Movie Review: ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ and so should you!

To have a magnificent time, make sure to stand in line to see the latest and divine Dr. Seuss adaptation. “Horton Hears a Who!” is the best “animated” project to be released in years—if not decades. This tale about a heck of a speck protected by the cutest elephant in all of history is so incredible it’s an actual spirit booster. The rhyming began and all of the sudden this critic was five years old again…

Horton, who is infused with hilarity because Jim Carrey voices him (though it is strange at first to hear Ace Ventura’s booming delivery), is a splendiferous elephant who bounces around the jungle of Nool carefree until he hears a small cry one day. He is shocked to find out it’s coming from a tiny speck, which turns out to be an entire civilization home to a city called Whoville inhabited by Whos (who study “Whostery” and are waiting to celebrate the “Whocentennial”).

Even though Horton can’t see the Whos, he figures out a way to communicate with their mayor (Steve Carell is golden here). Once realizing how vulnerable the little planet he’s carrying on top of a magenta (new pinks and purples are born from this CG-animated whopper) clover is, the pachyderm decides to take them to the top of Mt. Nool and put them in a giant sunflower where they will always be safe.

Horton and the mayor are heavily mocked for believing in things they can’t see and spend a lot of the movie trying to save face as well as themselves from real danger.

The danger in the jungle comes in the form of Vlad the Eagle (Will Arnett) and the sour Kangaroo (who “pouch schools” her son because she doesn’t trust the world), given vocal chops by the legendary Carol Burnett, who torment Horton—trying to get the speck and destroy the so-called world as well as Horton’s happiness.

In the meantime the mayor is called a boob while trying to convince his fellow Whos that they could be in trouble. Quite the feat in a place where nothing has ever gone wrong. The Whos are so sheltered that when their city council has an argument, glass goes up around the council and elevator music plays so that people don’t think anything’s the matter (that would be a nice thing in this world sometimes).

Along his travels Horton gets advice from his blue mouse sidekick Morton (Seth Rogan) about what turns to take or leaps to make. When the end and the “a person’s a person no matter how small” line arrives that ahhhhhh feeling will have consumed you.

Modernizing Seuss is a delicate balance and directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino did the classic tale great justice while making it cool, which is pivotal for today’s youth (one of the Whos even boasts about how big her “Whospace” friends list is).

And the animation makes the characters seem like they are done in claymation. Some of the overhead shots look like Horton is walking around in a diorama. It is an enjoyable, surreal-like effect—an ice cream sundae for the retinas.

“In my world everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies,” one of Horton’s pals earnestly says. If only psychiatrists would prescribe seeing movies like this one.

Adrienne Mackey is a freelance movie reviewer. Hear her talk a lot more about movies on “The KLPX Wake-Up Call with Scott Barnett” weekday mornings from 5-10 on 96.1 KLPX.

Movie Review

3.5/4 Stars

Adventure/Animation/Family

Run time: 1 hours, 28 minutes.

Rated G

Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen.

Written by: Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul.

Directed by: Jimmy Hayward

Steve Martino.