Rating: 
Summary: From a 3 1/2 year old...
Review: This is the version of "The Cat in the Hat" that I remember, from constant re-runs on HBO in the early 1980s. This is the version of "The Cat in the Hat" that I think of, in the same way that my nephew, now 3 1/2, will think of the Mike Myers' movie as "his" "Cat in the Hat". So, I had to buy this DVD... not just to show him, but also for myself, because I hadn't seen the whole thing in about 20 years, and recapturing my own childhood is almost as important as influencing his!First, I watched it by myself. Hmm. 1971 was a lot less jarring in 1983. In 2003, the music seemed a lot... more corny, I guess. The "Fun" song, the one song on the soundtrack not performed by Allan Sherman, is pretty bad. However, the rest of it held up just as I remembered it. I appreciate the special feature sing-along version of "Calculatus Eliminatus", a song I had committed to memory 20 years ago, and then forgot (displaced, no doubt, by the useless Paula Abdul song lyrics that crowded up my brain in the intervening years). Then, I screened it for the nephew. He sat through the whole thing, mesmerized, looking away only occasionally to play with the tiny Thing 2 toy he got from Burger King. He was upset when it was over and kept asking to watch the extra features (the "Calculatus" sing-along, and the two-minute promo for the Myers movie). We essentially watched the whole cartoon twice. The final verdict is that the 1971 "Cat in the Hat" holds up very well today, as both a 30 year-old and a 3 1/2 year-old see it. Obviously the animation is flat and dated -- but it's faithful to the book, and, of course, this is Dr. Seuss's own version (Ted Geisel was producer and scriptwriter for the affair). The music is also dated (of course), but kids won't notice, and the Sherman songs are still delightful. The educational component is also funny -- the Cat sings his name out in seven or eight different languages, and several more made-up ones. In other words, add this katze-in-a-hut to your collection today.
Rating:
Summary: "Anything Under the Sun"
Review: This was very good. I liked the songs "Calculatus Eliminatus" and "There's Always Some Fish." I am looking forward to "Green Eggs and Ham and Other Favorites/Grinch Night."
Rating: 
Summary: A Childhood Treasure!
Review: When I was little, I remembered this show before I read the original Cat in the Hat. I was enanmored by the animation of the great late Chuck Jones and the wonderful vocals of Allan Sherman as the Cat in the Hat. If you see the credits, Theodore Geisel had his hand in the music. I recently bought the sing-a-long tape for my daughter, Grace, who is 3 years old. She requests to see it, so hopefully the new DVD will be a great asset if it has extra features such as interviews or even behind the scenes of one of the best animation short classics ever.
Rating:
Summary: A Childhood Treasure!
Review: When I was little, I remembered this show before I read the original Cat in the Hat. I was enanmored by the animation of the great late Chuck Jones and the wonderful vocals of Allan Sherman as the Cat in the Hat. If you see the credits, Theodore Geisel had his hand in the music. I recently bought the sing-a-long tape for my daughter, Grace, who is 3 years old. She requests to see it, so hopefully the new DVD will be a great asset if it has extra features such as interviews or even behind the scenes of one of the best animation short classics ever.
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