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Avg. Critic Score: 19 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
5 Iffy for 5+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 70
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    So good it breaks your heart for not being better. It is kept from brilliance by a soggy climax and a clumsy central narrative device. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    It's another overwrought clunker like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," all effects and stunts and CGI and prosthetics, with no room for lightness and joy. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Long on visual dazzle but short on warmth, and the humor is excessively raunchy for a family film. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Attractively designed, energetically performed and, above all, blessedly concise, this adaptation of one of the most popular American kids' books of all time walks the safe side of surrealism with its fur-flying shenanigans. The younger the viewers, the better reactions are bound to be. Read full review

  • 40
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Emerges as a lackluster and nearly charmless affair. Read full review

  • 25
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Talk about your quick-buck exploitation. Read full review

  • 25
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Someone (Myers?) came up with the bright idea of turning the Cat in the Hat into the worst Vegas nightclub spritzer of 1958. He's become a furry version of Rip Taylor: a walking, talking vaudeville idiot box. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | C.W. Nevius

    It is an embarrassment and an insult to a character that has been beloved by kids for 45 years. Read full review

  • 20
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    A vulgar, uninspired lump of poisoned eye candy. Read full review

  • 10
    Los Angeles Times | Manohla Dargis

    Critics are paid to suffer bad art, no matter how icky it is from the start. So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit. Read full review

View more reviews for Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 5+ Too mature for the kids who are reading the book.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie isn't for the kids who are reading the book -- in its quest for a commercially-rewarding PG rating it has aged itself out of the youngest audience. It's not right for your five-or six-year-old. There is surprisingly rude and crude humor including double entendres and almost-swearing, potty humor, and other bodily function jokes. The Cat picks up a muddy garden implement and refers to it as "a dirty hoe" and spells out the s-word. The Cat is hit in the crotch. There is a lot of comic peril that may be too intense for younger children. An adult character drinks beer.
  • Families can talk about why Sally had a hard time with her friends and why Conrad had a hard time following rules.
The good stuff
  • message true-1 Positive messages: Dubious characterization of Asians and elderly folks. Surprisingly rude and crude humor for a PG, including double entendres and other bodily function jokes.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence and scariness: Animals treated poorly, the Cat gets kicked in the crotch, comic mayhem. Comic peril may freak out young children.
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: Double entendres will go over youngest kids' heads but not yours.
  • language false3 Language: Some naughty words and a "dirty hoe" pun.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: More tie-ins than a barrel of monkeys.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Joke reference to drinking and smoking, adult character gets beer.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 29 fan reviews

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