After successfully blocking it from my memory for years, I’m suddenly reminded of the atrocity that was the Cat in the Hat movie. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put Mike Meyers in nightmare-inducing cat makeup for kids to see must have been having a laugh, before being baffled as the Hollywood execs took them seriously. Never mind the fact that the writing was just sooo lazy and the overall direction was just weird, even for an already whimsical story.

Dr. Seuss’ classic children’s book (of the same name)was endearingly written and illustrated. It also taught kids a valuable lesson: it’s good to have fun, but sometimes rules are important, too. The movie tosses that aside for bland stereotypes, cringe-inducing innuendos, and theme park advertisements.

Literally. There’s a scene where Meyers, basically playing himself in a cat costume, talks about the exciting new Cat in the Hat ride at Universal Studios. Yeesh.

Anyways, even without the book to compare it to, it’s just a terrible movie that shouldn’t have been made. Thankfully it seems to have (mostly) faded into obscurity, and we still have the book we knew and loved as kids to look back on.

It does live on in memes, though: