Sunday, March 16, 2008

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

jedaniels-adventures.blogspot.comRelease Date: March 14th, 2008 (wide)

Genre: Kids/Family, Animation and Adaptation
Running Time: 1 hr. 28 min.
Studio: 20th Century Fox Animation
Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Screenwriter: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler, Amy Poehler, Jaime Pressly, Jonah Hill, Josh Flitter
MPAA Rating: G
Trailer: Theater Trailer
Website: Official Website

Sypnosis:
Based on the very popular children's book first published in 1954 by Ted Geisel, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss. "Horton Hears a Who" is about an imaginative elephant who hears a cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Suspecting there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community which thinks he has lost his mind, Horton is determined to help.

Review:
Horton (voice of Jim Carrey) is an elephant who lives his life much as animated elephants in animated jungles do, until the day a remarkable things happens. He discovers voices coming from a speck of dust as it floats by his enormous ears. Convinced that there are tiny people on that speck of dust, Horton captures it on the tip of a clover flower and endeavors to communicate with its inhabitants. He succeeds, and begins a conversation with the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell), who urges Horton to find a safe place for the speck lest his entire world be wiped out. Horton agrees, but he encounters resistance. The Kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who rules over the jungle is a firm believer in the doctrine that "if you can't see it, it's not there," and she can't see any people on Horton's speck, so she hires the vulture Vlad (Will Arnett) to eliminate it. Meanwhile, the Mayor has trouble convincing the Whos that there's a big elephant in the sky talking to him. Even his wife, Sally (Amy Poehler), is skeptical. Only a Doctor Who named Mary Lou Larue (Isla Fisher) believes him.

www.post-gazette.com
"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" is one of those rare family films that actually entertains the whole family. It's a perfect mix of jokes for the adults and silly moments for the children. Thanks to Jim Carrey's voice acting. It was perfectly fit for Horton. Carrey's comedy combined with the CG animation of the element ends up being a great performance which i think it was a great combination of voice acting and animation.

Fundamentally, Horton Hears a Who! is a kids' movie but, as is often the case with today's animated features, care is taken to include material that works both adults and kids. This movie was fun enough that I think even if you don't have kids, you'll find "Horton Hears a Who" to be worth checking out.