{"id":6501,"date":"2008-03-17T15:32:30","date_gmt":"2008-03-17T19:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=6501"},"modified":"2008-03-17T15:32:30","modified_gmt":"2008-03-17T19:32:30","slug":"dr-seuss-horton-hears-a-who-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/17\/dr-seuss-horton-hears-a-who-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HortonHearsAWhoWallpaper102\"<\/a>Many people will reason for \u201cHorton\u201d that it\u2019s a good movie because, it\u2019s much better than the previous attempts. And frankly, I\u2019m not buying it. Is \u201cHorton\u201d as bad as the previous live action attempts? No way in bloody hell. But is it good enough to be a classic? No way in bloody hell. \u201cHorton\u201d makes the right decision of using animation this time around and pumps the screen with skilled comedians and it pays off to a certain extent as the adventures end up rather amusing. As an animated effort, it has the right idea, it just doesn\u2019t know how to compose Seuss without turning itself into another \u201cShrek,\u201d and I prayed this movie would have sense enough to not aspire to appeal to that audience and yet it did.<\/p>\n

I hate to be one of those people, but when you start chugging MySpace jokes and musical numbers involving a cheesy eighties song, you have to realize that it has no place in a Dr. Seuss story. In all honesty, this isn\u2019t really a Dr. Seuss story, just like those awful live action films weren\u2019t. It\u2019s really just \u201cMadagascar\u201d inspired by Dr. Seuss themes, while also attempting to pass off some theological overtones that are simply too much to enjoy most times. Paired with the insufferable pop culture reference, Carrey is much too over the top as a character who is supposed to be humble and soft spoken; it feels like the roles should be reversed when the film was done. Carrell is much better with humility and innocence, while Carrey would better fit the mayor as this zany eccentric politician forced with the prospect of his world under the mercy of a heroic elephant. Beyond that misstep, the casting for the most part is rather brilliant. Though having Carol Burnett as the Kangaroo is an odd bit of a role, she\u2019s rather good as the resident antagonist who is so centered on her elitism and status quo that she can\u2019t quite appreciate Horton\u2019s purpose as a hero and protector.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s an insistent shrew who wants normalcy from Horton, but he persists and endures the scrutiny of his friends. Steve Carrell as the mayor of Whoville is rather fantastic regardless of the change to the original character. Adding the personality of the everyman, Carrell excels as this man who also faces severe scrutiny when he discovers Horton above him and doesn\u2019t know how to handle it. The mishaps he has in a dentist office to his battles with his wife who watches him grasp the concept of this elephant all make for rather amusing sequences and Carrell takes to the performance with his usual skill and comic timing. The animation team provides a bang up job here making the world of Horton and the Who\u2019s awfully appealing to the eye. Horton\u2019s look is very faithful to the original book with a very expressive personality and extra touch of delusion added to him that makes him charmingly goofy to watch during his adventure.<\/p>\n

Jonah Hill, Isla Fischer, and Seth Rogen are for the most part difficult to make out amidst the rest of the cast, but they make due with their roles, while Amy Poehler is entertaining as his put upon doting wife. The constant tonal shift in animated styles also adds a sense if creativity, particularly when Horton envisions himself as an anime hero. \u201cHorton\u201d is much more above par than junk like \u201cCollege Road Trip\u201d and will thankfully instill in your children a sense of heroism that Seuss\u2019s original book did, even if it deviates from the source material greatly.\u201cHorton\u201d has every opportunity to be absolutely fantastic and instead just wants to settle on mediocre. While I\u2019d love to say, at least it\u2019s not \u201cCat in the Hat,\u201d I won\u2019t settle for average. Because Dr. Seuss is not average. I guess that there are much worse family alternatives than \u201cHorton Hears a Who,\u201d when all is said and done. It\u2019s not entirely the best adaptation of Seuss, as it constantly proves to be nothing more than mediocre, but I\u2019ll tell you what: It\u2019s better than live action \u201cCat in the Hat,\u201d and \u201cThe Grinch,\u201d even if that\u2019s not saying much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people will reason for \u201cHorton\u201d that it\u2019s a good movie because, it\u2019s much better than the previous attempts. And frankly, I\u2019m not buying it. Is \u201cHorton\u201d as bad as the previous live action attempts? No way in bloody hell. But is it good enough to be a classic? No way in bloody hell. \u201cHorton\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,71,99,297,340,349,438,580,983],"class_list":["post-6501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-adaptation","tag-adventure","tag-animation","tag-dr-seuss","tag-family","tag-fantasy","tag-h","tag-kids","tag-steve"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}