Horton Hears A Who
Horton Hears A Who is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories of all time. I loved the book, and I loved the original cartoon. Therefore,
when I learned there was a new movie coming out, I knew I'd be there opening night; I just hoped there wouldn't be too many kids.
In this carnation of the story, the character of Horton is voiced by Jim Carrey, who seems like an odd person to carry off the persona until you
realize, once you get into the movie, that this isn't the Horton I remember. This Horton is still very friendly, open, and child like, but unlike the
original Horton this daydreams of a more exciting life, is more of a social outcast amongst the other adult characters (though the children love
him), and is more wild and frenetic than the original Horton. In other words, this Horton is Jim Carrey.
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And this Horton is still a noble character whose main goal is to
protect the dust speck
and find a place for the world of Whoville to live in safety. The mayor of Whoville is played by Steve Carell, and he's as chaotic a character as Horton
is, only his entire world seems to be the same, and sometimes moreso. For awhile there I wasn't sure whether I'd gotten things mixed up and
Carrey wasn't actually playing the mayor, who, as the story shows, comes from a long line of former mayors, who actually seemed to have more
authority than he does, as he reports to a council that's the actual power of the community; I didn't remember that from the book. I also didn't
remember the mayor in the book having 96 children, as this one does, of which 95 are female.
The final main character of the story is Kangaroo, which of course is a Kangaroo, and her child, always in the pouch, but unlike in the book, the
child isn't like Mom at all, but wants to play with Horton like all the other children. But she's as stern and stubborn here as in the books, the
block captain, head of the housing authority, and determined to make sure everyone stays in line. Therefore, when Horton starts talking to dust
specks, she resolves, through any means necessary, to put things right by eliminating the offending dust speck.
Two secondary characters are introduced into the story, one more straight man than comic relief, the other integral to the ending of the story but
changed from the book. Morton is a mouse, and Horton's best friend; Dr. Seuss didn't believe in "mortal enemies" being at odds in his stories, so
the movie doesn't go there either. Horton doesn't add or detract from the story; he's just there. The other character is Jo-Jo, and he's the only
son of the mayor. He's a brooding character, actually reminiscent of how we might have viewed Kurt Kobain of Nirvana fame, and he doesn't talk
throughout the entire movie until the end, when, as we know, one last voice is needed to blast through the clouds and atmosphere of the little
world so all those in Horton's world can hear them.
This movie is a lot of fun. The way the characters are animated looks a lot like how they were in the book. Those they're computer generated,
every once in awhile, when Horton is day dreaming, you see the old style animation of Dr. Seuss' time, along with some of today's cartoons, aka
Pokemon and its ilk. When Horton is being pulled into a cage by the monkeys, it's easily reminiscent of the original cartoon, and the only thing
that was missing was the chant of "boil that dust speck" that I was yearning for. The people of Whoville are adaptable and malleable to anything,
as they've never had any bad news in their entire lives until now, but when the time arises, they're ready to come together and follow the mayor
in order to save their civilization.
I recommend that every parent, or child at heart, go see Horton Hears A Who, then tries to find both the book and the original cartoon and watch
those also. This movie will become a family classic, and should be in theaters for a very long time.
