Sunday, March 23, 2008

HORTON HEARS A WHO

Pictures courtesy of 20th Century Fox
An elephant believes he hears voices coming from a speck of dust in the big-screen version of HORTON HEARS A WHO. The film is based on the popular Dr Seuss short story of the same title. Dead-set on protecting the speck, Horton, a large, but lovable elephant, plans on delivering the speck, carrying an entire community of individuals known as “Whos” to the highest peak in the jungle. Unfortunately for Norton, other jungle wildlife would like to prove him wrong and will try to stop him and his speck from reaching their destination.

Silly, smart and sweet are words I often associate with Dr Seuss’s works, and each of these attributes is wonderfully abundant in the big-screen adaptation of HORTON HEARS A WHO. The central character in each of Dr. Seuss’s works is the driving force, and HORTON is no different. The enormous pachyderm is one of the most likable children’s characters to hit the screen in quite some time, and is also incredibly goofy, honest and determined. Jim Carrey voices Horton, and despite some ad libbing at times, restrains from going overboard, and brings life and a lovable nature to the big guy. The rest of the high profile voice talent is also good. Steve Carrell’s unique voice is appropriately quirky as the Mayor of Whoville, and Carol Burnett provides a terrifically twisted voice performance as an overly skeptical Kangaroo mom. Not only is HORTON HEARS A WHO true to Seuss’s characters, it also remains true to its verse. In its own poetic way, such lines as “A meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent” and “A person’s a person no matter how small”, are refreshing from a literally standpoint, but also lend this charming picture even more assistance. HORTON HEARS A WHO is a wonderful example of Seuss on-screen.

Grade: B+

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