Approached with some trepidation (Jim Carrey does not have a stellar track record with Dr. Seuss adaptions - not even a decent reputation) Horton delivers what the makers of Grinch and the sad Mike Meyers venture Cat in the Hat could not accomplish: a pleasant family comedy.
The story should be familiar to fans of the Dr. Seuss tale. Horton, an elephant (voiced by Carrey) that hears a cry of help from a tiny speck of dust, finds himself the protector of a microscopic planet that is home to the Whos. He befriends the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) while creating foes of a grouchy kangaroo (Carol Burnett), bad Vlad (there is also a good Vlad that makes cookies), and a horde of malicious monkeys. Horton and the mayor are in the same boat. None of the other jungle animals believes Horton's speck is inhabited by tiny people - except a few kids who pretend to carry their own world on a flower (including one odd character who's world has a population of horses that "all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies"). No one in Whoville believes the mayor's warning that they are a speck of dust floating through space and that their world is in peril if a giant elephant can't guide them to safety.
The animation is not the best, but it maintains Seuss's imaginative style. There are several creative liberties within the film, but it stays true to the spirit of the book by using several of the most well known phrases through both dialog and narration (including the timeless "a person is a person, no matter how small"). And that one line is a great lesson for kids my son's age as well as kids my age. Sometimes it's nice to see Hollywood portray worthwhile values. Horton Hears a Who also encourages creative expression - my kids's specialty.
On the downside, there are several insults thrown around like monkeys flinging poop. (thankfully, the monkeys in the movie use bananas as ammunition rather than feces). While it's a worthy effort to teach younger kids that it's not nice to call people names, they used the insult "boob" far too often (boob meaning moron, not the body part).
Bekah and I enjoyed the film and both of us laughed at several points throughout (the mock-anime sequence mid-film makes the movie worth repeated viewings). The kids loved the movie; they watched it over a dozen times in the week following the first screening. And since the DVD had to be returned to Netflix, we went and bought our own copy for the kids's Easter basket.
Horton Hears a Who will be joining the ranks of our family favorites.
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