A surprisingly decent game that takes pages out of Klonoa with it's gameplay and does it well. The levels are fun and imaginative, the OST is a bop, and the game plays super well despite it's short length. As someone who considers the live action film a guilty pleasure, I do wish this game wasn't a movie tie-in because it really felt like the developers poured their love and respect for Dr. Seuss' creativity, but had to hold things a bit close because it still had to stick a bit to the movie's elements.

I also wish the game had a level where you used the babysitter as a vehicle in a slide section cause that WAS in the movie, that pretty much wrote itself as a videogame level material but nah lmfao.

I had vague memories of playing this in 2004 or so and thinking the first third of the game was cool and the rest felt like torture. It didn't last long in my library until I traded it in. Around 15 years later, I found it for dirt cheap online and decided to give it one more try.

I understand why it was dirt cheap.

The game is pretty much Bootleg Klonoa. You use your umbrella to "bubblize" enemies and use them as projectiles. You also have a few platforming moves, like a glide, a shield, and a ground pound. Overall, it has a few cool things going on, but not enough to save it. Like I said earlier, the first third of is pretty decent and varied. After the first boss though, you start getting the creeping realization that you've already seen everything this game has to offer. Most obstacles are just "do you have the patience to wait for this hazard to turn off" or "push this button and wait through an unskippable 20 second cutscene showing you that the path 2 feet away from you is now open."

It gets very repetitive very quickly. It gets worse as it goes on because the levels get longer which means more obstacles to wait through. You also need increasingly more collectibles from each level to progress through the hub, so if you don't collect enough in your first run through a level, you'll have to play it again. Each level also has a bonus round where you have to run through an obstacle course with some sort of time limit. You get an excruciatingly long cutscene that pans through the course and you have to watch it every time you die. Even the bosses are repetitive; each time you fight him, he just adds 1 new phase. The whole thing just feels like a waste of time. Your mind will go numb while you physically feel each minute ticking by while you play this game.

This is the 2nd game I've beaten in a week made by the same developer. Not as good as Muppet Monster Adventure, way shorter than it as well, and definitely on a smaller budget, but I still enjoyed it. What can I say, I've got a soft spot for mediocre licensed games of the 2000's.One thing I do appreciate is just like MMA, Cat in the Hat has a similar Gallery/Extras menu you can access by collecting clapboard collectibles in every level. They range from some generic screen grabs of the movie itself to pretty neat Concept Art of the movie. Not as crazy and extensive as Muppet Monster Adventure, but still cool nonetheless. The two biggest disappointments were that there are only 3 bosses in the whole game, and it's the same boss and attack patterns each time. It's very tedious and boring. Also, throughout the main games 10 levels, you can collect special crystals that will unlock a secret 11th level. Guess what? It's really short and easily beatable. A bit disappointing, but since it's really not hard to 100% the game I'd recommend just going for it. You could even beat the game in an afternoon if you tried. I'll also say I do still find it in the middle upper tier of licensed games from this time. There's still a surprising amount of fun and charm to be had in this game that's worth trying it out.