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Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: G
Current Showtimes: No showtimes available

No author is dearer to my heart than Dr. Seuss. The quiet whimsy and complex darkness within his books practically defined my childhood. When How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat arrived in theaters a few years back, I was first in line, eagerly awaiting the magic that I had come to love as a child. I could not have been more disappointed - both films were loud, ugly, and crass. I took personal offense to the ways in which these films smashed the magic and mystery of Dr. Seuss to smithereens.

Now that I’ve gotten that rant out of my system, I have good news to report: On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool, Horton the elephant is splashing.

The film story is quite simple: one day Horton the elephant hears sounds coming from a dust speck. The sounds are the town of Who-Ville, run by Mayor Who. The other creatures in the jungle of Nool, especially a sour kangaroo, don’t believe Horton, and want the dust speck destroyed, but Horton declares, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”

The film’s animation is superb, and it retains the zany, whimsical look of its source material. The story is as resonant as ever (its origins are rumored to be a response to McCarthyism), and the cast is stellar (especially Will Arnett as black-bottomed eagle Vlad Vladikoff), although Dr. Seuss’ originality is emphasized over the film’s star power and commerciality.

Horton Hears a Who certainly has star power. Jim Carrey (who I DESPISED in How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as Horton and Steve Carell as the Mayor unite with Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Isla Fisher, and Carol Burnett as the supporting voices to create a star studded cast.

Fortunately, this star power doesn’t take over. While previous Dr. Seuss adaptations have been all about taking a beloved character and transforming that character into an obnoxious version of the film’s main star, this movie is different. Both Jim Carrey and Steve Carell deliver very restrained performances, thus adding to Dr. Seuss’ story and not detracting from the on-screen magic. Somewhere, Dr. Seuss can breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that Hollywood finally got him right.