Film Review Throwback- "Horton Hears A Who"

Horton Hears A Who
Directed By Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino
Starring Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, and Will Arnett

As I briefly touched on long ago, with my review of The Lorax, films adapted from Dr. Seuss's works have had a mixed response from the public. The Grinch, while I love and I know many others do, I've read were not in love with. The Cat In The Hat is…terrible, and I only need to watch a Nostalgia Critic review of it to fully understand that. The Lorax I deemed "okay, but not good". It's a little too preachy and the story choices made to reach that 90 minute runtime weren't the best. Then there was Horton Hears A Who back in 2008.

It's arguably the best adaptation of the four Suess films, staying very true and close to the source material. Is it really a great film though? On the weekend of Dr. Seuss's birthday, I decided to watch it for the first time in years. I have to say, I didn't enjoy it as much as I once did. While it is a good film, it definitely has some flaws.

The story is the same as the book. Horton (Carrey) is an elephant, who with his large ears, is the only one able to hear a scream from a small speck of dust. He soon discovers an entire civilization is on the speck, the city of Whoville (The same one from The Grinch I assume). He soon makes contact with the Mayor of Whoville (Carell), who asks Horton to get the speck carrying Whoville to someplace safe in the jungle, before the city is destroyed.

Because Horton's the only one who can hear The Who's, the other animals in the jungle think he's lost in mind. A particular kangaroo (Burnett) isn't fond of Horton's actions at all, and sets out to stop him and destroy the speck, recruiting an army of monkeys and a manic vulture (Arnett). Meanwhile, as Horton tries to convince his peers of the world on the speck, the Mayor in turn is trying to convince Whoville they are a world on a speck.

The story in the film is as good as it is in the book. What I do like that the film does that the book doesn't, is it makes the dilemma of saving Whoville both Horton's and the Mayor's. It gives more purpose to the second most-important character, and it raises the stakes in an otherwise very tame story.

The animation is stunning, and captures the illustrations and imagination of Suess that the live action Cat and Grinch could not. The music by Jon Powell is grand. But to get to those flaws I was talking about, and sadly the root of these flaws lie in our lead, Jim Carrey.

From the book we can tell Horton is eccentric, but he's not Jim Carrey eccentric. Some of the jokes, gags, that come out of the script, probably as a result from Carrey being cast, fall flat and just don't mesh well into this Suessian world. An anime dream sequence? Horton tweaking? What? Carrey as Horton isn't totally unlikable. There are times when he's reserved and compelling, but other times he just comes off as annoying. Why does Carrey work for The Grinch and not for Horton? I don't know, maybe it's the live action Carrey opposed to the animated Carrey. But when the script sticks to the story and strays away from the modern humor, it really shines.

Carrey aside, this is one well-put together voice cast. Carol Burnett as Kangaroo is great, though doesn't provide much humor you'd expect from a character played by such a comical legend. Steve Carell is charming and goofy as The Mayor. Will Arnett as Vlad the vulture is probably one of my favorite animated characters of all time. Then you have the likes of Seth Rogen, Amy Poehler, and Jonah Hill in small but delightful supporting roles.

Hollywood probably won't stop adapting the work of Dr. Seuss for some time. In the next few years, Illumination Entertainment will release new, animated adaptations of The Grinch and The Cat In The Hat. For now, Horton Hears A Who, despite its off-beat humor and underwhelming protagonist, stands as the best Suess adaptation in my mind. Will it stand the test of time? Well this is the first time I've watched it in years so, draw your own conclusions. Like most book to film adaptations, it's fair to say time will show the book is superior, as it already has.