In 2018, it was announced that Warner Brothers had made a deal with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to do animated movies based on Theodore Geisel's works. The first one they'll be doing? An adaptation of The Cat in the Hat.
Personally, I'm very excited. I've always loved Dr. Seuss' stories and characters, and considering how much I liked Blue Sky's Horton Hears a Who (and thought Illumination's adaptations of The Lorax and The Grinch were okay), I think there's a lot of potential to be had with doing more animated Dr. Seuss movies. Plus, the Cat's certainly deserving of a better movie than... y'know...
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| Yeah, the less said about this the better. |
How good of a movie it'll be, I feel, will come down to who they cast as the voice of the Cat himself. The Cat is the one who carries the story, after all, and with that in mind a great voice actor is needed to really bring the character to life, just as Allan Sherman and Mason Adams have done previously. I'm really worried that Warner Bros. will just toss the role to some celebrity with a "normal" voice that doesn't lend itself well to animation simply because they're a big name, and we'll wind up with a Cat in the Hat who sounds like any other dude off the street (see also Adam Devine's Sam I Am and Benedict Cumberbatch's Grinch). Or they'll get some other celebrity who DOES have a distinct voice but does not fit as the Cat in the least, in which case the character just becomes "this random celebrity in a cat suit" (see also Scoob!, the live action Smurfs movies, the Mario movie...).
I actually have a lot of ideas as to who Warner Bros. should cast as the voice of the Cat. Want to hear them?
Martin Short
Okay, before anybody says anything, YES, I am perfectly aware that Martin Short has voiced the Cat before. From 2010 until 2018, there was a show on PBS Kids called The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, which had the Cat voiced by Martin Short. Actually, that show and his involvement in it is a pretty big reason why I'm including Martin Short on this list.
I like Martin Short. He's one of those celebrities that does a lot of voice acting because they have a distinct voice and a larger than life personality that lend themselves well to animation. He was a wonderful Cat in the Hat, and along with Allan Sherman he's also one of the most popular voices for the character. So why NOT let him voice the Cat again? Besides, he actually IS a celebrity if it's so important to Warner Bros. that a celebrity voice the Cat.
Nathan Lane
Much like Martin Short, Nathan Lane is one of those celebrities whose distinct voices and larger than life personas lend themselves splendidly to animation. Timon from The Lion King just wouldn't have been Timon without Nathan's doing his voice. I'm not sure how I thought of this idea, but I feel that Mr. Lane would pull the Cat off quite nicely. One time, while my family was watching an episode of Modern Family where Nathan guest-starred, I pulled up a video of The Cat in the Hat (the 1971 special) on YouTube, muted it, and played it so that the Cat's talking matched up with Nathan's dialogue. It fit! Plus, Nathan is a great singer, and is known for giving wonderfully hammy performances in animation (such as, again, Timon, and also as Spot the dog in Disney's cartoon show Teacher's Pet... I've gotta do a review of that show at some point) - two qualities that most animated versions of the Cat also had. He's even done the voice of a cat before - Snowbell in the first two Stuart Little movies. With all of this in mind, I think Warner Bros. should definitely consider asking Nathan to do the voice of the Cat.
That said, I've also felt that Nathan Lane would also be a good choice for Sylvester McMonkey McBean if they ever do a movie adaptation of The Sneetches...
Richard Kind
Richard Kind is another celebrity who does tons of voice acting. Particularly for PIXAR's films, but he particularly has received a lot of acclaim for his performance as Bing Bong in Inside Out. I've even seen somebody say that he deserved an Academy Award nomination for it.
At the risk of repeating myself, Richard Kind is another one of those actors who have a distinct voice and a habit for giving larger than life performances. Like Nathan Lane, it wouldn't be his first time voicing a cat - he voiced Tom in the 1992 Tom and Jerry movie. I actually see Richard's take on the Cat being reminiscent of Mason Adams' take in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat. But is Richard a good singer? Well, here's a sample of his singing as Roger the alligator from The Penguins of Madagascar:
So, yeah.
