The Nostalgia Critic S 6 E 6 / Recap

Release: April 16, 2013

Film: The Cat in the Hat (2003)

Tagline: Bad... BAD kitty!

This review contains examples of:

Adaptation Displacement: Invoked — when the Critic decides to read The Cat in the Hat to Evilina, she expresses confusion at why the whole book is in rhyme and contains no toilet humor or pop culture jokes.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Satan arrives at the end to take Peter Soulless to Hell.
Big Damn Heroes: Satan arrives at the moment that Peter Soulless tortures the Critic and Evilina with bad scenes from Dr. Seuss movies.
Big "WHAT?!": Satan does one in response to Critic not liking Mike Myers.
Blunt "Yes": Evilina responds this way when the Critic asks her if she got the "Cat in the Hat" DVD from next to Son of the Mask.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When being read the original book, Evilina wonders where all the subplots, in-jokes, forced morals, and penis innuendos are.
Broken Aesop: The Critic thinks the film's message (A little rule-breaking is fine as long as it doesn't get out of hand) doesn't work because Conrad comes across as a Bratty Half-Pint taken up to eleven, and Sally is the other extreme also taken up to eleven, rather than normal kids.
Broken Record: During the montage of Peter showing off the Cat's Annoying Laugh, Peter soon starts constantly repeating "And again? And again? And again? And again?"; the combination of that with the Cat's laugh greatly annoying the Critic.
Call-Back:
- Peter's return from the review of Pearl Harbor.
- Like Dr. Insano in Kickassia, Doug's Zod impression suddenly gets connected to his main character, the Critic, despite being clearly separate previously. The Plot Hole seems to be acting up...
Casting Gag: Rob portrays a member of a crooked entertainment company once again.
Chekhov's Gun: Critic laments that he already sold his soul to do a good General Zod impression. Peter Soulless did the same thing before, and the Devil returns at the end to claim him.
Comically Missing the Point: Evillina, Peter, and his two analysts. Evilina gets better by the end, but the other three... not so much.
Analyst 1: Well, the chart says...
Critic: I'm not asking the chart, I'm asking you!
Analyst 1: Well, the chart says...
Critic: You are everything that is wrong with entertainment!
Analyst 1: But the chart says...
(The critic turns off the TV)
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Peter Soulless.
Deal with the Devil: Turns out the Critic had sold his soul to Satan to be able to do a good General Zod impression. And so did Peter to make commercially successful Seuss movies.
Dragged Off to Hell: Peter Soulless at the end.
Driven to Suicide: Analyst 1 and Analyst 2 kill themselves after the Critic turns off the TV and puts the charts off their attention.
Dull Surprise
- The Critic's view of the human cast, declaring Stephen Hawking's voice box is more emotive.
  Critic!Hawking: God, put some fucking emotion into it.
- In-universe, he and Evilina aren't very surprised to see Count Von Count appear in the lower right corner of the screen in response to the Cat making a vulgar joke.
Even Evil Has Standards: Even Satan took offense to the Critic's comments that Mike Myers isn't as funny as he was hyped to be, and he also expressed surprise at the Critic's suggestion as to how to torture Peter, though in the end he agrees. He also seemed rather disgusted by Peter to begin with.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
- Earlier, Peter says that they needed to add extra morals to compensate for the longer running time. The Critic replies that The Polar Express and Mary Poppins were able to keep their principal morals focused with the longer running time. Peter's response?
  "Oh, what good are those films, anyway?! They don't even have pop cultural references!"
- Later, he also ignored the Critic's heartfelt speech to him and proceeds to show him bad clips from other Dr. Seuss movies. See also: Villainous Breakdown.
False Reassurance: "Don't worry, we'll have more ads!"
Fate Worse than Death: Peter Soulless is tortured in hell at the end by the Devil.
Felony Misdemeanor: Critic admitting to thinking Mike Myers isn't that funny is treated with horror from Evilina and her father.
Flat Character: The critic feels this way about the Cat, and emphasizes that his signature wheezy laugh heard throughout the film does not give him characterization.
Heroic BSoD: After witnessing the Cat's fantasy from getting whacked in the crotch, Critic spends the whole commercial break (and even more afterward) watching the sunset because he has nothing to say to that.
Horrifying the Horror: Thing One and Thing Two have managed to make the Spawn of Satan scream in terror.
Lampshade Hanging/Better than a Bare Bulb: Critic takes a dim view of this, seeing it as just lazily acknowledging how dumb the joke is instead of writing a better joke.
Peter: It's Hip Writing Fact #1: If you say you're doing something painful and stupid, it's immediately no longer painful and stupid!
Evilina: Oh, I see! Critic, I'm going to hit you! (slaps him, he yells) You can't scream, it's no longer painful and stupid!
Critic: (punches her back) Yes it is! This whole movie is!
Meaningful Name: Peter Soulless, because he sold his soul to the devil to make the awful Seuss adaptations.
