Reviews

*might be a few spoilers*

I went into this movie with low hopes, but came out pleasantly surprised. Even though there are many embarrassing "jokes" the film redeemed itself by keeping with Seuss's excellent political comments and morals. Anyone who knows anything about Seuss's work should know that all of his books/poems had an underlying meaning - they were all a sort of parable.

The Cat in the Hat is really all about Communism and Capitalism (represented very well by Sally in the film). The Cat is acting as the Anarchist to show the children that there is more to life than what they're living: "it's fun to have fun but you have to know how" - but is also warning them that anarchic fun can get them into a lot of trouble and lose them respect, but being too uptight can lose them friends. The fish represents dictatorship by trying to control and repress the children and the Cat but of course the Cat overthrows him, quite literally.

The mother in the book is rather a passive figure, she leaves her children alone at home while she tries to earn a living, in fact if you look far enough into it there could be reason to believe that she is a prostitute because she runs out mysteriously leaving her two very young children alone. There is also a very stark absence of a father - there is no mention of one at all. I think in this respect the film did what it could with this strain of the storyline. We see the mother out earning a living because she is left alone with two kids to raise and actually taking the trouble to find a babysitter, even if she does sleep through the whole thing. There would have been global outrage if the filmmakers had stuck strictly to the original story in this case.

I was glad to see the part about the pink spot in the film, for two reasons. First it cuts down the likelyhood of a sequel and second it referenced The Cat in the Hat Strikes Back. In the film the spots are more of a bright purple colour but the effect is still the same. This book showed the children alone once more, yet being subjected to almost child labour - they have to clear their front driveway of vast amounts of snow before their mother returns from her mysterious afternoon outings. However the Cat turns up again and creates havoc that will have to be cleared up - the relentless pink spot that bounces from one thing (including the mother's dress and something in the father's separate bedroom) to the next until it covers the whole of the white snow outside. With this simple plot device for teaching young kids the alphabet, Seuss was actually commenting on the 1950s social 'problem' of increasing homosexuality 'spreading' everywhere and how it was being shunned and repressed so ignorantly.

I was also pleased with the amount of sexual promiscuity in the film (like the Cat's interest in Joan) as again it keeps in with Seuss's work. All in all I think this film did well to capture the Seussian world, particularly with the impressive opening credits and the iconic shot of Sally and Conrad staring gloomily out of the front window. But I did only give the film half marks because the script should have been more sophisticated than just resorting to cringe-worthy gags and a manic Mike Myers yelling "oh yeah" Austin Powers style through the whole film, but visually this movie was a treat.

I really enjoyed watching 40, well most of it! I started wondering whether it was a reaction to anything or a working out of something. Maybe it's just a general consideration of 'life beginning at 40'. I certainly got a sense of new beginnings, particularly at the end of the last episode. It was as if the whole event of the reunion party was the pinnacle or pivot of the central characters' lives (except Rob for obvious reasons if you've seen it). New life is symbolized/personified in Anita's unborn child.

There were so many themes tackled in this series: love, sex, sexuality, drugs, careers, and life and death in general. It even tackled illegal immigration briefly. I like the way the two daughters of two of the main characters are complete contrasts. the youngest is sensible and kind and the makers of the programme deliberately show her wearing a crucifix and a white nightdress. the older one rebels against her parents, mostly her father. although, it becomes clear that she loves him and misses him, she resents him because of what she finds out about him. Her reaction is to apparently impose herself on the sex industry as a release, which doubles as a reaction to the things we know her father does.

I think the programme lacked slightly because it never fully explained the mysterious Jess. I didn't like this character, she was a good character, I just didn't like her personally, but I was glad when she got her own back on Rob, even in the most extreme of ways. I would have liked to know more about her and why she was as manipulative as she was. I want to know why she ever had a family because she really doesn't seem to care about her two young children.

The illegal immigrant, Christina, was a very interesting ingredient to the mixture. I loved it when she too got payback on Rob because he was no better than the ones who had tortured her in her own country. The way it was revealed that she was actually a doctor even though we'd seen her working in the lowest of low jobs earlier on brought a slight bit of reality into the series. I thought it was very skillfully done.

There is so much to go into with this series and I would definitely watch it again. I absolutely loved the format of the episodes. I liked the way everything was revealed in stages, it keeps you hanging on and wanting to know more. However, it was sometimes easy to forget important thing that happened at the very start when it was all over. The different viewpoints of each character were shown in an interesting way. It didn't really matter to me that not all of the characters connected. That wasn't the point. I think the point of it was that people don't change as they grow older - they simply become who they are.