Dr. Seuss’ ‘Cat’ gets second life on DVD

Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat

Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin

Universal, $27

This big-budget version of the beloved Dr. Seuss book is far from the cat’s meow. Though the production design, costumes and the animated title sequence beautifully capture the mood and style of the book, the script is a crude mess unfit for kiddie consumption. And Myers comes across as a feline version of the “Coffee Talk” character he created for “Saturday Night Live,” and his cat quickly wears out all of his nine lives. Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin do their best as the two youngsters the cat befriends.

The DVD includes 10 superficial featurettes on the production, deleted scenes, outtakes and a look at the real Dr. Seuss. Bo Welch, a well-respected production designer who makes his feature directorial debut with “Cat,” and Baldwin, who plays the odious neighbor, supply the passable audio commentary.

*

Veronica Guerin

Cate Blanchett, Ciaran Hinds

Touchstone, $30

Blanchett received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in this otherwise lackluster fact-based thriller about the Irish journalist who exposed the rampant drug trade in Dublin in 1994 only to be murdered by gangsters two years later. “Veronica Guerin,” shot on location in Dublin and surrounding areas by director Joel Schumacher, received mixed reviews and bombed at the box office.

The digital edition, though, is quite good with footage of the real Guerin giving a forceful acceptance speech at the Committee to Protect Journalism ceremony, a behind-the-scenes look at the film’s production, a conversation with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and a gallery of photographs. Commentary is supplied by writers Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue, and Schumacher, who talks frankly about his own battle with drug addiction in the 1960s.

*

The Running Man

Arnold Schwarzenegger,

Maria Conchita Alonso

Artisan, $20

This futuristic sci-fi thriller based on a short story by Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King) wasn’t much of a movie when it was released in 1987. And it’s still not very good, but it eerily reflects the state of reality television today.

Set in Los Angeles of 2017, the global economy has collapsed and the world has been turned into a police state. The most popular series on government-controlled TV is a ruthless game show hosted by Richard Dawson of “Family Feud” in which convicts are given their freedom if they successfully run through a gauntlet of killers known as stalkers. Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura plays one of the killers.

The two-disc special-edition DVD includes a chilling documentary that examines the state of privacy and criminal issues in the wake of the government’s crackdown on terrorism since 9/11 and a fun inside look into reality television and its effect on our culture. Rounding out the set are two audio commentaries: one with executive producer Rob Cohen and the other with director Paul Michael Glaser and producer Tim Zinnemann.