Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! B
Starring the voice talent of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Will Arnett
Rated G
Appropriate for all ages
The Story: An elephant named Horton discovers that a whole world named Whoville exists on a speck atop a flower. While he is able to communicate with the mayor of this world, no one believes his tale, and conversely, no one in Whoville believes the mayor. When the animals in Horton’s world try to kill off this speck, it is up to Horton to outwit them and do what he can to save Whoville from being wiped out of existence.
The Good: You can already guess that kids are gonna love this flick. It is fast paced with loads of colors and a story that they will eat up. While the film is not as adult friendly as your average Pixar pic, this one should keep the interest of the parents as well as other non-parental units that might wander into the theater. The creativity is abundant here and should make most audiences fond of this lesser-known Dr. Seuss tale.
I do find it very intriguing that the commercials and trailers for the film are trying to sell the voice talent over the film itself. For those thinking that they are getting a Judd Apatow animated film here, please know that Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are very minor toons in the story and are only being touted in the ads to get you thinking that you might be seeing a G-rated Superbad. That being said, Carrey, Carell, and Arnett are all brilliant in their respective roles.
The Bad: Every so often the animation breaks from computer to hand-drawn in a very awkward way. They even try to throw in a Pokeman sequence which feels very out of place. Also, the end of the movie ends with a song that kind of ruins the enjoyment being had. From what I understand, Jim Carey insisted on the song against the studio’s direction, and I really wish the studio had stuck to their guns and nixed it.
The Summary: Beautiful animation combined with innovative story-telling make this a great family film that won’t dull the wits of the children watching it.