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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
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| tom elce |
 Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:30 pm |
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Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewed by Tom Elce
Directors: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen, Will
Arnett, Amy Poehler, Isla Fisher, Dane Cook, Jonah Hill, Dan Fogler,
Niecy Nash, Jesse McCartney, Josh Flitter, Jaime Pressly, Joey King,
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
MPAA Rating: G
BBFC Rating: U
Despite the genius of his books, the most recent adaptations of
Theodor S. Geisel's famus works have failed to recapture the magic of
his oddball stories. Jim Carrey-starrer "How the Grinch Stole
Christmas" divided audiences whereas the Mike Myers-starring "The Cat
in the Hat" was pretty much universally regarded as garbage. So
approaching another adaptation of his work feels more cautious than it
should have done. Thankfully, I'm happy to report that the animated
"Horton Hears a Who!" is about the best Dr. Seuss adaptation we've
seen in quite a while, maintaining the spirit and infectiousness of
the cartoonists' beloved book-of-the-same-name while conveying it's
message of accepting diversity.
Eternally happy Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey) is astonished when his
everyday jungle life is bizarrely interrupted one day when he
astonishingly hears a voice coming from a speck of dust floating by
his ears. Capturing it soon after on a clover, Horton makes the
shocking discovery that upon the speck lies the miniature land of
Whoville, a town of Whos who live in homes, go to work, go to school
and generally enjoy their carefree lives unaware that a whole other
world exists on the other side of the clouds in their sky. Amazed at
his discovery, Horton informs his fellow jungle inhabitants with
little success. For one, the narrow-minded Kangaroo (voiced by Carol
Burnett) initially mocks Horton's claims that an entire land exists on
a minor speck of dust, before insisting that Horton has gone
completely insane and hiring wannabe-villain Vlad the Black Bottomed
Eagle (voiced by Will Arnett) to do her evil bidding. Meanwhile,
Horton, with the helpless assistance of The Mayor of Whoville (voiced
by Steve Carell), makes his way to an isolated mountain, where he
believes Whoville will be able to exist undisturbed.
"Horton Hears a Who!" is one of those delightful animations that comes
with a message viewers can believe in. "A person's a person no matter
how small," Horton insists to Sour Kangaroo, an important moral that
won't go over the heads of the younger audience members. It is also
backed up in the way the inhabitants of Whoville, however quirky they
may be, are given their own livelihoods and aren't just painted as the
typical subplot they might otherwise have been in a lesser animation,
such as the recent "Bee Movie," which spread it's ecological message
centric on the work of bees without adding layers to any of it's
winged characters outside of the lead one. Here, the Whos are written
as surprisingly fleshed-out ones, the panicky Mayor Who-ville, a man
who can only find a few seconds per child in his 97-strong offspring,
standing out. In fact, the only time when "Horton Hears a Who!"s
message is temporarily forgotten is in a misguided attempt at humour,
wherein the Mayor of Who-ville, while showing his son pictures of his
great ancestors, points out one photo of a male ancestor wearin a tu-
tu and quickly describes him as not so great.
Horton meanwhile is an appropriately lovable protagonist. Voiced
energetically by Jim Carrey, Horton is a brave and selfless hero that
will undoubtedly cast a spell on the young audience members watching
his quest to save a microscopic world. His offbeat mannerisms, also,
work a lovely spell on his audience, Horton proving himself a funny
lead as well as a likable one.
"Horton Hears a Who!" isn't a laugh-a-minute animated comedy, but
comes with enough uproarious scenes to be worth recommending to anyone
flocking to cinemas for a laugh. An anime scene comes out of left
field and works very well as Horton imagines himself a tough-guy
superhero. Horton's explosive relationship with Sour Kangaroo (voiced
memorably by Carol Burnett) is also handled excellently, the latter's
bitterness standing dead-opposite Horton's sunnier outlook. "Horton
Hears a Who!" isn't a masterpiece of animation, but it is the
strongest Dr. Seuss adaptation to come along in a while, an energetic
and infectiously amusing animated film that should satisfy all
audience demographics not attending for anything beyond a well-meaning
86 minutes. |
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