Posted: Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:00 am
LARAMIE (AP) - The latest live-action movie adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book may be underperforming at the box office because the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's children's tales don't always translate well into modern films, according to a University of Wyoming education professor.
"Books such as 'The Cat in the Hat' and 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' are considered classics because they work on two levels: one that appeals to children and another that appeals to adults," professor Barbara Chatton said. "But this year's 'Cat in the Hat' movie and the live-action 'Grinch' film that came out in 2000 were really vehicles for their respective stars."
"The filmmakers had to expand the original stories to make them feature-length, which is OK. But kids really come away with the sense that these are two separate things."
Mike Myers stars as the mischievous feline in the latest Seuss offering.
Jim Carrey had the starring role in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which added pop-culture jokes, a history about the Grinch's childhood and subplots about the Whoville residents.
Some Seuss purists regarded that movie as crass, but it was a hit, earning $260 million domestically and becoming 2000's highest-grossing movie.
As for "The Cat in the Hat," many reviewers called it visually overblown and bereft of story. Some called it "kitty litter."
It debuted at No. 1 in late November and stayed there two weeks, but by last week it had slipped to No. 11, with total gross of $94 million in five weeks.
Chatton, who specializes in children's literature, contrasted audiences' responses to the two movies with the enduring success of the 1966 television version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which many regard as a classic.
"The television 'Grinch' simply puts the story from the book into motion," she said. "Chuck Jones' animation looks just like Dr. Seuss' illustrations for the book, and Boris Karloff's lines are simply the text from the book, which children immediately recognize."
Chatton said the rhyming verse in Dr. Seuss books is another appealing feature, especially when read aloud.
"The rhymes make the text predictable, which is important for pre-readers and beginning readers. It eases the transition from listening to the book being read aloud to memorizing the text to the child being actually able to read the words from the page."
She said the author's willingness to complete the rhyme by using nonsense or inventing words adds to the sense of fun and freedom.
"Children love the idea that if you can't find a word that fits, you just make one up. That inventiveness and sense of chaos are understood intuitively by children. They don't fear these things the way adults tend to."
Chatton points out that many Dr. Seuss books have open endings, which doesn't translate well into Hollywood filmmaking.
"For instance, 'The Cat in the Hat' ends with a question to the child, 'Would you tell your parents about the havoc that ensued when the Cat came to town?' It's hard to see how you'd end a movie that way," she said.
Theodor Geisel, who used the pen name Dr. Seuss, resisted inserting a moral into every story, Chatton said.
"Some of his books have moral or even political messages, like 'Yertle the Turtle,' 'The Lorax,' 'Horton Hears a Who,' and 'The Grinch.' But others like 'Cat in the Hat,' and 'Green Eggs and Ham' don't have any purpose other than to teach kids that reading and language can be great fun."
Hollywood movies usually have some kind of moral, especially films at least partially aimed at young audiences.
"Kids tend to resist that, however. It's also the reason for the tremendous pressure on the people filming the Harry Potter books to stick to the stories the way J.K. Rowling wrote them," Chatton said.
Geisel was born in Springfield, Mass., in 1904. He was a political cartoonist during World War II, and his drawings from that era foreshadow the style and characterizations of his later children's books.
2004 has been declared the 'Seussentennial' in honor of the 100th anniversary of Geisel's birth.