The aesthetic of surrealism is based in the idea of what the end game of a character is. "The Cat In The Hat", like the "Monsters Inc." crew later are doing a job but it comes down to the endgame. Bill Hader provides the voice of Cat and that manic connotation of what the Cat actually represents is a really cool motif of the film. It uses certain essences of the concept of say "Inside Out" but using a more linear progression. "Cat" doesn’t overcome the viewer with the rhyming concept which would have gotten old quick. It uses a fairly straight ahead idea of a teenager removed from her life who believes that her life is over because her mother moved her and her brother to a new town. It reflects back as a punishment for Cat who supposedly makes too much destruction in getting kids to a happy place. This little girl is considered impossible to bring back to the contentment The animation shifts too. In the work world dimension, the ruffled animation look is absolutely fantastic but that kind of work cannot be maintained an entire movie (though "Spiderverse" has it sort of figured out) The real world and even what is considered the cardboard box world has its moments but it doesn't approach Cat's work world.
Beyond that the best aspects after Cat are Waffles and then the Things (which serve a very important story point). Waffles, like Ted, knows his shortcomings but his one turning point really makes the real world change. America Ferrara voices Carmen, the mom of Sebastian and Gabby, and even if she is just peripheral, her journey, even if it is only shown in a certain dreamlike setting, really pays off in the final two moments (and gives the payoff for the film). The climax makes sense in how it is done but it seems just too much when simplicity would have sufficed just as well. The kids are cool in the way they deal with the situation but the film tries to balance both some cool adult ad libs with a kid's perception. It works at times and the film does come off experimental in a way. It is not the Mike Myers romp at all though it does try to keep a specificity in trying to be both snarky and sweet at the same time. Hader knows the assignment and knows who he is doing. The animation reflects his idea of hapless and insightful at the same time. The film is preceded by a short with a similar animation style called “Daffy Season” using soccer as an excuse for all the Looney Tunes characters to come together. It is also one of the last performances of Eric Bauza who played Daffy Duck (he also does some peripheral voices in "Cat" as well). "Season" is an odd short to be in front of this movie but it is always great to have more material like this. "The Cat In The Hat", as a animation foray, seems like its own character and is true to its source material but takes a different path giving the Cat more of a focus but also a tragic flaw which, in many ways, ends up being his strength. He pretends he isn’t aware but he actually is. 85%/B
By Tim Wassberg
