The Cat in the Hat (film) with some critics, stating that it should have instead been rated PG-13 in relation to its high amount of adult content. Leonard Maltin in his Movie Guide gave it one and a half stars out of four saying that the "Brightly colored adaptation of the beloved rhyming book for young children is a betrayal of everything Dr. Seuss ever stood for, injecting potty humor and adult (wink-wink) jokes into a mixture of heavy-handed slapstick and silliness." Maltin also said that the film's official title which included "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" was "an official insult". Conversely, "Variety" praised
The Cat in the Hat the cat manages to clean up the mess." In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring the Cat in the Hat. "The Cat in the Hat"s popularity also led to increased popularity and exposure for Geisel's previous children's books. For example, 1940's "Horton Hatches the Egg" had sold 5,801 copies in its opening year and 1,645 the following year. In 1958, the year after the publication of "The Cat in the Hat", 27,643 copies of "Horton" were sold, and by 1960 the book had sold a total of over 200,000 copies. "The Cat in the Hat" has