Latest Warner Bros. Animation offering, “Cat in the Hat” – based on the Dr. Seuss creation – will introduce the audience to three different universes, its team revealed at Annecy.
“We have the real world, we have the Seuss’ world, which is where the Cat comes from, and the boxes’ world,” said co-director Alessandro Carloni of the feature. The latter has a very simple explanation: Gabby and Sebastian’s family has just moved into a new home.
“We chose to introduce our characters through the content of their boxes,” said Carloni. Left on the floor, they will allow the Cat to take the kids on crazy adventures after turning their old couch into a magical transportation device.
“Parents know that all the kids need is a couch and a bunch of boxes,” joked Erica Rivinoja, co-director and writer.
Sebastian’s box is all about the ocean, and his desire to reconnect with his older sister who’s not playing with him anymore. But this underwater universe will feel “handmade and not mass-produced: as if it was created by one wildly imaginative kid. A world of plenty from nothing but imagination,” assured production designer Aidan Sugano.
Gabby’s box reflects her past as a “band nerd” and what she’s currently going through – she desperately wants to go back to her old school and old life.
Art director Amos Sussigan explained: “Emotionally, it lives between Sebastian’s playful chaos and full-blown existential dread – which is what I’m feeling right now. She’s romanticizing the past. It’s not your typical reference for animation, but I was looking at ‘Euphoria,’ which is a bit extra and bold, and that’s what we tried to do with Gabby’s world.”
“It becomes this wonderful journey into her old life. She gets to re-experience it – not how it really was but as she remembered it. She sees everything through the eyes of nostalgia, which obviously clouds things. Even her modest home becomes a castle,” said Rivinoja.
“And then we have mum’s box. She’s an overwhelmed yet tireless nurse. She has all the things us adults love: tax forms, insurance documents, paperwork. Her children think it’s all she cares about.”
But there’s much more to discover.
Sugano noted: “We try to craft these surreal landscapes of metaphors. How do you create visually the core identity of a person? Here, we landed on this abstract, celestial galaxy of personality, turning the entire space into a mood ring to reinforce the emotionality of the characters at this time, and to reinforce the poetic core of who she is.”
According to Rivinoja, the source material defined the whole project. “We really looked into the art of Dr. Seuss, leaning into its wackiness.”
“Even if you didn’t grow up with the Cat in the Hat, I bet you know someone like him, because he’s bonkers and out of control. A total agent of chaos, tornado of excitement, driven by a single overriding desire: to have fun. If a kid asks him to drive a car, he will say: ‘It’s very dangerous. Of course!’ He’s the quintessential ‘carpe diem’ guy and the keeper of the theme of our movie, which is about living in the present. All he cares about is having a good time.”
Or so it seems.
“If he really just a crazy lunatic? Or deep down, is he the greatest child psychologist ever and the greatest support animal? That is the question we’re asking ourselves,” added Carloni, which is why they decided to follow him as he returned to his office.
“Where does this furry home invader go?! This office is filled with hilarious characters like Pig in the Wig, Ox in the Box, Owl in a Towel. His job is to engage with bored, sad kids to give them exactly what they need: a crazy, fun day of adventure.”
Joined by other Seuss’ characters, like the Things, the Cat will also reveal a bit more of his past. “What we know from the original book is just one case file of his many assignments. He’s caused a mess at his company,” said Carloni. And at one point put a moose in a diaper.
But his next assignment will be his hardest yet.
“[This character] has been a part of so many childhoods, so we had to do it justice. It had to be a celebration of Seuss. We try to portray this very cerebral idea of creating visceral landscapes of personality. This film is completely about connection,” underlined Sugano.
According to art director Amos Sussigan, the team wanted to focus on the color of red. “Not just because it pops. It represents connection, presence and the now. Color had to do a lot of heavy lifting for it not to feel disconnected or episodical.”
“We reference movies like Pixar’s ‘Soul,’ which was great for our real-life world, and it’s a great example of a movie that also goes into the fantastical. We also looked at Disney’s ‘Feast’ and [unreleased] ‘Me and My Shadow,’ which had a really rich use of colors,” added VFX supervisor Matt Waters.
Sugano noted: “Seuss has been done before, and very well. We wanted to study the source material and find what Seuss is. Look for the core, for the identity. There’s what Seuss is, his compositional choices and use of color, and the Seuss that we remember, the spirit many people connect to.”
variety.com
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