[4][5] After the film’s release, Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, disallowed any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works during her lifetime, resulting in the cancellation of a sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.

[8] Conrad and Sally Walden live with their single mother Joan, who works for neat-freak Hank Humberfloob as a real estate agent and is dating their next-door neighbor Larry Quinn.

Despite the Cat's warning, Conrad picks the lock on the crate, which grabs onto the collar of the family dog Nevins, who runs off.

The Waldens are unaware that Larry is a rude, disgusting, and unemployed slob in debt due to being too lazy to work for a living, and is pretending to be a successful businessman in order to marry Joan for her money, as well as to get Conrad out of the picture by sending him to military school.

Conrad and Sally resign themselves to facing the consequences when Joan comes home, but the Cat returns with a cleaning invention and fixes the house.

Larry, covered in goo, comes in, thinking he has busted the children, but when Joan sees the clean house, she does not believe his story and dumps him, much to his humiliation and dismay.

After the successful party, Joan spends quality time with her children by jumping on the couch with them, while the Cat and the Things walk off into the sunset.

Brian Grazer, the producer of The Grinch, stated: "Because we grew up with these books, and because they have such universal themes and the illustrations ignite such fantasy in your mind as a child—the aggregation of all those feelings—it leaves an indelible, positive memory.

The script was initially based on a version of the original book's story conceived by Allen, who admitted that as a child he was afraid of Seuss' "mischievous feline babysitter" and it was his dream to give the edge that scared him for the role.

[citation needed] Peri Gilpin was originally attached to play Joan Walden, but was unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with Frasier.

To keep Myers cool during the outdoor shoots, a portable air conditioner was available that connected a hose to the suit between shots, while the tail and ears were battery-operated.

The Fish was considered somewhat of a unique character for Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) (responsible for the visual effects and animation in films such as Mouse Hunt, Cats & Dogs, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Scooby-Doo), in that the character had no shoulders, hips or legs, so all of the physical performance had to emit from the eyes, head and fin motion.

[29] The downtown area outdoor shots were filmed along a Pomona street where a number of antique and gift shops are located.

Mike Myers was unaware that a piece of the house would fall behind him near the end of the film during his scenes with Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Filled with double entendres and potty humor, this Cat falls flat.

Although he praised the production design, he considered the film to be "all effects and stunts and CGI and prosthetics, with no room for lightness and joy".

[41] Roeper said of Myers' performance that "maybe a part of him was realizing as the movie was being made that a live-action version of The Cat in the Hat just wasn't a great idea.

"[41] Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four in his Movie Guide: "Brightly colored adaptation of the beloved rhyming book for young children is a betrayal of everything Dr. Seuss ever stood for, injecting potty humor and adult (wink-wink) jokes into a mixture of heavy-handed slapstick and silliness."

[46] In a 2023 interview with Syfy Magazine, Welch defended the film, feeling it was "weird and funny and anarchic […] there's a craziness to it that I think people can embrace.

"[5] Reflecting on the film's "divisive" nature on the site, with a 2.5/5 average user rating, Moulton felt that despite "[the] litany of gag reviews […] we're in the post-ironic era where that can translate into a genuine love.

"[5][47] Calum Russell of Far Out felt that the film possessed an "idiosyncratic brand of humour that was surprisingly ahead of its time," and "[couldn't] help but think this is exactly what a contemporary adaptation of The Cat in the Hat would be like if it was released today.

"[48] On the day of the film's release, Mike Myers stated in an interview that he expected a sequel where the children meet the Cat again.

[59] In March 2024, Warner Bros. announced that the movie will be released on March 6, 2026, starring Bill Hader as The Cat, alongside Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry, and Paula Pell, with Rivinoja and Carloni writing the screenplay [60] Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has not released a full synopsis yet, but the company did explain in a release: In the wonderfully whimsical tradition of Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat comes to the big screen in his animated theatrical feature film debut, doing what he does best—spreading joy to “happyless” kids.