Line #29 Film/InSearchOfDrSeuss


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_3074.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Come along with me, [[TitleThemeTune in search of Dr. Seuss]]!"]]
3
4	->''Open a book, open up your imagination.''
5	-->--A '''Creator/DrSeuss''' quote written on the cover of the PortalBook
6
7	''In Search of Dr. Seuss'' is a biographical film about Creator/DrSeuss, first aired on Creator/{{TNT}} on November 6, 1994, featuring newly-recorded live action segments and excerpts of previous animated films based on his books. It was directed by Vincent Paterson and written by Keith R. Clarke.
8
9	It follows reporter Kathy Lane (Creator/KathyNajimy) who befriends Literature/TheCatInTheHat (Creator/MattFrewer) after she barges into Dr. Seuss' house in an attempt to get a new angle for a story about the author. She then meets several of Dr. Seuss' characters, who involve her in their stories and deliver the biographical information.
10	----
11	!! ''In Search of Dr. Seuss'' contains examples of:
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13	* AdaptationDistillation: ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'', ''Literature/TheLorax'', and ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' in particular get trimmed pretty heavily to fit into this 90-minute documentary.
14	* ArgumentOfContradictions: "This is good. This is great. Yes! Very nice." "Not good. Not great. Not nice!"
15	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Aside from the confusion over the "Hitler Lives" segment as detailed below, this film also clearly sidesteps over the cause of the death of Dr. Seuss' first wife, Helen, namely that she committed suicide, mostly due to her husband's affair with Audrey, who would become his second wife. The film also incorrectly states that he fell in love with Audrey after the death of Helen. This was altered, no doubt, due to the age of the target audience.
16	* BreakingTheFourthWall: The Cat in the photo of Dr. Seuss winks at the audience after Kathy leaves.
17	* CreditsMontage: The opening and end credits both feature clips from the documentary and cartoons.
18	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Mr. Hunch offers Kathy some Literature/GreenEggsAndHam, she turns them down with, "IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam." Mr. Hunch predicts, "I have a hunch you'll change your mind." Guess what happens when Kathy meets Sam-I-Am.
19	* GospelChoirsAreJustBetter: "Yertle the Turtle" has gospel singers portray most of the other turtles.
20	* IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam: Literally, as Kathy takes the role of [[Literature/GreenEggsAndHam the book]]'s main character.
21	* InstantCostumeChange: The Cat and Kathy undergo this both before and after singing "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
22	* IntrepidReporter: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the Cat describes Kathy's conning her way into the house as "Shameful, but exactly what I would've expected of a journalist."
23	* LittleBitBeastly: The Cat looks perfectly human, aside from the cat prints he leaves behind on the Sneetches' beach.
24	* LiveActionAdaptation: Some Dr. Seuss books with no {{Animated Adaptation}}s to reuse clips or StockFootage from became live-action skits instead, as did ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' and ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam''.
25	* LookBehindYou: Kathy pulls this on the Cat before rushing into Dr. Seuss' house.
26	* MediumBlending: Kathy never seems to notice that Horton and the Sneetches are animated, whereas the Cat, Mr. Hunch, and the Who-Villian are live.
27	* MesACrowd: Sam-I-Am has an army of look-alikes to help convince Kathy to try some green eggs and ham.
28	* NoNameGiven: The Cat in the Hat, Mr. Hunch, Ad Man and Ad Woman, Father and Daughters, and the Who-Villian.
29	* ReachingThroughTheFourthWall: The "Open a Book, Open Up Your Imagination" book that allows Kathy to meet the characters, travel to the locations, and interact with the various objects and items from Dr. Seuss' books, aside from the Cat.
30	* {{Redubbing}}: The original voices in the ''WesternAnimation/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' segment were removed and replaced with new voices, all performed by Creator/FrankWelker. He also redubbed a couple characters in ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' segment, to talk the viewer through plot points the whole special covered in song instead.
31	* RogerRabbitEffect: Kathy Najimy's hand uses the animated door knocker in the opening song.
32	* SpinningOutOfHere: Kathy and the Cat return to Dr. Seuss' house by holding hands and quickly spinning in a circle.
33	* TakeThat: The Cat and Kathy agree about ''Literature/DickAndJane'' books providing a boring means of teaching children how to read.
34	* ToonTransformation: The opening credits invert this when Kathy and Dr. Seuss' house change from animation to live-action.
35	* AWildRapperAppears: Mack raps to protest Yertle the Turtle stacking everyone.
36	* WorldOfHam: Almost all of the actors give rather broad performances, to say the least.
37	* WrongfullyAttributed: Kathy and The Voice of America state that Dr. Seuss wrote and Creator/FrankCapra directed the short documentary ''Hitler Lives''. The reality is somewhat more complicated. "Hitler Lives" was a re-edited version of a Army training short called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=821R0lGUL6A Your Job in Germany]]'', which explained to US troops why they couldn't go home immediately and why they couldn't make friends with the ''frauleins''. ''Your Job in Germany'' was written by Theodore (Dr. Seuss) Geisel, and directed by Frank Capra. The film was given a re-edit and repackage for the home front via Warner Brothers, and it was this film, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEYeJKCFQgA Hitler Lives]]'' that is credited to Saul Ekins as the writer and Gordon Hollingshead as "Supervisor" (Don Siegel apparently directed the new sequences, but was left uncredited). Roughly half the short is still the work of Giesel and Capra, with the first 9 or so minutes having only light edits to Giesel's script to remove military-specific information and directives and one profanity that would have caused the short to be rejected due to the Hayes Code.
38	* YearInsideHourOutside: When Kathy returns to Dr. Seuss' house at the end, it doesn't seem like much time in the real world has passed since she entered the book.

Context Film / InSearchOfDrSeuss