Jess Harnell
GASP! A professional voice actor?! In a theatrical animated movie?! I know that the chances of Warner Bros. doing this are very, very small. But I don't care, I'm including him on this list anyway.
Jess is one of my favorite voice actors. He's extremely versatile, a great singer, and is perfectly capable of bringing a lot of whimsy and goofiness to his roles. For example, Wakko Warner, Cedric from Sofia the First, Roger Rabbit, Secret Squirrel, and Willy Wonka. Yep, remember those Wonka candy commercials from the 2000s with the animated Willy Wonka? Jess did the voice of Willy Wonka in those! And considering that the Cat in the Hat does have some similarities personality-wise to Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version, I mean. I haven't seen the version with Johnny Depp), I think anyone who played Wonka has the potential to make a great Cat in the Hat. The guy was practically born to lend his voice to a Dr. Seuss character. And, hey, if nothing else Warner Bros. already has him on the payroll doing Wakko for the Animaniacs reboot, so there's that.
As for which of Jess' voices I think would fit the Cat best... you know that one Who in the Horton Hears a Who movie that says his basement is in his attic? That's Jess. I was thinking something similar to that.
NOTE: If Warner Animation Group decides to do an adaptation of Fox in Socks (I don't think you could make a movie or a TV show out of it, but it'd make a fun short film), I think Jess would also work quite well as the fox.
Keegan Michael Key
There's a ninety-percent chance that Warner Bros. will cast a "flavor of the month" celebrity as the Cat - as in, a celebrity who's really, really popular right now (i.e. Chris Pratt, Zendaya, John Mulaney, anybody from a sitcom that's currently airing, what have you). And seeing as Keegan Michael Key is being given voice-over jobs left and right - 2022 alone had him lending his voice to FOUR movies - I'd say he qualifies as a "flavor of the month" celebrity. Then again, I'm not sure how much live action stuff he's been doing right now.
But Keegan Michael Key is one of those rare "flavor of the month" celebrities who's actually GOOD at voice acting. His performance as Honest John is often singled out as the one good thing about the Pinocchio remake. I've also seen praise for his work as Ducky in Toy Story 4, Judge Peckinpah in the first Angry Birds movie, and Wendell in Wendell and Wild. As for me, my first major exposure to Keegan doing voice acting was his role as the narrator in the Green Eggs and Ham show. He is, without a doubt, the best part of the show. I'm not sure how much of his dialogue was in the script and how much of it he ad-libbed, but he is HILARIOUS. You can tell he had a lot of fun doing the show. So with that in mind, why NOT cast him as the Cat in the Hat? I think his voice is distinct enough that he'd avoid making the Cat sound too "normal", and I could also see him emulating Allan Sherman's take as well if he wants to.
Wally Wingert
Wally Wingert's main claims to fame are voicing Jon Arbuckle in more recent Garfield productions (I doubt he'll be voicing Jon in the 2024 movie, though, if they couldn't even be bothered to have Frank Welker do Garfield for it... chances are it'll be a celebrity, not sure who yet), the Almighty Tallest Red in Invader Zim, and various characters from Marvel and DC Comics like the Riddler, Doctor Strange, and MODOK. He's no stranger to voicing cats - he's filled in for Ben Stiller as the voice of Alex from Madagascar in video games, commercials, and theme park attractions. He's also a really nice guy. I think Wally could make a great Cat in the Hat, much like Richard Kind he'd probably be very reminiscent of Mason Adams' take, but I feel he'd also be able to make the role his own.
So that's six - count 'em - six actors who I think would be a great choice for the voice of the Cat in the Hat. I sincerely hope the folks at Warner Bros. at least CONSIDER casting one of them before tossing the role over to some celebrity who has no business doing voice acting and is only chosen for name value (I won't name names). Hey, who knows? Maybe Warner Bros. WILL cast one of these folks as the Cat and I'll look like a psychic.
Hey, it could happen. Somebody on behindthevoiceactors.com suggested Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch before Illumination announced he was doing the Grinch for them.
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