DVD Review: Horton Hears A Who!
Horton Hears a Who! turned out to be a decent animated comedy, which surprised me as the commercials really didn't look all that great, and we all know how well the previous Dr. Seuss inspired films turned out. And unlike the other films, this is one of the stories I had never heard before. It has a good moral, which is basically to stand up for what you know to be right and true even if what you believe happens to be unpopular.
The story starts out with a friendly elephant named Horton. Horton is a fun-loving carefree type of character, and is a great teacher to the kids of the forest. He is liked by many, but there is one who finds his attitude and means of teaching quite offensive, and that's a mean old kangaroo lady. She has no problem spreading her bad attitude around... but I'm getting ahead of myself. I still need to tell you about the Whos....
The Whos are a race of very tiny people whose entire world is so small that it fits inside a speck of dust. The guy in charge of the town of Whoville is supposed to be The Mayor of Whoville, but it soon becomes clear that the town committee has no problem overstepping its authority. You see, recently tremors have started to shake up Whoville, and the Mayor is concerned. He wants to postpone the upcoming Who-centennial, but the committee quickly squashes that idea. After all, there has never been any problems in Whoville, so therefore there never will be....
Now these two worlds meet when Horton's giant sensitive ears are able to hear the mayor of Whoville. After an initially awkward back-and-forth, the two finally come to trust each other. Horton warns the mayor of the dangers in the forest, and agrees to take their tiny world some place safe... a small cave he sees up on a mountain. And so the adventure begins!
Ah, but it's not quite that easy. Remember that uptight kangaroo lady I mentioned earlier? Well she believes that Horton is making the whole thing up, and that his imagination is corrupting all the children. So she enlists the help of a fierce vulture to stop Horton. As if dealing with the trials and tribulations of a forest and mountain weren't enough! Meanwhile, while Horton deals with all kinds of issues trying to get Whoville to safety, the mayor of Whoville has problems of his own. The big one is that nobody will believe that Whoville is in extreme danger, and refuses to take refuge.
The voices are all really good here, but I think it's the art and animation which really brings the Dr. Seuss feeling to the story. The people of Whoville look just like you would expect from a Dr. Seuss book, as does the entire town of Whoville. It contains all the wackiness that you just couldn't pull off with live action. I think future Dr. Seuss movies should take note, computer animation is definitely the way to go. This is a film that I think both kids and adults will like.
