Mike Myers swaps Austin Powers' crushed velvet flares and NHS dentistry for whiskers and a stovepipe hat for this kid's action caper.

He's the Cat in the Hat - a feckless feline who pops up in the suburban world of feuding brother and sister Conrad (Breslin) and Sally (Fanning).

They're at it like, er, cat and dog when the CITH springs out of a wardrobe and literally turns their world upside down.

On strict instructions to keep the house neat and tidy while mom's at work. they find themselves fighting a losing battle against the meddling moggie.

Aided and abetted by pocket hellraisers Thing One and Thing Two, The Cat embarks on an afternoon of "pure unadulterated fun without good sense or judgement."

Fanning continues to impress as the order-obsessed little madam while Breslin doesn't quite win as much sympathy as the rebellious sibling.

Myers brings his little bag of tics and tricks to the part, which he makes attractive through sheer strength of character.

It also looks good, but in a way that's becoming wearyingly familiar, with the town of Anville not a million miles from the suburbia of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

Ford will be pleased as their Focus (in a rather fetching range of pastels) is the car of choice while Sean Hayes won't be as happy with a role that fails to exploit his comic abilities.

His part as Mr Humberfloob - boss of the estate agency where the kid's mom (Preston) works - is frustratingly brief after promising much.

The real villain's role is handed to Alec Baldwin, as Preston's slobbish suitor, and he does what he's supposed to..but not much more.

Worst of all, the tone of the 1957 original has been lightened and a lot of the darker workings dispensed with to make the whole thing more family friendly.

In short, this cat's been neutered.

Tim Evans