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Movies / On DVD / Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

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

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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.

Rated: U

Runtime: 2 hrs 54 mins

Genre: Childrens

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

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Reviews for Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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It amounts to making entertainment for adults by hijacking a story intended for kids...

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment 3 Comments
03/15/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Seuss' genius, updated for the masses. It's a curious mix, and it isn't always successful, but there's no doubt that this jumbled tale is the best mass-market adaptation yet of one of Seuss' works.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
03/15/08
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Watch your back, Dumbo. You have heavy competition now from Horton!

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/15/08
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

I think you'll love this pachyderm. On Horton's charms I must stand firm.

Full Review Source: Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | comment Comment
03/14/08
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

A sparkling 'toon that ought to have the family crowd lining up. Seamlessly blends the charming Seussical brand of wit and wisdom with animated thrills today's movie audiences expect.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment 1 Comment
03/14/08
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Boxoffice Magazine

Everything in the movie (Whoville in particular) seems hyperactive, noisy and shrill -- and yet, for all the manufactured carry-on, there isn't enough story for a feature film.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
03/14/08
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

It feels empty and over-inflated, with the book’s simple charms lost in the filler dreamed up by screenwriters Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment 3 Comments
03/14/08
Kansas City Star

As long as it sticks to Seuss -- which, given the brevity of the book, amounts to about a third of the 88-minute running time -- Horton makes for charming, kid-friendly entertainment.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment 2 Comments
03/14/08
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

The sad thing is that this Horton doesn't stick by its central message -- that every voice counts -- the way Horton sticks to the Whos. It pretends to, but the sincerity is just too scary to commit to fully.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 5 Comments
03/14/08
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

best Seussical adaptation for the big screen yet

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
03/14/08
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

The team behind Ice Age capture the Seussian visuals without squishing emotions or squelching the sing-songy language. Listen closely: It's the sound of a million Who fans cheering.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
03/14/08
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News

Frequently charming, beautifully drawn and far more faithful in spirit to the source material than those dreadful Ron Howard-Brian Grazer productions.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
03/14/08
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

And a motto moguls should take some time learning, if they'd like their movies to finally be earning, for it's not the cash that makes a prize of the art, but the warmth of the tale, and the size of the heart.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
03/14/08
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger

The computer-animated Horton is largely funny and faithful to the spirit of the Dr. Seuss book.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
03/14/08
M.E. Russell
M.E. Russell
Oregonian

This new Horton 'toon may be state of the art. But it's great virtue isn't the 3-D animation. It's the good Doctor, whose writing about Whos never goes out of style.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
03/14/08
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Stretched to 85 minutes and padded with action, the story often loses focus and resonance, and seems crammed with modernized material, as if Seuss' themes were insufficient.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
03/14/08
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

At times, the action in Horton overwhelms its softer, more Seussian traits. At these moments, the picture comes across as just another computer-animated film -- and there must be 100 by now -- about an animal on a quest.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
03/14/08
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
Sacramento Bee

This Horton Hears a Who! never loses sight of the simple but perennially powerful theme at the heart of Seuss' tale: 'a person's a person, no matter how small.'

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
03/14/08
Tom Keogh
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times

It's a success as a movie, but it still isn't quite perfect as a Seuss adaptation.

Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
03/14/08
Joshua Tyler
Joshua Tyler
CinemaBlend.com

Horton is mostly up to the challenge of adapting Seuss' brief, deceptively simple books to the 90-minute format of kids' movies.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/14/08
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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