America Too Busy Watching Pop Crap to Mind the Government

Cat In The Hat Takes Top Box Office Spot

"We pitched it almost as a kid's version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Mandel said. "The book is a very perfect beginning, middle and end. We used it as a skeleton: Mom has to go out, kids are left home, cat comes to visit, house gets messed up, they kick out the cat, they clean it up, and get everything done before mom comes home."

For all you "Seuss purists" out there, the cat returns with his incredible cleaning machine and cleans everything in the house in the nick of time. The Cat in the Hat is an expression of the unleashed imagination, and there's no harm ever in unleashing your imagination. That's the point which Mandel has missed in this recap of the story.

"Kids are pretty much afraid of the Grinch, but you want them to like the Cat," he said. "Because, if you think about it, this is just a home-invasion story about a giant crazy cat who barges into the house and wrecks the place."

Grazer already has his writers working on a sequel.

"The sad thing is we took some things from The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and now we have to write that," screenwriter Berg said. "There's not much left in that one other than the title now."

Boy, aren't you ready to line up for that one? Bleah.