Memetic Molester: In-Universe, the Critic sees Myers' Cat. It was so bad he was even forced to admit that at least Jim Carrey fared better as the Grinch, because at least he had a clear character and was still able to be expressive through his makeup, whereas Myers seems to have two expressions: "pedo smile" and "happy I shit my pants".
Near-Villain Victory: As part of his Villainous Breakdown, Soulless sadistically forces the Critic and Evilina to watch bad clips of Dr. Seuss movies and laughs insanely at their cowering, thinking he has won at last. That is, until Satan arrives...
Neat Freak: Critic points out that the mother works in a hand sanitizer factory, AKA Howie Mandel's Candy Store.
Noodle Implements: "You want me to do what with a fork?!"
Overly Long Gag:
- Peter showing off the Cat's Annoying Laugh.
- Critic and Evilina's long silence in response to the Cat's Groin Attack.
Parental Bonus: The painful insertions of sexual jokes in the film lead the analysts to explain that such jokes actually aren't for adults but dirty minded kids who want to feel adult.
Punctuated Pounding: When the Critic points out that the Cat's frequent Annoying Laugh does not count as giving him a clear character after being annoyed by a montage of it, he has his hand make chopping gestures to accompany his saying, "Having him laugh, again and again..."
Re-Release Soundtrack: The review featuring the Commodores' "Easy" (when the Cat is shown in a dress and riding a swing) and Borodin's Nocturne in D (when Critic is at a loss for words at the following scene and goes to stare at a sunset) got it a copyright claim when uploaded on YouTube (to the point where the swing shot was cut on the YouTube upload). When the review was re-uploaded as an "original edit" in January 2024, both songs were replaced with different (presumably royalty-free) instrumental tracks (thus reinstating the swing shot).
Rhymes on a Dime: Peter does this a few times. Lampshaded by Critic.
Rimshot: Happens when Critic alludes to the time Dakota Fanning played a lifeless puppet.
Screaming at Squick: The Critic and Evilina's reaction to the Things.
Sequel Episode: To his review of Son of the Mask.
Shaped Like Itself: When talking about the book: "Why does he look like a cat?" "Because... he's a cat?"
Shout-Out:
- Evilina wonders if the Cat as he appears in the movie is the lovechild of Pepe le Pew and Ronald McDonald.
- Upon seeing the Cat's Carmen Miranda impersonation, the Critic begins wondering if he's actually watching a weird episode of To Catch a Predator, then he decides this is meant to be one of the fake trailers that air before Tropic Thunder.
- The Things are called a mutated mix of Marge Simpson and Alfred E. Neuman, and if the creepy twins from The Shining were given jagerbombs by Bozo the Clown.
- For every instance of demographically inappropriate humour, Count Von Count enumerates how many times Dr. Seuss "rolled in his grave" (eight for the Cat's "dirty hoe", then becomes nine for Conrad's attempt to spell the acronym of the "Super Hydraulic Instantaneous Transporter" car).
- The "new" Dr. Seuss logo contains the clip of Lickboot saying "We've got to have... MONEY!"
Shoot the Money: The overly lavish sets put off the Critic, and make him think that he's in the middle of a Doublemint gum commercial.
Show, Don't Tell: Critic gets annoyed with the early scene where Conrad and his mom (dully) tell each other they hate each other. Nothing in their previous actions implied they did.
Shut Up, Hannibal!/"The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Critic delivers an epic one to Peter when he tries making himself out as a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
Silent Whisper: When Critic suggests an eternal torture for Peter in in Satan's ear.
Satan: You want me to do what with a fork? (Critic whispers some more) I like how you think!
So Okay, It's Average: The Critic's In-Universe opinion of Mike Myers.
Straw Character: Peter Soulless and The Analysts. One gets the impression Doug doesn't think highly of executives.
Subverted Catchphrase
Critic: I’m the Nostalgia Critic, I remember it...
Peter Soulless: Hey! What are you doing with that fork?! (screams as he is getting stabbed)
Critic: ...while others would like to forget.
Take That!: Satan's next big movie deal is Planes.
Totally Radical: The pop culture references are also skewered as a cheap way to connect to the audience, and dating the film.
Trigger-Happy: At the beginning, Critic takes one of Evilina's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic dolls and shoots it.
invokedUnintentional Uncanny Valley: Both Critic and Evilina are horrified by the Cat and the Things. Peter Soulless, however, thinks it's just making sure they accurately resemble the art style. The Critic points out that things like that might look cute in cartoon format but are just creepy in real life.
Critic: In drawing, you can get away with leaving certain things out, like, upper lips, per se. They would look like wrinkles if you put them in a drawing, but in real life, it looks fucking scary! The reason Cindy Lou was the only cute character in The Grinch was because she's the only one who was allowed to have an upper lip. Everyone else looked like a demon possessed Hungry Hungry Hippo! And these two [the Things] look like The Shining girls if Bozo the Clown gave them Jagerbombs!
Villainous Breakdown: This is Soulless' reaction to the Critic's heartfelt speech: he yells, "No! You're wrong!" and furiously bombards the Critic and Evilina with bad clips of other movie adaptations of Dr. Seuss stories, ordering them to appreciate them unquestionably. This leads to a Near-Villain Victory above.