Dr. Seuss: Horton hears a Who
Written: Mar 22 '08 (Updated May 02 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great animation, entertaining all the way through, Rated G
Cons: Voice acting seemed off in spots.
The Bottom Line: A great children’s movie.
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| yakkowarner's Full Review: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who |
I wouldn’t have seen this movie if I didn’t have kids. It just didn’t seem all that interesting to me personally. But since it had the rare G rating and I wanted to take my kids out for a treat, I gave in. Boy am I glad I did.
Horton hears a Who stars Horton, an elephant, living in a jungle. He loves life, loves nature, and loves to socialize. He has a very likable personality. Well as he is traveling around the jungle he notices a speck that is emitting a sound. Other animals think he is crazy but Horton is sure that he is not just hearing things. Eventually the mayor of the town on the speck and Horton begin communicating and the real adventure can begin.
The script is well done for the most part. I have no major complaints and the only minor one is that there are a few scenes that slow the story down that could easily have been left on the editing room floor. Thankfully that only occurs in two spots, the rest of the film is engaging and flows well. From a kids perspective, I did not think the story was over their heads or confusing.
The animation is absolutely spectacular. It is all CG and very believable. I did not notice any mistakes or glaring issues with the animation nor do I have any real complaints with it (other than is wasn’t ground breaking.) The animation style resembles Dr. Seuss’ animation style with a modern look to it. Those same unbelievable events (like stairs, weird buildings, and some actions) were in the movie and mimicked the drawings in the books I’ve read as a child. I just wish there were more than just a few scenes depicting Dr. Seuss’ wild world. At times I wish I could go into that town and play with the Who’s. The animation is done by the same people who did Ice Age, so the animation style looks very very similar to those movies.
The voice of Horton is played by Jim Carrey. For the most part he did a good job and made Horton believable and entertaining. I would give him an A- for the job. The one thing that I had a problem with is sometimes I would start hearing and seeing Jim Carrey, not Horton. It seemed that sometimes the voice acting didn’t quite match up with what I was seeing (I lost the illusion.) This could be because Jim Carrey is so well known or it was just a figment of my imagination; I’m really not sure. But none of the other voice acting bothered me in the same way. Steve Carell did an excellent job with the second lead character (the mayor) and I actually think he did a better job than Jim. He wasn’t over the top but he remained entertaining and believable throughout the movie.
The pacing was good, for the most part. They had the problem of turning a short story into a full length feature film. Not the easiest task. But for what it was, I thought they did a good job.
Character development was spot on. You really got into the minds of the two main characters of the story. I really felt like I knew both of these characters; and while they both are imperfect, I became fond of both of these characters as the story progressed. The development of the other characters was just fine for the story. In fact one character wasn’t truly developed completely until the end of the movie. Which because of his role in the story this late development was necessary.
The rating of Horton hears a Who was a G and I completely agree with it. There is nothing in this movie that I thought was slightly scary or off color. There was some minor adult-type humor but nothing I had an issue with. Definitely a fine tribute to Dr. Seuss.
Some key players
Director: Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino
Writers: Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio
Music: John Powell
Lead voice actors: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell,
Ratings
Mine: 5/5
Yahoo users: B+
Yahoo summary of critics: B
Rating:G
Time1hr, 28 mins.
Other reviews.
My favorite children’s movies.
My top 10 anime movies.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Family Movie
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