E-Mail This Article to a Friend DR. SEUSS’ THE CAT IN THE HAT

Gratingly loud and garish, the latest movie adaptation of a Dr. Seuss story joins 2000’s Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas as one of the worst adaptations of a beloved book. Mike Myers is unrecognizable as the Cat (something he will doubtless be grateful for later on in his career), relying instead on a host of annoying accents (who knew this feline was from Brooklyn?) to get on your nerves. The Cat, as most of us know, arrives at the home of Conrad and Sally (Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning, gamely trying to look amused) to make mischief while their mother is away. Director Bo Welch and producer Brian Grazer have added a subplot involving Alec Baldwin as the belching, slovenly neighbor out to wed the kids’ mom and the threat of military school for the troublemaking Conrad. The result is loud without being funny, antic without being joyful, and surprisingly unsuitable for children. (81 minutes) At the Boston Common, the Fenway, the Fresh Pond, and the Circle and in the suburbs.