Is this what Seuss would have wanted?

[TOM 002]

So the Cat and the Hat has gone and passed. The movie is probably making it's last few runs, and eventually the DVD will appear. But that's not what bugs me about it.
In the weeks that I've watched TV, the overall products that spawned from the movie or have been associated with the movie have been overwhelming!

-Burger King
-Swiffer
-Mr. Clean
-Lay's Stack'ems
-Sierra Mist
-The various video games for the Cat in the Hat
-Radio Shack

...and something tells me that I've only scratched the tip of the iceberg. Now while it might be great that the Cat in the Hat is getting so much popularity, one must wonder...

Is this what good ol' Dr. Suess wanted?

Remember when we were young and we read his books? We liked it because of the charm that Suess was able to give it, not because there's a cool toy or because of a silly movie. As far as I recall, Dr. Suess didn't need mass marketing and comercials to sell his books, and they became famous worldwide. All of these books with these sweet little rhymes and these unforgetable wacky creatures, they never needed a huge commercial or a TV show to sell them. Dr. Suess only wanted to entertain the children, not make a quick buck.

Now that I look upon what the Cat and the Hat has become...I can't help but cringe. The corperations of today have managed to take a much beloved book and completely bastardize it to the point where it's just another money machine. Now when the next generation of kids think of the Cat in the Hat, they won't remember the books. They'll remember the toys, the games, and the movie.

Forevermore, a child of this era will say "Oh! They got this from the movie!" everytime he or she reads the book that has entertained many a generation before.

And I have a feeling that Dr. Suess would be rolling in his grave.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?

[DianaGohan]

I don't think Dr Suess would have wanted this. He was more cynical and dark then a lot of people thought of him and defintley wouldn't want any of this mass media commerical stuff attached to any of his products and creations.

[RogueMartian]

I'm guessing the answer is he wouldn't. Not because I know him or anything but because this stuff never existed before. All the movies and commercialization happened after he died, which means, while he was alive he didn't let it all happen. Bill Watterson did the same thing. Some people are just against the commercialization of their stuff. Sadly, they die, and leave the rights to their life and art to their greedy spouses/offspring.

I'm sure John Wayne would not like to think his image would be used after his death to sell beer, and I'm sure Dr. Seuss would not have wanted to see the cat in the hat sell hamburgers. But, such is the nature of the world, you get used to it.

[Boy Wonder]

Grinch didn't get much attention, and take a look at its box office receipts. So, what's next, Green Eggs and Ham?

[pabcool]

To quote what I always say when I am asked this:

"I don't think Mr. Geisel is spinning in his grave. I actually think he's finished with that and is now busy passing out in his own vomit."

[Mackenzie Rainelle]

Given that he once dumped a box of action figures of his characters that a toy company was wanting to market into a swimming pool, I think he'd've had everyone involved shot if he came back and found what's been done with his characters.

[Tobias]

Next: Ashton Kutcher and The Rock star in the new Seusian inspired movie-

Green Eggs and Ham

[Alex Toon]

Next: Ashton Kutcher and The Rock star in the new Seusian inspired movie-

Green Eggs and Ham

Hey! Don't give Hollywood any ideas! :D But that could happen, with Kutcher as Sam-I-Am and the Rock as the other character.

Sam-I-Am: Will you eat them in a box? With a fox?
Other char.: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I DON'T WANT YOUR EGGS AND HAM!

[shogunthethird]

next in the news "Dr. Seuss comes back from the dead seeking revenge" or "and to think that I killed them on Mulberry street"

[The Dork Knight]

Seuss'd

Starring Ashton Kutcher and The Rock

Ashton: Ok, right now I've sent Sam after The Rock since he does not like Green Eggs and Ham! Sam is going to annoy the crap out of him until he eats the Green Eggs and Ham! This is going to be great!

Sam: Would you eat them in a box?
The Rock: NO! YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO WITH THOSE GREEN EGGS AND HAM? First, I want you take them, shine them up real nice.....

- The Dork Knight

[wrenchien]

the next logical step, would be the lorax.

here's my ideas. listen, hollywood.

make it a dark comedy. have tommy lee jones be the onceler. have brendon frasier as the lorax who speaks for the trees.

have the onceler just be tommy with green-tinted hairy forearms and hair, no overdo on the makeup or bodysuits. frasier could be the orange runt with an at-itude.

they could have the lorax help evacuate the remaining flora and fauna when the onceler refuses to listen to reason, like in the story book, as the onceler's tree-cutting machinery destroys the forest. but it's super sharp, cgi machinery.

the lorax, satisfied all his animals under his care are safe, tries to salvage the last tree and only finds seeds, which he gives to the onceler. then the lorax moons the onceler and flies off grabbing his own tail.

the onceler's company goes bankrupt, surrounded by cold, empty fields. then when all is left of his company is but his office in a single crumbling tower, he gets the kid listening to his story to plant a new forest, which grows slowly but triumpantly in the darkness.

[RogueMartian]

I say the next one is Horton Hears A Who. Prime candidate for movie making.

[GL2k2]

I can tell you for a fact that judging by the disgusting treatment of his "5000 Fingers of Dr.T" (which is a movie I kinda like, but it is corny), he would not have very much liked what they've done with either "Grinch" or "Cat in the Hat". He hated Hollywood, the only thing he was proud of was "Grinch" by Snafu partner in crime, Chuck Jones.

[CookieS]

I'm sure he's rolling in his grave along with Elvis, Walt Disney, Tupac, and JFK.

[wrenchien]

I say the next one is Horton Hears A Who. Prime candidate for movie making.

only if by some movie twist it's the grinch who talks to horton. :)

[Morpheus]

Seuss is spinning in his grave.

It also is spelled Seuss, not Suess.

(sorry for not posting earlier)

[Jaguar]

If a movie version of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," my most favorite Dr. Seuss book of all time is made, I will personally go to Universal (the studio who will most likely be the morons to greenlight it) with double hookswords and a bucket of cyanide.

[SilverKnight]

I wonder if this is how book-fans feel when a movie-version of said book is bastardized? I didn't even like Cat in the Hat, but come on.

Seuss is rolling in his grave, and so am I. Damn Hollywood.

[Slagar]

Of course not. It was even worse with "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", though, because the merchandising craze was so directly contradictary to the story's message. (Of course, that message was completely missed in the movie anyways.)

I think that the next movie adaptation will be "Green Eggs and Ham", starring Adam Sandler as the egg-hater and Danny Devito as Sam-I-Am. "It writes itself!" :rolleyes: