'The Cat in the Hat' Review
Updated: 3 hours ago
Release Date: 11/06/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Adventure. Animation. Comedy. Family. Fantasy.
MPAA: Rated PG.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
The Verdict: A Must-See
Dr. Seuss adaptations have been scarce in recent years, aside from Illumination’s The Grinch (which was abysmal); The Cat in the Hat was a prominent title in the Seuss catalog that hadn’t been touched since the divisive live-action Mike Myers entry. Now, in 2026, The Cat in the Hat returns, and while it's not a direct adaptation of the book and takes serious creative liberties with the author’s work, the film is surprisingly magical.
The story follows a mom, a son, and a daughter who have just moved to the big city where the mom (America Ferrera) is starting a new career. Their landlord is a woman with strict rules, and any breakage brings an iron fist and the threat of eviction. The daughter, Gabby (Xochitl Gomez), isn't excited about the move and, in a rage, decides to leave behind everything creative about her identity. At the same time, her brother, Sebastian (Tiago Martinez), wants to cheer his sister up.
This is where the Cat comes into play, on assignment to curate an experience that will get Gabby out of her funk and help her come to terms with her new adventure. And in pure Cat in the Hat fashion, things go awry, but not to the level you’d expect - it is an apartment after all, and not an entire house that can be destroyed.
What’s so interesting about this newest adaptation is that the core story is the same: a brother and sister, and a mom who wants the best for her children. There is a bit of opposition and a pet goldfish. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Waffles, the pet goldfish played by the ridiculous Matt Berry, you could scrap this as just another job the Cat has procured over the years, and it isn’t supposed to be the one from the book. However, including a fish that comes to life and has traits similar to the fish from the book makes it a little difficult to separate. Even so, I’d like to think of it as an entirely different family and assignment, rather than a reworking of the original Sally and her nameless sibling characters.
Bill Hader (SNL, Barry) steps into the role of the giant cat who happens to wear a striped hat, and while his energy in delivering the usual rhymes we know and love is a little lackluster, his voice work beyond that has been cackling at the screen. It’s safe to say I enjoyed the childlike nature of this storytelling and the spontaneous nature of the Cat is exactly how it should be: fun and unpredictable.
We are introduced to a lot of Things in this newest adaptation (17+), and their chaotic, nonverbal communication and a humorous joke of a solo movie on the way bring to light just how Minion-esque they truly are. Not going to lie, I laughed a lot at these little guys, and while a solo movie would be a disaster like the comparable Minions (2015), the adorable nature of these little abnormal beings makes it an easy choice to keep going with more of them in some fashion.
Never going anywhere near the level of insanity present in the delightful misfire of the 2003 adaptation, the film transports you into the world of Seuss with a wonderful blend of his book’s 2D style and bold new looks in 3D computer animation. At moments, it’s truly like flipping through the pages of the children’s books. Still, at other times, the animation falters and seems poorly produced - this may be a personal dilemma of mine, however, as it does feel as though the animators at Warner Bros. wanted to make a distinct difference in styling from the “real world” and the Cat’s world.
It’s a tad too long for kids to lock in fully, but for an adult who grew up with Seuss, this is a great return of the classic character, especially on the big screen in this form, much more similar to how we grew up with. To be clear, I was much more of a Green Eggs and Ham household, but the story and icon of the Cat will live on whenever Dr. Seuss comes up in conversation. It’s a charming tale stretched a little thin, but it’s filled to the brim with entertaining, whimsical characters and, most importantly, Things that will make anyone with childlike wonder in their heart, bright or dim, smile.
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