Breslin then returned to the big screen starring alongside Dakota Fanning and Mike Myers as a cute, messy, troublemaker squabbling brother of Fanning's in the 2003 fantasy comedy film "The Cat in the Hat", which grossed $134 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing holiday movie ever. Co-star Alec Baldwin and director Bo Welch lauded Breslin for his Snagglepuss-like "horizontal lisp," the New York sound of his voice, and his capacity to convey "every shade of neurosis." Film reviewer Philip Morency wrote: "Spencer Breslin plays the bratty, obnoxious boy. He makes you want to shoot him." Film critic Stephen Hunter, writing for the "Washington Post", found Breslin to be "adorable."