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.
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:130
Fresh:102
Rotten:28
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: 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.
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... 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 [More]
Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Dane Cook
Starring: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Dane Cook, Amy Poehler, Jesse McCartney, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler, Will Arnett, Jonah Hill, Laura Ortiz, Jaime Pressly, Josh Flitter, Carol Burnett
Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Screenwriter: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Jon Vitti, Mike Reiss
Producer: Bob Gordon
Composer: John Powell
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
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.
It’s a sweet, strange soulfulness that makes Horton an out-and-out winner.
Charming, funny, with great turns from a juicy cast and the added bonus of minimal finger-wagging. Just stay well clear if you’re not in a good place for psychosis-inducing imagery.
Claims that the film truly captures Dr. Seuss' story and spirit are at the very least exaggerated.
Occasionally charming, frequently dull, and terrible just often enough to be dissatisfying more often than not.
After two painful messes, Hollywood gets Dr. Seuss right with Horton Hears a Who!
The animation’s ok. I didn’t like Jim Carrey. I thought he was a distraction.
Only scratches the surface of what makes the author's works resonate.
Will thankfully instill in your children a sense of heroism that Seuss's original book did, even if it deviates from the source material greatly...
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.
Delightful adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic is sure to entertain the kids, and the parents won't be too far behind.
None of the millions of dollars in cutting-edge animation and high-priced talent have managed to come up with anything quite approximating the charms and delights that Dr. Seuss was able to conjure up in just a handful of storybook pages.
The animation is beautiful and the story's nice message of tolerance booms across loud and clear.
Could do for intelligent design what An Inconvenient Truth did for global warming.
A bit too much on the frenetic side, the movie is nonetheless colorful and diverting.
Pure Seuss, with plenty of Flower Power to spare. Not to mention that when paying attention to all the possibilities of this planet and beyond, size indeed matters.
Although he's often over-the-top in some of his films, to his credit Carrey puts his ego aside in this movie and lets Horton be the star of the film just as he was written to be.
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