The Cat in the Hat is hitting the big screen: the Warner Bros. Animation film is the adaptation of the famous “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss (the creator of the Grinch), a rhyming illustrated book that is highly renowned in the United States. It is written and directed, alongside Erica Rivinoja, by a fellow countryman, Alessandro Carloni, a Bologna-born animator who cut his teeth in European animation before moving to California more than twenty years ago, joining DreamWorks Animation where he advanced to co-direct Kung Fu Panda 3. In this video interview we spoke with him about expanding Dr. Seuss’s original idea, about honoring his character design, as well as the bold concepts the film presents in terms of animation and artistic direction. And above all, we wanted to know whether, metaphorically, he didn’t feel a bit like a “Cat,” a source of entertainment and fantasy.
The Cat in the Hat, the plot of the animated film based on Dr. Seuss’s work
In the tale of The Cat in the Hat, young Gabby is forced to relocate to another city with her brother Sebastian, because their mother Carmen must move for work. The sadness weighs on her, but into their lives strides the magical Cat in the Hat (Italian voice by Stefano Fresi), who arrives from an alternate world where his role as an entertainer is at risk, partly due to his penchant for mischief and his tendency not to follow the rules, all in the name of making people laugh! Despite the skepticism of their goldfish Waffle (voiced by Herbert Ballerina), the two are drawn into the worlds of memories, thanks to the Cat’s quirky abilities: Gabby, in particular, senses that a special clock capable of turning back time might be exactly what she needs to leave a present that makes her sad. The chaos only grows, especially because the Cat’s superior has long sought to remove him from the “company”…
As for cinema, Dr. Seuss’s work has been adapted several times: his most famous creation has appeared both in live-action and animation in The Grinch (2000, with Jim Carrey) and The Grinch (2018 from Illumination). Let us not forget Horton Hears a Who! (2008, Blue Sky Studios) and The Lorax (2012, again from Illumination).
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