Published on Monday, March 17, 2008

'Horton Hears a Who' is a hoot for youngsters

By KEITH CAMERON

Jim Carrey voices the titular elephant as he tries to protect the microscopic Who’s in “Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who!”

Rating: 6 / 10


Starring

Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett


Plot

“Horton the elephant hears a small voice / and chooses of all things to make a choice / to protect the Who’s of Whoeville because after all / a person’s a person no matter how small.’”


The Good

Remarkably, the original message of Dr. Suess and his beloved book are successfully put onto screen.

The film benefits largely from being animated and not filmed in live action. Computer-generated environments and characters are closer to the original illustrations of Dr. Suess’ books in that the film appears as if it could be ripped right from the pages. “Horton” should resonate better with audiences than Mike Myers as “The Cat in the Hat.”

When a book takes, at most, 10 minutes to read, and an hour and a half to explain as a movie, there is probably some filler in the film. That’s true with “Horton,” but it’s executed quite well.

Horton has a few more challenges to overcome to take up more time, but the movie doesn’t lag much because of it. It understands its own limits. “Horton” is a simple excursion to rehash the repeated moral: “A person’s a person no matter how small.”


The Bad

There isn’t much for adults here, as this movie definitely is aware that its prime audience is children. The jokes are simple, and the rhyme scheme never disappears. However, these bad aspects are so different from other movies that they almost become refreshing.


The Lowdown

There are a few moments of jokes that qualify as appropriate for adults, but don’t go in expecting much. The best advice for seeing this movie is simply to enjoy the ride. There is no hidden message here, and if one can remember back to his or her personal days of Dr. Suess, this movie might serve as a pleasant trip down memory lane.