Horton Hears a Who

Movies based on Dr Seuss books are generally considered to suck. I actually liked the live action Grinch based on my love for Jim Carrey, but I understood why people hated it. Well, Carrey is back in a Dr. Seuss movie but this time it is just his voice. Maybe I am a lone in this but I always think it weird in animated movies for people to voice characters that are vastly different in shape to the people voicing it. I just assume a big character should be played by a big guy, so I had that hurdle to leap over when I first saw the trailer for it. Also featuring the voices of Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen, Amy Poeller, Will Arnet, Jonah Hill, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler and comedy legend Carol Burnett, you have kind of a who's who of comedy in America right now.

Like most of Seuss' stories, Horton is a fairly straight forward story with a message. Horton(Carrey) hears something on a tiny speck that is flying through the air and he believes he has to help whatever is on the speck. The Sour Kangaroo(Burnett), who kind of runs the jungle, doesn't like it one bit because she believes it will start giving kids ideas about imagination and it will ruin the order of the Jungle. She is determined to get the clover on which Horton has placed the speck. So much so that she sends a Vulture(Arnett in a hilarious cameo) after it and in the end sends an angry mob after it. Horton is affable, earnest and kind of dorky, but he is 100% on the mission of getting the speck to safety, especially after finally making contact with the Mayor(Carell) of the speck. The Mayor tells Horton that the speck is an entire town of people and in the town nothing bad has ever happened. The Mayor is a spastic, awkward, on the edge kind of guy and he doesn't really have the respect of the town or his only son JoJo who should be the next mayor when the time comes. it is a Dr. Seuss book so in the end it all gets worked out and children watching this movie or reading that book learn the valuable lessons of sticking to your word, believing in yourself, using your imagination is fun, and peer pressure kind of sucks.

Carrey still seems like kind of an odd choice for Horton, but I liked him in the role a lot. He really lends himself to animation but it almost always seemed within the realms of the story when he goes on a Carrey like tangent. Carell is pitch perfect as the awkward mayor which is not terribly shocking. As a fast moving mouse friend of Horton's, Rogen is limited but funny and actually all of the voice work is pretty exceptional. The animation is at times gorgeous, sweeping and magnificent and at times very cartoonish and awkward (The Monkeys especially). The movie moves quickly enough and while it doesn't seem like there is enough material for an 85 minute movie, I was not ever actually bored by any of it. It is a great story for children and the movie plays very well to children. There is enough humor for adults though to make it relatively interesting.

My biggest issue with the movie was the anime section, where Horton's fight fantasy is drawn and shot like a Pokemon cartoon. It was from way out in left field and did nothing to enhance my movie going experience. In fact, it was quite off putting and it took me a little while to get back into the story. Also, having kind of an affinity for the world of Horton though Seussical, I missed the songs. I missed the music big time, actually. I know Carrey and Carell can both sing and they threw in a random song at the end but, I really missed the world of Seussical. It is no fault of the movie, but it did hinder my enjoyment a bit.

Overall, while I enjoyed it at times and the voice work is excellent, there were too many random things and unnecessary animation tricks to make this a completely enjoyable experience. I know this movie is not aimed at me. I get that, I do, but if Pixar can continue to make great movie for both kids and adults, why is it too much to ask that other animated movies do the same?

Final Grade: C+