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'Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who' movie review |
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Written by Christopher Kelly (MCT)
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
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It might not be the most groundbreaking animated movie in recent years, but the bright and bighearted new adaptation of the 1954 Dr. Seuss classic “Horton Hears a Who!” certainly hits its target.
Without resorting to the crude comedy and shrill theatrics of the most recent live-action Dr. Seuss adaptations, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Cat in the Hat,” directors Steve Martino and Jimmy Hayward vividly bring to life the author’s off-kilter universe. They also remain deeply faithful to Seuss’ original story, a quietly spiritual fable about learning to believe in a higher power — and, sometimes, a smaller one, too.
Horton, as Seuss fans probably don’t need reminding, is the lovably sensitive elephant with a perfect memory and a ferocious sense of loyalty who also appears in the author’s “Horton Hatches the Egg” (1940). One day while frolicking in the jungle, Horton (voice by Jim Carrey) hears a distinct noise coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. When he chases it and captures it on the head of a bright pink clover, he discovers the truth: Living inside that speck is an entire breed of cherubic creatures known as Whos, the residents of a microscopic town called Whoville.
Part of what made Ron Howard’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” such a resolutely sour experience was that it rendered Dr. Seuss’ Whos as bunch of malformed, blank-eyed freaks — they looked as if they just stumbled off the set of “The Hills Have Eyes.” Martino and Hayward correct this problem, with lovely computer animation that updates the Whos’ look to the 21st century while maintaining their goofy, widely grinning appeal.
The Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) is a particularly adorable creation — an eccentric father (of 99 daughters and one very quiet boy) who becomes convinced that the weather disturbances in his town are signs pointing to the end of Who civilization.
Splendidly narrated by newsman Charles Osgood, “Horton Hears a Who!” follows what happens when Horton and The Mayor find a way to communicate between their two worlds. The Mayor learns that Whoville could be destroyed in an instant and attempts to warn his fellow citizens. But in Whoville, nothing has ever before gone wrong — and so no one pays the Mayor any heed.
'Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!’
• Critic says: 3 stars
• Rating: G (nothing objectionable)
• Running time: 1 hr. 26 mins.
• Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell
• Showing at: Cinemark Greeley Mall, Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Metrolux 14
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