‘The Cat in the Hat’ Review: A Family Film With Feeling

The best trick in Warner Bros. Animation’s The Cat in the Hat isn’t the chaos its striped-hat troublemaker creates. It’s making a family’s feelings matter more than the mess. This mostly delightful Dr. Seuss adaptation remembers something too many children’s movies forget: Parents bought tickets, too. Bill Hader supplies the Cat’s voice and the movie’s comic engine. After playing enthusiastic disaster magnet Flint Lockwood in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs franchise, he knows how to make terrible ideas sound irresistible. His Cat doesn’t simply enter a room. He convinces you that wrecking it might improve the place. Written and directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, the film follows Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) and Sebastian (Tiago Martinez), siblings unhappy about moving after their mom takes a new job. The Cat’s assignment is to cheer them up, with his prized hat on the line if he fails. Think professional morale booster, minus the professional judgment. The Cat in the Hat | Main Trailer The setup takes longer than it should in a 107-minute movie, but the emotional payoff earns some patience. Rather than treating Mom as an inconvenient adult to remove before the fun s...