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 The Cat in the Hat -- the 2003 box-office hit starring Mike Myers, Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning -- is now available on DVD and VHS in a number of different versions.
You can get The Cat in the Hat in a DVD widescreen edition, a VHS clamshell edition, and in several other kinds of packaging. List prices start at $17.95. For more information, see the official Cat in the Hat Web site or Yahoo.com.
In The Cat in the Hat, Conrad (played by Spencer) and Sally (Dakota Fanning) live with their single mom, Joan (Kelly Preston), in a neat home next door to a nosey neighbor (Alec Baldwin). On a Saturday when Joan had planned to host a party, her demanding boss (Hayes) asks her to come in to work, so Joan decides to leave the children with a babysitter (Amy Hill). Bossy Sally and rule-breaking Conrad are so bored that the only thing they can do is stare out the window.
That is, until a special cat in a very tall hat arrives and teaches the kids that it’s good to have fun — but you have to know how!
 The Cat -- a six-foot-tall, talking, adventure-seeking feline played by Mike Myers -- is just looking for a little fun (OK, maybe a lot of fun). Against the warnings of the children's seriously repressed pet goldfish, the Cat (with the help of a couple of troll doll look-a-likes called Thing One and Thing Two) turns the house upside down, then puts it all right-side-up again before the kids' mother gets home.
The major problem faced by the Cat in the Hat production team was the question of how to translate a slim by the beloved children's book author Dr. Seuss into a big-budget Hollywood film. The producers of the movie obviously had to flesh things out a bit, so they, added some new characters and tacked on a few life lessons. As film critic Holly McClure observed in a review in crosstalk.com:
"The kids now have very distinct personalities: Wild older brother Conrad (Spencer Breslin) plays fast and loose with the rules, while sister Sally (Fanning), an uptight control freak, has driven all her friends away with her rigidity. Their mother, Joan (Preston), works at the town's real estate office run by the anal retentive Mr. Humberfloob (Sean Hayes), and she's dating the guy next door, Quinn (Alec Baldwin), a superficial scumbag who wants to send Conrad to military school. On the particular cold, wet day in question, Joan leaves instructions not to mess up the house since she's having an important business meet-and-greet there later that night.
"When the Cat arrives, he quickly assures Sally and Conrad they can have all the fun they want and nothing bad will happen. Ignoring vocal opposition from the Fish (voiced by Hayes), the Cat quickly puts into motion a series of events that will (a) prove his point, (b) destroy the house and (c) teach the kids a sugary-sweet but valuable lesson about being responsible while living life to the fullest."
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