Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

Simply Perfect

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

After many animation films of the last decades, the expectations are real precise and clear and unchanged. the role of this film is to remind the small details who are real fundamental. it is a lesson. or an old fashion parable. about an elephant, a dandelion and a small world. a hero. and a noble cause. to remind us ourselves. all is admirable, from animation to voices and nice plot. a film for entire family. without the ambitions to be first more than an useful lesson.

I have never read the book this film is based on but when it was released at the cinema I fancied seeing it because I'm an animation nut so I saw it with a member of support staff from my previous care home and we both enjoyed it. Upon renting this film twice on separate occasions, I got more out of it on these occasions in comparison to my first viewing.The 3D animation is consistent for the most part, but I found it rather jarring and jerky towards the end and I liked the 2D segments, the first of which was true to the style of Dr Seuss's book illustrations as were the 3D character designs of Horton and the Whos but the second had a bizarre anime look to it. Horton is the funniest character here and I like what he does to certain parts of his body such as forming his ears as a swimming cap, using his trunk as a shower and later blowing his trunk up like a balloon to enable him to cross the rope bridge more easily. I liked the action at the dentist that took place at the same time as Horton's struggle to cross the bridge while 'The Blue Danube' played - this made me think of the episode of 'Mr Bean' where the eponymous character visits the dentist. The other scenes where Horton's actions had a huge impact on Whoville (the second Seuss film adaptation to have a town with this name, the first one being 'The Grinch') were fun to watch as well. Not only did I like the use of 'The Blue Danube (one of my favourite and the most popular pieces of classical music despite not being a big fan of the genre) ' but also how the opening music started off sounding soothing then progressing to being more powerful and upbeat when Horton is introduced and I liked the music the Whos played whilst repeatedly chanting, "we are here" during the climax. Although there is only one 'true' song sung by the characters at the end, it is quite catchy nonetheless. The writing is clever and witty while the satires of the iPhone and MySpace keep the story up to date. I do agree with another reviewer that certain parts are clichéd such as the slow-motion moments, the false alarm of Morton scurrying through the grass and Horton shouting, "No!" during the climax. Besides Horton, the other characters I liked were the Mayor of Whoville and his family, the strict and overprotective Kangaroo who insists on keeping Rudy inside her pouch at all times, the comical Morton, the adorable Katie and the equally adorable Good Vlad the rabbit who appears very briefly towards the end. Bad Vlad the vulture was not quite as frightening as he looked but I liked his change of heart towards the end as well as that of Kangaroo's. Most of the characters and the backgrounds are surreal yet vibrantly coloured but the scenes of Jo-Jo sneaking out and the introduction of Bad Vlad are dull in colour. In addition to the humour and intelligence, the writing also has superb snippets of rhyming narrative that was an essential staple of Seuss's books. The film also has some pleasant surprises such as Carol Burnett (Miss Hannigan in the 1982 film adaptation of 'Annie') providing Kangaroo's voice, Jo-Jo shouting, "Yop!" to make the Who's chanting and music more audible to Horton and the other animals and squeaky-voiced comedian Joe Pasquale providing the dentist's voice. Further to the voice acting, Jim Carrey and Steve Carell (both of whom had previously appeared in 'Bruce Almighty') voice Horton and the Mayor of Whoville impeccably while Seth Rogen is a hoot as Morton. While the ending of the zooming-out from the jungle is effective, I would personally have changed it to show Horton placing the speck on the sunflower.Overall, this is the best animated adaptation of a Dr Seuss book I have seen so far, closely followed by 'The Lorax (2012 CGI version)' and 'Daisy-Head Mayzie' but preferable to the Warner Bros adaptation of 'Horton Hatches the Egg.' 8/10.

I must first confess that it took me several days, almost a week, to watch the movie. The reason being that the DVD I watched it from was scratched and so I couldn't see halfway through. So a week later I got a different one and watched it again, this time seeing the rest of the film. So my true feelings of the movie kind of disappeared but in general I still have my opinions on it.First, it's definitely unique. Yet it's annoyingly political, which doesn't surprise me. It's a story about believing in something that you cannot see, hear or taste or smell or touch. And the character who does witness a sound from the speck is considered a fool and it comes to the point where he is actually threatened to lose his own life possibly or at least be injured for his views.The reason? A kangaroo who has a negative attitude about everything, like some political parties I know. Anyway, she refuses to accept any new ideas such as a speck containing life and because of that she tries to banish the elephant who does. A few things that bothered me include her use of "homes school" which was inappropriate. She used it after her son asked to play with the kids and she refused, saying he had to not be brainwashed by the silly views that the others had.This is rude because I (as I've admitted in another review for the movie RV) home school and find it wrong to make a bland assumption that home schoolers restrict themselves from the rest of the world like that. Some do, but so do public schoolers. Anyway that drove me mad but in general her negative attitude was annoying but it helped with the plot. And of course I found everyone's acceptance to quickly go and join and believe in the kangaroo's views so easily kind of fake and annoying, and in the end when..SPOILER BELOW... she finally does hear the voices and is shocked and is just sad. I mean, she goes all that way to prove she's right and then that happens? With her attitude I'd come up with an excuse and dismiss it, demanding visual proof until ultimately the small guys on the speck are able to grow (or these with the speck and the flower shrink) and then she'd be satisfied, apologize and end up being happy. But nope, she's just sad.END OF SPOILERBut anyway I still enjoyed the unique movie and liked how it was. The son who didn't speak until the very end was touching and his private location up by the planetarium building was cool.So anyway, I rate this 7 because of the unique plot. It sort of loses a point from being 8 for the silly political stuff but in the end I'm sure (and hope) that everyone knows that it's a movie so it's not all true.

This movie was such fun! I've watched parts of this movie, here and there, but I don't think I've ever watched it all of once. I'm glad I gave it a try, though, on this Saturday morning.This movie has two stories. One is about Horton, an elephant in a jungle, who has found the town of Whoville by accident and resolves to keep it safe and the other story is about the Mayor of Whoville, who is having a nervous breakdown by trying to protect his town.This movie is filled with much hilarity, that adults and kids BOTH are sure to get. The animation is excellent and really does this Dr. Seuss original book much, much justice. You're sure to laugh at Horton's funny antics and how everything is crazy down at Whoville.The main reason I liked this movie was, aside from the storyline, the graphics. The first part, where they showed the family of the Mayor during breakfast time, also really struck me. I found it cool, I guess. And kind of unbelievable. 96 daughters and 1 son! Gosh. As Horton said, "Oh, busy guy!"This movie really gives a clear and strong message. "A person's a person no matter how small." Everyone's significant! Everyone makes a difference. You, me, the guy from accounting and everyone else! It also shows us that everyone's connected somehow. I teared up during the near-ending. This truly was a great movie. Top of my favorite animated films now. Who could have hated a wonderful film such as this one!