Horton Hears A Who!
Director: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett
Animated
Rated: G
86 minutes
There are none among us who don’t have memories of Dr. Seuss; most of us in fact have fond memories of his countless wonderfully imaginative books. Not to mention many of those books had their own records (yes records). So it is with almost every cherished childhood memory, Hollywood is slapping Jim Carry to it and raking in the cash.
I’m not foolish enough to think childhood memories are worth anything when there is money to be made, but it’s still upsetting. Although on the other hand, while my childhood memories get face lifts and boob jobs, my daughters are being created as now she knows Horton as the movie elephant.
The biggest challenge in adapting a bedtime story into a 90 minute movie is finding the extra 80 minutes of material. There is one school of thought that you just fill it to the brim with pop culture references. Luckily they didn’t and Horton is a passable adaptation. At least it was animated unlike the horrific Cat in the hat and Grinch (shudder). In fact, Jim Carry (not to mention Robin Williams) should be banned from children movies, they were good the first umpteenth time but enough is enough.
Is it good enough for the intended audience? Yes. It’s not scary so it’s wee ones safe. Plus there’s a decent message that some parents are complete pricks who want to stifle “weird” behavior, and of course “a person’s a person no matter how small” is a good message to hammer home.