 Dr. Seuss hasn't done so well in his recent screen adaptations. After a long run of successful animated TV specials that stuck close to his original texts, Hollywood suddenly decided they could improve on Seuss' works with celebrity stunt casting, "edgy" humor, and lots and lots and lots of padding. At best, we got harmless pseudo-Seuss like Blue Sky's CGI Horton Hears a Who; at worst, we got the egregiously terrible live-action The Cat in the Hat that misfired in every way possible. Given the recent lackluster Seuss, it's understandable if one approaches the new PBS Kids TV series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! with some trepidation. Luckily, those fears prove unwarranted. While the show stretches Seuss' troublesome cat a bit further than the original book, everything is still conducted in an appropriately Seussian manner while still being solidly educational.
Inspired by the "Cat in the Hat's Learning Library" series of books, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! sends the audience proxy kids Sally and Nick to learn about science with the help of the Cat, his assistants Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the Thingamajigger, a wonderfully Seussian flying/swimming/driving contraption. The first episode of the show shrinks down the kids to discover how bees make honey and then follow a flight of birds down south to learn about migration. A few brief interstitial sequences fall between these larger segments, delivering more concentrated doses of science in an easily digestible format.
 Like Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! balances entertainment and education wonderfully. More than anything else, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! reminds me of the original 3-2-1 Contact, which was the edutainment show on public television when I was a kid. Those parents my age who remember that show can be rest assured that The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! is a worthy descendant of that legacy. The Cat (voiced with boisterous glee by Martin Short) engages in the same delightful tom-foolery as in the original book, but with much of his anarchic mayhem replaced by a drive to educate and enlighten. Luckily, "much" does not mean "all," since this Cat is still perfectly willing to engage in a good amount of tom-foolery, singing songs and engaging in gleeful silliness while he and the kids are in transit or to bridge the lessons being taught in each segment of the show. The science is certainly sound enough, but these antics are the spoonful of sugar that will make the medicine of science education go down much easier.
Thankfully, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! eschews the hideous live-action makeup and CGI of other recent Seuss adaptations for a more hand-drawn approach that mimics Seuss' own style beautifully. The show is refreshingly energetic without turning into attention-deficit disorder hyperactivity. It's also wonderful to see distinctively Seussian curves and shapes defining everything on screen, without a straight line or sharp angle in sight. I'm not quite sure if the animation is hand-drawn or if it's done in Flash or CGI, but some shots and the barely noticeable absence of deformation in the character models make me lean towards the latter. Regardless, the look of the show ends up feeling like paper-cut animation, making it another entirely appropriate homage to the series' distinguished literary pedigree.
 I have precious little criticism for the show. I do have to say that I was a bit more impressed by the interstitial segments than the main ones, since the shorter sequences deliver concentrated doses of education without being boring or making one feel lectured to. As a great man once said, "A little nonsense now and then is treasured by the wisest men," and there's nothing wrong with the nonsense in this show, but sometimes the silliness feels a bit too much like padding. I would have also liked some brief live-action segments to show the real-world phenomena described in the show, like an actual bee dance or birds behaving the way the ones on the show do as they migrate south for the winter.
There are kids shows that no adult can possibly stand watching, kids shows that adults can tolerate if not actively enjoy, and kids shows that adults will seek out and watch even without the benefit of a kid. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! may not quite make it all the way to the last category, but if it falls short it's not by a whole lot.
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! premieres on PBS Kids on Monday, September 6, 2010. Check out Toonzone's earlier coverage of the premiere or your local PBS listings for details.
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