Vompatatat

Production
On January 24, 2018, it was announced that an animated Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat film was in development as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises. In June 2019, production officially began. The team wanted the computer animated versions to look like the live-action versions, which Owen Wilson agreed to allow. Ana Lily Amirpour entered the project for directing duties. Michael Giacchino was hired to compose the score, making it the second Owen Wilson-starring film in a row to be composed by Giacchino, after Cars 2. Giacchino had previously scored Scoob.

Casting
JD McCrary and Brooklynn Prince were cast as Conrad and Sally. In 2020, Louis C.K. was cast, but dropped it, and in May, it was given to Owen Wilson, while Salma Hayek, Mel Gibson, Jenifer Lewis, Diego Luna, and Bill Hader were cast.