By Other Voices voices@moviecitynews.com
Man About Town 11/25/03
It seemed like every film critic panned “Cat In The Hat” and there would be no way the film would survive. Even if it did have a felines nine lives. Boy, were we wrong. Forty million bucks in the first week and the film goes number one. What’s the reason? Kids don’t read reviews and when a film like this one is so highly promoted with so many cool tie ins parents don’t stand a chance. Red and white “Kit Kat” bars, shiny tree ornaments at some fast food restaraunt and even a floor cleaner. The Cat himself by the way appears in all those spots. I’m quite sure though that it wasn’t Mike Meyers himself in the costume but a stand in. Think of it as Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, its just some minimum wage teenager in there .
Alright, let’s get back to the movie. As a parent myself I can’t tell you how many bad movies I’ve sat through that the kids wanted to see. The one that comes to mind is one long Saturday morning I sat with my then five year old daughter for a press screening of “Pikachu.” This was no ordinary press event . We were in the Zeigfeld Theatre in New York surrounded by no less than two thousand screeming kids. To this day I don’t know what that movie was about.
As for “The Cat in the Hat” we’ll just have to and see if it has legs, or paws, as the case may be.
I mentioned Mickey Mouse and this story just popped into my head. During an interview Michael Eisner Disney CEO told the story of being in a limo with Mickey. It was at the inaguration for Presidnet Bush (The first one). Their car was stuck in the long motorcade and their they were alone, Mike and Mickey. Now the employes that are in the costume are sworn to remain silent. Mr. Eisner felt odd just sitting there and started talking to Mickey. No response. Eisner says. “It’s okay, you can talk.” Well, the poor kid or whoever was in Mickey’s head thought he was maybe being tested and never said a word no matter how much his boss said it was okay. Just trying to picture what that scene looked like cracked me up.
While we’re on Disney… “The Haunted Mansion” starring Eddie Murphy a PG romp through a scary house based on the Disney attraction of the same name. Eddie must have come to terms with the fact he is not Will Smith and there is a future as a Disney Dad. Well, that is unless you were Bob Crane, who was spinning into a sex addiction nightmare when he made “Super Dad.”
Murphy does all of his well known schtick. That big grin . The rapid fire delivery . It all works. He plays a real estate salesman that takes a detour from a family vacation when this mansion comes on the market. His supporting cast, including the special effects ghosts that haunt the place, are great. Nothing is too frighting for young kids and enough fun for us adults that get dragged to see it.
So what’s Disney going to do next, “Its a Small World, the Movie”?
As they used to say in the newspaper biz, “That’s thirty for now.” I don’t know what it means either but they used to always write it at bottom of the page.
– Bill Tush
