Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great rendition, March 23, 2008
Not having seen the television version of Horton Hears a Who, I can't say whether this is better or not. But it's a perfect rendition on its own, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable---as did a 16-year-old with whom I saw the film yesterday.
There are marvelous Seuss-like characters animated on the screen, and their personalities match 100% those of the original two-dimensional Horton, Morton and friends who graced the pages of the good Dr.'s wonderful book.
My fondest memories of Horton include his egg-hatching episode. But that in no way diminishes the delight of seeing our old Elephant companion, dancing and prancing his way up a mountain side---through myriad obstacles---to a safe little cave where the Whos and their Whoville can safely reside.
Children young and old, including grandparent-variety kids, will love this delightful and colorful tale about sticking to one's highest goals, through thick and thin, and against the advice of all one's friends.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. - Dr. Seuss, April 14, 2008
The classic Seuss tale makes it to the big screen and I was very happy with the results. I usually find that children's books made into movies can be unnecessarily long and drawn out to make a decent movie time; therefore they tend to drag a bit for this big kid at the theater. I thought this one was great, a perfect length and it held the interest of my two year old niece who made her debut at the theater that day. When the movie was over she excitedly asked "are we going to watch it again?"
This movie has all the quirky scenery that you expect from Dr. Seuss; from the funky trees and crazy houses, to the wonderfully imaginative Who's, nothing disappointed. I was a little afraid to see this as Jim Carey usually grates on every nerve I have with his overacting and hyperactive persona, but he made a delightful Horton and I found myself enjoying him for the first time in years.
I recognized a lot of the voices and thought them extremely well cast; Carol Burnett as a villain was a surprise and a treat. My sister and I laughed out loud a lot throughout this film, we enjoyed it as much if not more than our kids. The lessons in Horton Hears a Who are simple and one can't help but think how the world would be a better place if everyone had a little more Horton in them. I really found the whole movie fun and this is definitely a movie I will purchase when it makes it to DVD.
Cherise Everhard, April 2008
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Audience is Listening, March 14, 2008
When Ron Howard's version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was released in 2000, I was amazed at the artistry, with the world of Dr. Seuss being brought to life through whimsical sets, creative make up and costumes, and impressive special effects. But even then, it still didn't feel entirely Seussian; the limits of live action filmmaking were present from the start. Such a problem doesn't exist in the case of "Horton Hears a Who!" a computer animated cartoon that looks and feels exactly the way a Seuss story should look and feel. Of the three films made from his material, this is the first one that completely convinced me to believe what I was seeing. It's also the only one with compelling characters and deeper levels of story. This is wonderful because it tells me that the filmmakers had all audiences in mind, not just children.
"Grinch" alumnus Jim Carrey voices the title character, a happy-go-lucky elephant living in the lush jungle of Nool. On the fifteenth of May, his big ears detect noises from a speck of dust floating in the air. It soon lands atop a fuzzy pink flower called a clover, and at that point, Horton realizes that the noises are actually voices. It turns out that the speck contains the microscopic city of Whoville, the home of the equally microscopic Whos. Theirs is a world fully realized, a world of misshapen buildings and swirling clouds and wacky gizmos, all of which are perfectly suited for such a bizarre-looking population. The limbs of the Whos are a little too thin and lanky. Their stomachs are a little too round. Their heads are a little too big. This is exactly the way they should look--when it comes to Dr. Seuss, odder is definitely better.
Horton soon makes contact with the Mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell), who not only has a city to run, but also has his hands full with a wife (voiced by Amy Poehler) and ninety-seven children (ninety-six of which are daughters). The upshot of this is negative for both main characters. No one in Horton's world believes that voices are emanating from a speck, least of all Kangaroo (voiced by Carol Burnett), an uptight woman who only believes in what she can see, hear, and touch. Likewise, not a single Who believes that their Mayor is communicating with an invisible elephant living in the sky. It all basically boils down to belief--just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there.
As the Mayor struggles to maintain his city--recently plagued by tremors and immediate changes in climate--Horton remains determined to keep the Whos safe because, "A person's a person, no matter how small." Unfortunately, he has to deal with Kangaroo, who finds his line of thinking so threatening that she hires a ruthless vulture named Vlad (voiced by Will Arnett) to destroy the clover. Consider the fact that Horton's basic goal is to keep a flower safe from harm: In what way does this pose a threat to jungle life, seeing as Horton never once asked for anyone else's help? Obviously, there's no threat at all. Kangaroo is merely a control freak, demanding that others believe what she believes without stopping to question the status quo. The Mayor of Whoville has a similar problem with his elected officials, who overstep their bounds frequently and with no apology. Apparently, they would rather die than let the Mayor postpone the upcoming Who-centennial.
In case I haven't made it clear by now, yes, "Horton Hears a Who!" is in part a social commentary. But don't sell it short--it's above all a delightful family film, and probably one of the funniest of recent memory. There's a sequence in which Horton imagines he's in an episode of "Pokémon," fighting off the bad guys with martial-art moves; the Japanese-style animation in traditional 2-D was absolutely hilarious. I also enjoyed the plethora of side characters, all of which add their own comedic touches to the story. Horton's best friend is a blue mouse named Morton (voiced by Seth Rogen), and his tail ends in an odd curlicue, as is appropriate for a Dr. Seuss character. There's also an odd but cute yellow puffball named Katie (voiced by Joey King), who tries to go along with Horton by holding a clover of her own: "In my world, everyone's a pony, and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!"
The most prominent side character in Whoville is the Mayor's only son, JoJo. He's a brooding young man who refuses to speak to his father, not because he doesn't love him, but because he's afraid of being a disappointment. He's expected to become Mayor someday--like his father and his father's father and so on--and this is something he just doesn't want to do. Little does he realize just how important he is, not only to his family, but also to the entire city of Whoville.
As good as these characters are, there's no question that Horton is the best thing about the movie. He's a funny character, yet his personality isn't overshadowed by pure goofiness. He's loyal to those who are kind, yet he doesn't reject those who are not. He's loveable, yet he's not forced to take part in sappy subplots. Everything about the big fella is just right, and the same can be said for the movie as a whole. "Horton Hears a Who!" is the best Dr. Seuss adaptation yet, and it will probably be one of the year's best animated films; it's funny, smart, heartfelt, and engaging, a welcome combination for a film that easily could have been just another mindless cartoon. What we have here is rare: A family film that both children and adults will love. This elephant really is faithful one hundred percent.
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