[livius]

Good article, and I have always felt that way about the Dr. Seuss books. The message was definitely one of mushy liberalism, at best, but I think it was just typical of the times in which it was written and the class of people among whom he lived (and probably for whom he was writing).

I didn't particularly like them when I was a child, and my kids never really liked them that much, either. The only one I remember fondly was Horton Hears a Who, with its message, "a person's a person, no matter how small."

Incidentally, the Cat in the Hat movie got a horrible review in the WSJ. Apparently the movie took this mildly anarchic but generally entertaining and positive book, and made it gross, brutish, and cynical. Somehow the movie even injected a bit of sex into it. So be warned if you're planning on taking your kids to it.

[Squawk 8888]

All the critics are panning it. My own peeve is that the producers got soccer-mom-PC with the story- they threw in some adult characters because they thought it would be "irresponsible" to depict kids staying home alone. Totally destroyed the essence of the original story- the entire hook to it was that you could have fun without the involvement of adults.

[Snake65]

Somehow the movie even injected a bit of sex into it

Hey, Dr. Seuss was all about boner jokes and punch-in-the-nads humor. NOT! (as Wayne might say)

[Aquinasfan]

The message was definitely one of mushy liberalism, at best, but I think it was just typical of the times in which it was written and the class of people among whom he lived (and probably for whom he was writing).

Try "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose." The story line should make any conservative stand up and cheer. Thidwick kindly lets an ant take a ride on his antlers. The ant invites his friend the bird, who invites his friend the squirrel, etc., until Thidwick can barely support the group nesting on his head. Eventually, Thidwick is cornered by hunters. He can't escape because of the weight on his head. But then... Thidwick sheds his antlers. It's that time of the year. And Thidwick escapes to join up with the rest of the herd. The freeloaders wind up stuffed, mounted and hung over the hunter's mantlepiece.

[LibertarianLiz]

Incidentally, the Cat in the Hat movie got a horrible review in the WSJ.

Just received my Entertainment Weekly and they gave it a D.

[Dajjal]

Incidentally, the Cat in the Hat movie got a horrible review in the WSJ. Apparently the movie took this mildly anarchic but generally entertaining and positive book, and made it gross, brutish, and cynical. Somehow the movie even injected a bit of sex into it. So be warned if you're planning on taking your kids to it.
9 posted on 11/21/2003 10:22 AM PST by livius

I did not see the movie or the WSJ review -- but I did see a commercial advertising it on TV. That was enough to convince me that Mike Myers was playing the Cat as though he were still in an Austin Powers movie.

Apparently the Cat is gay, however.
4 posted on 11/21/2003 10:10 AM PST by armadale

Not from what I saw! ...

One scene in the commercial had the Cat with the 2 kids on each side in the living room, standing in front of a small table with a framed photo on it (we see only the back of the frame).

The Cat excitedly picks up the photo and asks, "Whoooo is this?" Simultaneously, his large red-and-white hat has an erection and expands to about 3X its size! It does not go straight up, but inclines at about a 50-degree angle! The tip looked a little funny, too!

The camera does a close-up of a framed photo of a woman. The children, off-camera, both say "That's our mother."

The Cat's hat returns to normal as he puts the photo back on the table. I don't recall the snappy reply he makes to the kids, but it's something along the lines of "Wow! She's shagadelic!" or words to that effect.

I have a pretty low opinion of Hollywood, but even I was surprised both by the fact that they would insert sexual innuendo into a Dr. Seuss story, and then be proud enough about it to put the scene into a commercial supposedly aimed at motivating parents to take their children to see the film.

Had the film been a teen date movie comedy, the commercial would have been completely understandable. As a commercial for parents and kindergarteners, it made little sense.