Posted on: Monday, November 24, 2003

EDITORIAL
Promoting the 'Cat' is making some fat

Oh! the movies you'll see! There are stories to be told. There are children to lure. There is merchandise to be sold.

Though it might sound Seussian, that's not one of the good doctor's rhymes. Nonetheless, it characterizes the drumroll for the anticipated Universal Studios holiday season blockbuster, "Cat in the Hat."

In case you haven't noticed, Cat corporate tie-ins are popping up in the strangest of places. Like the U.S. Postal Service, which is stamping all mail with greetings from the cat. Kellogg has a limited edition red-and-white striped cereal, and some Oreo cookies are taking on the same stripes.

A dozen sponsors promoting literally dozens of products are turning the subversively humorous masterpiece by Theodor Seuss Geisel into one of the most corporate-backed movies in Hollywood history.

To those of us who were introduced to the works of Dr. Seuss in a less materialistic era, this "Cat in the Hat" promotions fest is an assault on our childhood memories.

Dr. Seuss published the book in 1957 to inspire children to read and boost literacy. The original poem tells of a mischievous cat who cheers up two children who face a gloomy afternoon home alone.

But that's not enough material for a Hollywood movie. And so they've added some scenes, like the one in which a group of children take a baseball bat to the cat and beat it like a pinata.

Moreover, for fear of appearing to sanction parents who leave their children home alone, a baby sitter has been added to the plot.

Meanwhile, the bawdy cat, played by comedian Mike Myers, lets it all hang out, earning the film a PG rating for crude humor and sexually suggestive situations.

Who can say how Dr. Seuss would have felt about the movie had he not died in 1991. Perhaps he would have shrugged and agreed that it just part of a pattern that has seen the re-use and commercialization of everything from Batman to Robin Hood.

We do know he had tremendous respect for children: "A person's a person, no matter how small." And that's why he wrote "Cat in the Hat" just the way he did.

And that's that.