The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat

The Grinch leaves home in a foul mood, looking for trouble. He runs into the Cat in the Hat and decides to make the cat's life unbearable.

An entertaining short film, written by Dr. Seuss. Has the usual Dr. Seuss creativeness and imagination in terms of strange animals, names for things, narration and general wordplay and a reasonably interesting plot. Some decent songs too.

Certainly not in the same league as How The Grinch Stole Christmas but entertaining enough.

Dr. Seuss introduced the world to the authority-defying Cat in the Hat in the book of the same name, and the happiness-hating Grinch in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", both of which got turned into TV specials. It was inevitable that these classic characters should co-star. My favorite scene in "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat" was always the scene where the green-faced grouch uses his Vacusound Sweeper to mess with the cat's surroundings, turning everything into a wacky mix of colors. Around the time that Dr. Seuss died, I saw an interview with him from some years earlier, and he said that the Grinch was his favorite of all his characters. It's easy to see why the Grinch was his favorite, and you're sure to enjoy this short just as much as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the 1966 TV special, not the 2000 feature film; I heard only negative things about that movie).

"The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat" is another cartoon special of the Dr. Seuss stories made for TV. This one aired in a half-hour program in 1982 on ABC. In this Dr. Seuss story, the Grinch uses a sound machine to garble the singing of birds and other pleasant sounds of day. He then uses a darkness ray to black out the light of day.

Although Theodor Seuss Geisel puts two of his favorite characters together here, this children's comedy isn't as good or funny as the original stories by themselves. "The Grinch that stole Christmas" of 1966 is something of a classic, and "The Cat in the Hat" is another favorite.

Still, this is animated fun that the whole family should still enjoy - these decades after Dr. Seuss first appeared.

My favorite Dr. Seuss cartoon! The Grinch woke up happy, but got down to Grinchy business, and crashed into the Cat's happy day. The Grinch took a dislike to the Cat, and tried to ruin his day with the Vac-U-Sound Sweeper and his Darkhouse. But the Cat sets out to un-Grinch the Grinch, softening up even the Grinchiest heart. It's funny, and fun to watch!

The story is that the Grinch, out to prove that he still has what it takes to be a Grinch, clashes with the Cat and proceeds to try to make life miserable for him. So the Cat decides the only way he can stop the Grinch is to try to reach his softer side.

I love Dr. Seuss and I'm a huge fan of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This Emmy-winning cartoon, originally written for television, partners the Grinch with another memorable Seuss character, The Cat in the Hat. The results are uneven but still enjoyable. The animation is adequate and better than average for early '80s television. Veteran voice actor Bob Holt fills the big shoes of Boris Karloff as best he can. The Cat is voiced by Mason Adams ("With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good!"). The songs are OK but not that memorable, except for "The Mother Song," which defies description. Overall, it's a fun little cartoon. Not a classic by any means but it's Seuss and that alone warrants you check it out.