Carrey and Carell Bring Horton Hears a Who to The Big Screen
Written: Mar 18 '08 (Updated Sep 19 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cute, entertaining family movie with great voice cast.
Cons: Might be too silly for some people.
The Bottom Line: Horton Hears a Who was a fun, entertaining animated movie that brought another book by Dr. Seuss to the big screen.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! |
The books of Dr. Seuss have been popular for many years and most people have read at least some of them. A few of the books were turned into cartoons and eventually two live action movies, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat, were made. I have been wanting to see Horton Hears a Who ever since I first saw a preview.
Horton was a kind, carefree elephant until the day he heard a voice coming from a tiny speck floating through the air. Horton caught the speck on a clover, saving it from landing in the river. He then kept trying to hear the voice again and make contact. When he was able to talk to the voice, he learned that he was talking to the Mayor of Whoville and that there was an entire city on the speck.
Horton was excited about his discovery but no one believed him. His friend Morton seemed to be the only one who sort of stood by Horton. Kangaroo, a self-appointed leader in the jungle, was very upset with Horton and forbid him to talk about the speck, especially to the children because he might corrupt them and cause them to use their imaginations. Despite Kangaroo’s threats, Horton set out to find a safe spot for the spec. When Kangaroo saw that Horton still had the speck, she put a plan in motion by hiring Vlad the vulture to destroy the clover and speck.
Horton Hears a Who was based on the book of the same name written by Dr. Seuss. I did read the book as a child, but I don’t much from it since it has been years since I last read it. All of Dr. Seuss’s books were short, so I am sure that things were added to the story to make the movie longer. I think most of the added material worked, but a few sequences didn’t work as well and were obviously there only to stretch out the running time. This story was also turned into a cartoon in 1970 that was directed by Chuck Jones. He also directed How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). I have seen the cartoon version as well. I don’t remember a lot from it since it has been a few years since I last saw it. I have also seen another cartoon featuring Horton that had a bird named Maize taking advantage of Horton’s kind nature to watch her egg while she flittered off to have fun.
The plot of Horton Hears a Who was fairly simple overall, which I expected before going to see the movie. The fact that the movie was based on a short book to begin with was a big reason why the plot was simple. A little bit of time was taken to show how the speck where Whoville was became dislodged. Time was also taken to introduce Horton and the other characters, including some of the Whos. Most of the movie was focused on how Horton was trying to protect the Whos and how all the movement of the speck was impacting Whoville with only a little time taken to show Kangaroo and her plotting. Things progressed at a fairly good pace, though a few of the scenes did drag just a bit. I was never bored by what was going on, even during the few scenes that didn’t fit in as well.
It has been years since I last read any of my Dr. Seuss books, so I can’t remember a lot from them. I do remember that the stories would include some sort of moral. Horton Hears a Who continued that tradition in a gentle manner without getting over bearing about it like has happened in some other movies. There were actually a few messages included in the movie. Horton was determined to do what he knew was right despite the fact that no one else believed him and were even trying to stop him. He really wasn’t hurting anyone by protecting the speck, but Kangaroo seemed very threatened by the speck. She had basically put herself in charge of the jungle, and all the animals had to do what she said to stay on her good side and not be threatened with being kicked out. The movie really illustrated how dangerous it can be when one person, or a small group of people think they have the right to make decisions for everyone. The movie also pointed that people come in different shapes and sizes, and everyone has rights.
The scenes dealing with the moral things were a bit more serious, but there was a lot of humor in Horton Hears a Who. I was laughing throughout the movie. Most of the things that made me laugh were said or done by Horton. He was kind of silly at times, but I thought that worked for the movie. Morton, Horton’s friend who looked like he was some kind of mouse, was also cute and funny with the way he raced around. The Mayor of Whoville and his situation also added humor to the movie. There were a few times when a joke had a tiny adult reference, like when the Mayor was hit by something in the groin area. That type of thing was not done very often and I really didn’t think that gross humor was used like has been done many times in some of the other newer animated movies. This one was rated G, so it really isn’t offensive and parents shouldn’t worry about anything in it.
