To be clear, it’s not that Dr. Seuss himself banned such adaptations; in fact, with his death in the fall of 1991, it fell to his wife Audrey to be protective of the legacy that Seuss left behind. Certainly, she didn’t refuse to have adaptations of some kind made of his work. You can visit a Dr. Seuss-themed area in Universal Studios Orlando, although that was something the company had to convince her to do. (It’s somewhat comparable to the level of involvement that J.K. Rowling has demanded in looking at how Universal brings the world of “Harry Potter” to life in its theme parks around the world.) Universal was able to win Geisel over in the late 1990s, not just by winning the rights to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but by convincing her that the only person who could play the Grinch in real life was the rubber-faced comedian Jim Carrey.
There’s no doubt that Geisel’s comic sensibilities may not have been the same as Carrey’s, but she approved of his casting. And whether or not you think the film holds up in the year 2025 (this writer would argue that it absolutely does not), it’s undeniable that the 2000 adaptation of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” was a mammoth hit at the box office, with $260 million domestically. Naturally, Universal wanted to go back to the well, utilizing another big-name comedian in another familiar Seussian world. Enter Mike Myers, at the peak of his fame as Austin Powers, Shrek, and “The Cat in the Hat.” Back in 2004, Geisel spoke with TODAY about Seuss’ legacy (on his centenary), but also about how little she enjoyed Myers’ work. “I never saw ‘Austin Powers,’ but I knew ‘Yeah, baby!’ and I didn’t want [that] at all,” she said to TODAY.
While that international man of mystery does not specifically make an appearance in the film, directed by Bo Welch, Myers does seem to jump from character to character while portraying the mischievous Cat in the Hat, almost akin to watching someone do a riff on Disney’s Genie but in live-action. Even at the time, it was clear that the film wasn’t working, as it barely crossed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office and was met with very harsh reviews.