History YMMV / TheCatInTheHat

* MisaimedMarketing: The marketing and tie-in merchandise aside from the trailers averted the dirty jokes showcased throughout the film.

* CommonKnowledge: The boy, being the narrator, is not named in the book. His names, "Conrad" in the movie and "Nick" in the animated series, is purely an [[NamedByTheAdaptation invention]] of the live action film. He is [[NoNameGiven not given a name in the books]].

* EpilepticTrees

** Conrad might be a destructive sociopath, but you can’t help but feel bad for him, since his mom’s boyfriend verbally abuses him behind her back and towards the end of the film, he nearly loses his sister and actually decides to willingly accept responsibility for wrecking the house.

** Many of the scenes involving glaringly obvious and dated CGI (i.e. the Things running around the house and the "Mother of All Messes") can qualify as this.

* CantUnHearIt: Millennials ironically, or for the legit fans of the film, unironically, like to read the Cat's lines from the book in the voice of Creator/MikeMyers.
* CriticalBacklash: The movie was ''widely'' hated upon its release. However, similar to what happened with ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'', it later found popularity in the late 2010s as an internet meme. As a result, many people who've decided to WatchItForTheMeme have said that the film's visual style and humor manage to hold well on their own merits, despite it not being a good adaptation of the book.

* CommonKnowledge: The boy is not named "Conrad" in the book. The name is purely an [[NamedByTheAdaptation invention]] of the live action film. He is [[NoNameGiven not given a name in the books]].

* {{Squick}}: Larry sneezing into his hands while covered in slime. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Yeah...]]

* FranchiseOriginalSin: The live-action movie is frequently decried for, among its many other faults, following the original book only in ''very'' BroadStrokes. This adaptation actually doesn't follow it very closely either though, which is especially a contrast from the other animated Dr. Seuss specials. It just happened this didn't have any of the other glaring issues the movie had (crass adult humor, the fact it wasn't animated, UnintentionalUncannyValley visual effects, and virtually no focus) to bring it down along with it, and as much as it deviated from the source, it still kept true to the Seuss spirit. The latter point was helped no doubt by Ted Geisel himself being involved with its production.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Some opinions on this movie. As an adaptation, it's not exactly something Dr. Seuss would be proud of (In fact, his Estate was pretty livid over it and prohibited any other live action films of his works). On its own however, it's at worst a little boring and has at least a few jokes which land.

* MagnificentBastard: [[TricksterMentor The Cat in the Hat]] himself is a mischievous prankster who intends to teach Sally and Conrad a lesson about how to have fun. Entering their house, he immediately causes as much damage as he possibly can with his "fun", concluding by wheeling in a locked box and telling Conrad not to open it. When Conrad breaks the lock anyway, the Cat brings the children on a dangerous adventure, even having them drive on a busy highway and ultimately traversing through the "[[EldritchLocation The Mother of All Messes]]", the horrifying and broken version of their house. After they fix the lock, it's revealed that the Cat planned out everything on their journey, purposefully telling Conrad not to open the lock because [[BatmanGambit he knew that would make Conrad want to do it]]. With the kids having learned their lesson, the Cat returns to fix up the damages he caused, departing from the children as a friend.

* PopularityPolynomial: Was well-received when it first came out, but fell somewhat into obscurity in the 80s and 90s, overshadowed by the animated version of ''WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' (and, to a lesser extent, ''Literature/TheLorax''). In 2003 it got a DVD release to cash in on the live-action version, and was widely regarded as a ''far'' superior adaptation by comparison.

** An odd case with the Cat himself. While many consider the makeup to be UnintentionalUncannyValley, it at least looks somewhat faithful to the Cat's appearance in the book, similar to the Grinch in ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''. However, unlike the Grinch, in which the makeup was known to be extremely uncomfortable for Jim Carrey, who practiced stress-relief techniques to focus on his role, there are several moments throughout the movie where Mike Myers visibly struggles with the extreme discomfort of his costume, which really hurts the authenticity of his performance and makeup. Not helping matters is you can easily see where the costume ends and Myers' actual face begins.

* WTHCastingAgency: The film got lots of flak for casting Creator/MikeMyers as the Cat (after Creator/TimAllen left the film) due to his track record of humor being inappropriate for the typical age demographic of Creator/DrSeuss readers (although he was notable as another kids' icon, Franchise/{{Shrek}}); both he and director Creator/BoWelch were legally forced into the film due to Universal being angry over Myers cancelling a movie adaptation of ''Series/{{S|aturdayNightLive}}prockets''. Unfortunately, many of the fears from parents ended up being realized once the film came out. Even Audrey Giesel herself objected to Myers' role as the titular character.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: Even the world of Creator/DrSeuss could not find a home for The Cat as brought to life by Mike Myers, whose suit and makeup made for some hardcore UnintentionalUncannyValley and pales to [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the Grinch's]] design when donned by Creator/JimCarrey.

* WTHCastingAgency: The film got lots of flak for casting Creator/MikeMyers as the Cat (after Creator/TimAllen left the film) due to his track record of humor being inappropriate for the typical age demographic of Creator/DrSeuss readers (although he was notable as another kids' icon, WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}); both he and director Creator/BoWelch were legally forced into the film due to Universal being angry over Myers cancelling a movie adaptation of ''Series/{{S|aturdayNightLive}}prockets''. Unfortunately, many of the fears from parents ended up being realized once the film came out. Even Audrey Giesel herself objected to Myers' role as the titular character.

** The whole "Rave" scene as the group are running away from Lawrence - featuring a cameo from Creator/ParisHilton of all people.
** The scene where Mrs. Kwan watches a brawl break out in the ''Taiwanese parliament''. [[MindScrew What the hell?]]

* MemeticMutation: In the WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s that have been made out of this, Krinklebine's "Outrageous!" is often repeated for humorous effect.

* CantUnHearIt: Millennials ironically, or for some Gen Z fans of the film, unironically, like to read the Cat's lines from the book in the voice of Creator/MikeMyers.