In this era for which children's entertainment has been reduced almost entirely to brain-dead cartoons, almost any attempt to include real, flesh and blood children in a live action feature should be greeted with the sincerest of praise. Against an avalanche, an ocean of assembly-line animated rubbish that makes dumber seem smarter, the room for humans in films made for children has all but been lost. Therefore, when one comes along, it is painful not to be able to give it some praise. This film has two delightful children--real ones, not just voices for cartoons, and it even offers a reasonably intelligent message. Look closely: The cat teaches them that too much chaos is no more fun than too much order!
Indeed, for the most part, one gets the sense that the production started out with the best of intentions, but then something started going wrong, and what was meant as a film for children became an embarrassing farce. Was it Mike Myers, painfully miscast as the Cat, but looking more like a fat old man wearing a silly costume? Or his dirty jokes and puns, obvious to any adult, but crass and inappropriate for a film aimed at children? In one case, the dirty old man in a costume theme is made obvious by having his all too human backside exposed, crack and all, while farting away like some cheap gag in a burlesque routine. Badah-boom, badah-bing! How original! When his lines and style are not stolen outright from the Cowardly Lion of the 1939 Wizard of OZ, they are dredged up from his own former Austin Powers character.
What is "right" about this film is the employment of human children in a live action adventure. What is "wrong" with it, however, is Mike Myers with his potty mouth, confusing the Cat with Austin Powers. He was funny as Austin Powers, but that character is out of place in a children's story. As a result, it serves neither the adult audience nor the children. And worse, it sends the message that live action stores with real kids involved is a bad idea, when that's the one part of the film that is good. It is "more" of them that are needed, not less, but when something this bad comes along, it makes the cartoon garbage seem superior by comparison.
Indeed, for the most part, one gets the sense that the production started out with the best of intentions, but then something started going wrong, and what was meant as a film for children became an embarrassing farce. Was it Mike Myers, painfully miscast as the Cat, but looking more like a fat old man wearing a silly costume? Or his dirty jokes and puns, obvious to any adult, but crass and inappropriate for a film aimed at children? In one case, the dirty old man in a costume theme is made obvious by having his all too human backside exposed, crack and all, while farting away like some cheap gag in a burlesque routine. Badah-boom, badah-bing! How original! When his lines and style are not stolen outright from the Cowardly Lion of the 1939 Wizard of OZ, they are dredged up from his own former Austin Powers character.
What is "right" about this film is the employment of human children in a live action adventure. What is "wrong" with it, however, is Mike Myers with his potty mouth, confusing the Cat with Austin Powers. He was funny as Austin Powers, but that character is out of place in a children's story. As a result, it serves neither the adult audience nor the children. And worse, it sends the message that live action stores with real kids involved is a bad idea, when that's the one part of the film that is good. It is "more" of them that are needed, not less, but when something this bad comes along, it makes the cartoon garbage seem superior by comparison.