Movie: Horton Hears A Who!
"All right, I gotta get this speck up to the top of Mount Nool A.S.A.P, whatever that means, probably act swiftly awesome packaderm! I mean, how hard can that be?" - Horton in Horton Hears A Who!I was watching Oprah about two weeks ago when she interviewed Jim Carey and did a quick introduction to Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! That kind of prompted me to go catch it in the cinema, and I did so a couple of days back.
Yes, it's another Dr Seuss thing, one you'd expect to be for children only. I'm pretty sure you must have at least read one of the Dr Seuss stories, or even watched one of the films. (The Cat In The Hat [2003], How The Grinch Stole Christmas [2000]. I must admit that I have never appreciated any of the Seuss thing, but I would say that Horton is somewhat different - at least he does not go on a Grinch-spree. But having said these, I still found Horton a tad boring, even if the story made more sense than the Grinch. (Sorry I keep picking on the green creature, but that movie was as good as his green, hairy looks.)
Horton the elephant, voiced by Jim Carey, chances upon an entire civilization of Whos living in Whoville (Please pardon the names, it's a Seuss thing.) which happens to exist on a tiny speck in Horton's world, and is on the brink of destruction. Horton the forest teacher believes that "a person is a person, no matter how small," and embarks on a quest to return the speck to a sheltered spot. Things are made difficult by Kangaroo, voiced by Carol Burnett, who decides to teach Horton a lesson for 'polluting' the young minds by speaking of the existence of things that cannot be 'seen, heard, or felt'.
You might find some familiar concepts in the movie pertaining to religion, philosophy, or even politics. But please, try to keep the intellect in you under control and try to enjoy the movie. Quite a number of detailed humour from the choice of words, so try not to think of Big Brother or anything that might just make Horton turn into an old fogey with thick black spectacles sanding in front of the blackboard.
This animated film is somewhat funny, with a dose of Seuss-y rhymes in the narration, and topped with great visuals. Of course, having both Jim Carrey and Steve Carell doing voice-overs for two cooperating characters already seems funny, after seeing them at loggerheads in Bruce Almighty. (Yes, it's Steve Carell as Evan Baxter.) I wouldn't give it 10 or 5, whichever rating you might be familiar with, but I guess it's still okay if you had no other movie on your 'To Die For" list, even if it does not quite belong to that list.
And oh, the mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell) happens to have one son and 96 daughters. And that one son JoJo would be your chance to listen to Jesse McCartney's
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