Horton Hears a Who! Review by jzbadblood

Horton Hears a Who! is based off of a Dr. Seuss book of the same name, and is the third Dr. Seuss children’s book to be made into a feature length motion picture. The last two efforts “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Cat in the Hat” both left something to be desired in way of entertainment. They had the general plot of the respective books they were based on, but lacked the soul that made the books children’s classic.

Horton Hears a Who! gets it right in all the areas that count. The movie starts off with Horton frolicking through the jungle without a care in the world. He is a teacher of sorts to the children of the jungle, and the adults are fine with this except for Kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who despises his imagination and free spirit.

While teaching the children a tiny spec floats past Horton, and he swears he hears voices coming from it. His suspicions come true when he begins to communicate with the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell), who lives on the spec. This leads him on a journey through the jungle to get the spec to a safe spot, and along the way he butts heads with the self-proclaimed queen of the jungle Kangroo, has some buddy comedy scenes with his best friend mouse Morton (Seth Rogan), and is chased by a past his prime evil hawk appropriately named Vlad (Will Arnett).

Jim Carrey’s Horton is what you would expect, and that is good or bad depending on your opinion of Jim Carrey. He seems to have fun with the material, but at same time doesn’t do really do anything meaningful until the Mayor comes along. I felt the weakest parts of the film where when Horton is alone doing the usual Carrey physical comedy routines. These aren’t particularly funny or engaging, and we are at a point where the CGI isn’t impressive enough to carry these parts (but don’t get me wrong the CGI is good and the water is downright fantastic looking in HD)

Horton isn’t the sole main character of course. The Mayor of Whoville on the tiny spec is the co-star in the picture, and is easily the most engaging character in the film. Steve Carell does a wonderful job here giving his character depth that a less talented actor couldn’t have. Just from the way he delivers lines we get a good idea about how the character feels. Once he and Carrey get together the Horton character becomes much more…human I guess you would say, and the movie really comes alive.

That is really when it grabbed me. There was a point in this film where I just let go and got completely involved with the plot, and when it came time for the characters to truly be tested I genuinely cared about the outcome. I’m sure children, who are the target audience, felt the same way I did and for that I think the movie is successful.

Recommend