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MOVIES / IN CINEMAS / DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO!
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

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Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

78%
57%
87%
N/A
N/A
78 %
Reviews Counted: 118 Fresh: 92  Rotten:26 Average Rating: 7/10
 
Consensus: Stays true to the spirit of Dr. Seuss' classic story. Horton Hears A Who! is both whimsical and heartwarming, and is the rare Dr. Seuss adaptation that stays true to the spirit of the source material. more
 
Rated: U
Runtime: 88 mins
Theatrical Release: 21-03-2008
Synopsis:
On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool. He was splashing...enjoying the jungle's great joys...When Horton the elephant heard a small noise. With his signature evocative and rhyming text, writer and cartoonist Dr. Seuss, an American... [More]
On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool. He was splashing...enjoying the jungle's great joys...When Horton the elephant heard a small noise. With his signature evocative and rhyming text, writer and cartoonist Dr. Seuss, an American treasure whose books have delighted generations of young people, opens one of his most beloved tales, Horton Hears a Who! Now, over fifty years since Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, published this perennial favorite, the makers of ICE AGE and comedy giants Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, bring it to life in a way never before experienced. For the first time, a motion picture transports audiences into Dr. Seuss' incredible imagination, through state-of-the-art CG animation. DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO! (TM) is Seuss as you want to experience his work at the movies - and as it was meant to be seen. The film, like Seuss' book, presents an imaginative elephant named Horton (Carrey) who hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Although Horton doesn't know it yet, that speck houses an entire city named Who-ville, inhabited by the microscopic Whos, led by the Mayor (Carell). Despite being ridiculed and threatened by his neighbors, who think he has lost his mind, Horton is determined to save the particle...because "a person's a person, no matter how small." Horton's eight-word explanation for his actions embodies an idea both simple and profound, and which means so much, to so many. The film provides more food for thought, having Horton explains to his skeptical friends: "If you were way out in space, and you looked down at where we live, we would look like a speck." Then there's Horton's code...his motto... that, "an elephant's faithful 100 percent" - pointing to his honesty and determination to never abandon his mission to find a new home for the speck that houses the incredible world of Who-ville. These philosophical declarations point to Seuss' unique ability to take complex issues and boil them down into understandable thoughts that anybody, at any age, could understand. It all comes together through the vision of a master storyteller, the magic of computer animation, and the special alchemy of three generations of comedy stars - Carrey and Carell are joined by the legendary Carol Burnett, as well as cutting-edge talents Will Arnett, Isla Fisher, Amy Poehler , Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill - to create an all-audience comedy event. --© Fox [Less]

Genre: Animated, Childrens, Children/Family, Animated Characters, Animated Worlds

Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Carol Burnett

Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Screenwriter: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Producer: Bob Gordon

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

Adds a manic spin that strains to convey far too many moral messages while overloading the film with wacky action.

Full Review | Comment
04/20/08 03:54 PM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

Beautifully realised, entertainingly absurd and as true to the original as a feature-length expansion can be, this animated allegory gets the child in all of us to think big thoughts about small things.

Full Review | Comment
03/18/08 03:42 AM
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Earth, as Robert Frost thought, might be the right place for love, but television is certainly the right place for Dr. Seuss.

Full Review | Comment
05/08/08 02:10 PM
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)
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Sygkratimeno kai petyhimeno hioymor demeno me to eggyimeno ap' tin ypografi ton dimioyrgon toy Ice Age (2002) animation, to Horton Hears a Who den proorizetai pantheon, alla apotelei toylahiston aksiologotati epilogi kyrios (alla ohi apokleistika) gia nea

Full Review | Comment
05/06/08 03:07 AM
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses
Ratings Image

The metaphysical angle is too awkward: Horton comes off like a Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Full Review | Comment
04/16/08 07:21 PM
Stephen Himes
Film Snobs
Ratings Image

after the overcooked live action Grinch and nauseating Cat In The Hat, Hollywood has finally served up a tasty adaptation of Dr. Seuss.

Full Review | Comment
04/15/08 06:39 PM
Mike Sage
Peterborough This Week
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Perfect for children, for adults not so much.

Full Review | Comment
04/04/08 03:34 PM
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com
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Teeters throughout at that juncture between masterpiece and piffle.

Full Review | Comment
04/02/08 05:20 PM
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
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[The filmmakers] capture the whimsy of Seuss' drawings and add a nice tactile feel.

Full Review | Comment
03/28/08 01:28 PM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
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A mediocre movie's a mediocre movie, no matter how overhyped, overblown and overbearing.

Full Review | Comment
03/26/08 02:44 PM
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
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Succeeds where previous Dr. Seuss adaptations have fallen short, most notably by using animation -- fluid, elastic, genuinely Seussian animation -- to tell the story.

Full Review | Comment
03/23/08 06:04 PM
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
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Despite the stretch of adapting Horton's tale to a feature movie, Dr. Seuss' original story and the worlds he created, plus some particularly winning characters, put Horton Hears A Who! over the top.

Full Review | Comment
03/21/08 12:30 PM
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
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The elephant, the stars' names, the digital production, the critical buzz, and the product tie-ins -- with all this going on, the movie can't help but be huge.

Full Review | Comment
03/21/08 08:56 AM
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
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Claims that the film truly captures Dr. Seuss' story and spirit are at the very least exaggerated.

Full Review | Comment
03/18/08 11:53 PM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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The kids will love this movie...

Full Review | Comment
03/18/08 07:53 AM
Kevin McCarthy
BDK Reviews (CBS Radio)
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Occasionally charming, frequently dull, and terrible just often enough to be dissatisfying more often than not.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 10:21 PM
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
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After two painful messes, Hollywood gets Dr. Seuss right with Horton Hears a Who!

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 01:04 PM
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
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The animation’s ok. I didn’t like Jim Carrey. I thought he was a distraction.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 10:16 AM
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Only scratches the surface of what makes the author's works resonate.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 08:53 AM
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International
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Delightfully frivolous, but grounded in reality, this inventive animation based on the Dr Seuss story, will amuse, enchant and inspire one and all - no matter how big or small.

Full Review | Comment
03/16/08 08:38 PM
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• Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! at IGN
• Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! at AskMen
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