Horton Hears a Who was created with computer animation, like most of the newer animated movies are now. This movie was created by the same people who did the Ice Age movies. I thought that the animation was very well done. The movie was full of bright, vibrant colors, especially in the jungle where Horton lived. Slightly more subdued colors were used for Whoville, but it was still very colorful. Whoville especially looked very much like it had been created by Dr.Seuss with all the curvy lines for the buildings. There were a few sequences that included what looked like actual Seuss illustrations as well. Horton looked like he walked off the pages of the book. The water and hair looked very impressive throughout the movie. I did notice that the hair for several characters had individual strands that were moving in a realistic manner. I think this was an improvement over what was done in the Ice Age movies, but it still wasn’t up to the standards of Pixar. I do think it was a better idea to make this movie animated instead of trying to go live action like was done with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat.
Horton was a very sweet, kind elephant who enjoyed having fun but wanted to do what was right when he discovered the speck containing Whoville. He spent time with the children who all seemed to enjoy his silly antics. Once he decided to protect the speck and gave his word to the Mayor of Whoville, Horton was determined to do what he said despite all the obstacles he faced. Jim Carrey did a wonderful job with the voice of Horton. He didn’t go overboard like he has done at times in the past. Morton was a cute little creature that may have been some kind of mouse who raced around really fast. He sort of supported Horton, but did suggest his friend not tell anyone else about the speck. Seth Rogen did fine with the voice for the character.
Kangaroo was really the only other animal in the jungle who had much to do. She was very opinionated and felt that she was always right and everyone else was wrong if they didn’t agree with her. It was her way or the highway and she seemed to really enjoy keeping track of what the others were doing and bossing them around. Carol Burnett did a great job with the voice. Her son Rudy was always around in her pouch since Kangaroo was a very over protective mother who wouldn’t let him play with the other children. Vlad was the vulture that Kangaroo turned to for help in destroying the clover. Vlad was vicious and eager for work. The voice that Will Arnett did really fit the character.
The Mayor of Whoville was the Who shown the most. He was only called Mayor and I have no idea what his name was. He liked being the mayor, but he was very frazzled and stressed about certain things, like how the council wouldn’t listen to him and was always putting him down. I thought Steve Carell handled the voice well. His wife was shown briefly without doing much of anything other than worrying about her husband’s sanity.
The mayor and his wife had ninety-six daughters and one son. The Mayor tried to spend time with all of them, but since there were so many of them, he really wasn’t close to any of them. JoJo, as the only boy, was the only one that really stood out. He looked different from all the others because of the dark clothes he wore and he only said a few words during the entire movie. Every so often during the movie, a narrator was heard. I believe that at times he was reciting the actual text from the book. Charles Osgood did a very good job as the narrator. I recognized his voice, but couldn’t figure out who he was.
Voice Talent
Will Arnett - Vlad
Carol Burnett - Kangaroo
Steve Carell - Mayor of Whoville
Jim Carrey - Horton
Josh Flitter - Rudy
Jesse McCartney - JoJo
Charles Osgood - Narrator
Amy Poehler - Sally O’Malley
Seth Rogen - Morton
Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
I really enjoyed Horton Hears a Who. It was well done and very entertaining with wonderful animation and voice work from a talented group of actors. People that didn’t care for the previous attempts at turning books by Dr. Seuss into movies should give this one a chance since it worked so much better.
Animated Movie Reviews
Aladdin ~ The Ant Bully ~ Antz ~ The Aristocats ~ Barnyard ~ Beauty and the Beast ~ Bee Movie ~ Best Computer Animated Movies ~ Brother Bear ~ A Bug's Life ~ Cars ~ Chicken Little ~ The Emperor's New Groove ~ Finding Nemo ~ Flushed Away ~ Happy Feet ~ Home on the Range ~ Hoodwinked ~ Ice Age ~ Ice Age: The Meltdown ~ The Incredibles ~ Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ~ Lilo & Stitch ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~ Madagascar ~ Meet the Robinsons ~ Monster House ~ Monsters, Inc. ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas ~ Open Season ~ Over the Hedge ~ The Polar Express ~ Ratatouille ~ Robots ~ Shark Tale ~ Shrek ~ Shrek 2 ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~ Sleeping Beauty ~ Tim Burton's Corpse Bride ~ TMNT ~ Toy Story ~ Toy Story 2 ~ Treasure Planet ~ Valiant ~ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ~ The Wild ~
Recommended:
Yes
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