Animated comedy film Cat in the Hat is out today in cinemas.
Voiced by Bill Hader, the Cat has one last chance to keep his job and prove himself to his incredibly exasperated boss.
He is given his toughest assignment as an agent of the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration – to cheer up siblings Gabby (voiced by Xochitl Gomez) and Sebastian (Tiago Martinez), who are struggling with their move to a new town.
Loosely based on the titular 1957 children’s book by Dr Seuss, the movie is said to pay homage to the original illustrations by opening with black and white visuals and gradually becoming full colour.
“The first few minutes of the movie are to remind the audience where we start and where we go,” co-director Alessandro Carloni said in an interview. 
“Those colours, it’s the same reason why Superman is red and blue. There was a limitation, especially for the cost at the time. But Seuss found this beautiful way to navigate that,” he added.
Art director Amos Sussigan recounted working on the film, which stands out for the way it treats colour.
“The best part of working on Cat in the Hat was getting the chance to work with Aidan Sugano,” he said, referring to the production designer.
“He gave me the space to do my thing, specifically the colour theory, colour script and lighting for the movie. It’s been awesome to be able to do that on a major animated feature film. There are all these things in animated movies where it needs to be poppy and have colour everywhere. So I feel like both Aidan and the directors, Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, gave me a lot of space to be part of it,” he noted.
The new release is intended to launch a shared universe with two other animated films: Thing One and Thing Two, a spin-off and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, an adaptation of another Dr Seuss book that will star Ariana Grande and Josh Gad. Both are scheduled to be released in March 2028.