"The Cat in the Hat" (2003)

This really is the movie for our times. And, yes, it is terrible.

It was universally panned in its day, it couldn’t find an audience, and yet—it is on Netflix. So, it was a perfect candidate to have on in the background the other day. I wanted to see the train wreck. But, surprisingly, I found insights.

Surely everyone is familiar with the book. How could you not be? I personally am not a fan, but it has been taken far more seriously than one could imagine. Serious analysis has claimed that it is about everything from communism to Christianity.

The film doesn’t pretend to be so deep. It taps into the more ridiculous elements of the text. The downright surreal stuff. Headed up by a director known more for production design, the look of the film is superb. It is mesmerizing, in fact. (There is one sequence in particular involving a piñata that makes use of a Commodores song that will stick with me the rest of my life.)

But at the core of the book and even more in the film is a message about how we have a dire need to rediscover fun. Society has become so dominated by fear that rules and systems—designed to control every aspect of life—have taken over.

The film expands the world and story in ways that reinforce this message. For one the mother works for a boss who is a germaphobe. She is hosting a party that night for the whole company and will be fired if things are not perfectly in order at the house.

Not only that, but the mother is engaged to the next-door neighbor. Played by Alec Baldwin (a prescient choice!), he is a man who promises to be a perfect mate and father for the family. He seems to have a great job and will provide stability and security. The reality is, however, that he is a dead-beat with no job, no skills, and no concern for anyone but himself. He does not want to help anyone other than himself. (Surely good preparation for another satirical role to come.)

In the end—if you squint your eyes enough—the kids learn that they need to accept life as it comes at them, not to fear things but to have fun along the way. And most importantly that the way to truly do this is to have each other’s backs and to look out for one another. The real defense against life’s chaos is not legalism, but love.

Or that is the way it could have worked, had the story been fixed.