Horton Hears a Who!

Voices of: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, Jaime Pressly, Niecy Nash, Selena Gomez, Joey King
Directed by: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Horton (Jim Carrey) the elephant must protect a community who lives on a microscopic speck from those who don't believe they exist.

Review:

Tim: I really like most of Dr. Seuss' books. I've never actually read the one this was based on, so it's impossible for me to talk about well they adapted it. I can only focus on the movie itself. Through that lens, I can say Horton Hears a Who! is okay. It's fine. It's not a bad movie, but it's an incredibly forgettable one. I didn't mind watching this movie with my kids, but I never really enjoyed it. It's a movie that is stretched far past the limits of the story. Too much feels like filler. This was the first feature-length animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss' works. Short films feel like a more appropriate medium.

I suppose there are some good lessons to be had from watching this movie. As it's based on works from Dr. Seuss, that's not too surprising. I liked the movie best when it explored these ideas. Like, that people have value no matter how small (or big) they are. Or, the lengths that Horton goes to protect people he's never met. These aspects of the film are the most powerful and the ones I hope my kids paid attention to. I'm not entirely sure they took those lessons away because they get lost with everything else going on. It felt like a big missed opportunity. One of the big issues I had with the film is the portrayal of Kangaroo. Now, I recognize this may be in line with the book, but it felt forced to me. That this character would go to such lengths to destroy a speck when the repercussions felt so minimal never made sense to me. The movie tries to throw a motivation for her actions in there, but it's not revisited enough nor clarified enough to really make sense. It ends up feeling like Kangaroo acts the way she does because she's supposed to be the antagonist. There should have been a powerful lesson from Kangaroo's mistakes, but it's kind of lost in the shuffle as well.

When I saw that this movie combined the efforts of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, I was really excited. They are two of the funniest actors in Hollywood and I was so excited to see them collaborate here. I never expected to say this, but Jim Carrey was woefully miscast as Horton. Carrey's voice is so iconic and I'm sure it felt like a brilliant casting choice (similar to Robin Williams). It doesn't pan out like that. Carrey's voice works so well because of who he is as a physical actor. His voice work here felt disconnected. I never believed he was Horton's voice for a single second. I know animation these days is all about getting big name stars, but this is a case where the big star completely wrecked the movie. Carrey gives it his all, but he was absolutely the wrong actor for Horton. I have to believe people working on the movie knew this. The whole film hurts because of this miscasting. Steve Carell fares much better. His voice feels like it belongs to the Mayor. Carell does a good job in his role and he does make the movie work. Carol Burnett was solid, but as I said, her character was one of the weakest in the film. Seth Rogen gets almost nothing to do. Will Arnett is a great voice actor and he adapted well to his character. I honestly can't remember what Jonah Hill did in this film. As a whole, the voice cast looks tremendous on paper and they're a major disappointment on screen. This is 100% a case of signing big names for a film instead of prioritizing the right actors to bring these characters to life. It feels odd to watch the movie and hear these recognizable voices that are just as often wrong for the character as they are right. That's another big reason why this movie is disappointing.

Of course, for younger viewers, none of this really matters. They just want to see entertaining antics on screen. In that department, the movie mostly delivers. My six year-old son and two year-old daughter mostly enjoyed the movie. It didn't frighten them and while it didn't drive its lessons learned home, the colors and the humorous antics kept them entertained. I wouldn't say either of them truly loved the movie (my son will often comment about how much he likes a movie as soon as the credits roll. He didn't do that here). My son was able to give me a pretty good summary a few weeks after seeing the movie, so it wasn't completely forgettable for him.

I'm fairly convinced that Dr. Seuss adaptations work best as short films. I need to go see the short film based on this story to confirm, but it definitely felt like the feature-length Horton Hears a Who! didn't like up to the potential of the story. It was an okay movie, but one I wouldn't be interested in seeing again. The animation and colors are worthwhile, but the story and the message falls flat.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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