Horton Hears a Who!

I trust none of you will look down on me for breaking this long hiatus by looking at some light children's fare. I saw Horton Hears a Who! on Friday night (on a Digital Projection System, I might add), and I feel like reviewing it. And no, I will not stoop to the irritatingly predictable ploy of stuffing my review with Seussian rhymes.

As a classic Dr. Seuss book, Horton has a very well-known story - although I'll admit I wasn't as familiar with this story as I am with The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham. Shame on me. The plot is basically thus: Horton, a carefree elephant, hears a faint screaming from a speck that happens to fly by. He comes to learn/believe that there is an entire population (of Whos, of course) on that speck, and that their world is in danger. He then goes to great lengths to get the Whos-bearing speck to a high, secure location - meeting many odds along the way. The story is split between Horton's "big" world and the Whos' microscopic world. Jim Carrey provides the voice for Horton, and good old Steve Carrell plays the Mayor of Whoville.

I absolutely loved this movie. I will tell you why in terse, fragmented sentences. Witty, funny dialogue. Hilarious voiceover work. Gorgeous, quirky animation. No reliance on innuendo or immediately dated pop culture references. A sweet, even Biblical message.

This flick did such a marvelous job of capturing Dr. Seuss' world. It's such a breath of fresh air after the abominable live-action interpretations of The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat. That world really only belongs in the realm of animation, and the computer animation here gives it an even more goofy, eye-popping quality.

The characters are idiosyncratic and lovable. I especially enjoyed the moronic Russian vulture villain. And, of course, Carrey and Carrell both breathe so much life and humor into their respective main characters. And, if you can believe it, there wasn't a solitary comic-relief character who dragged chunks of the movie down by being utterly obnoxious (isn't that a requirement for an animated children's movie?).

Warnings

Avoid this movie if you dislike children and/or joy.

Redeeming Value

Besides just being a good, clean G-rated kids movie, Horton Hears a Who! has a lot going for it. The message about there being inherent good in everyone - even that cranky old kangaroo - is valuable, and does not drip with the canned Hollywood sacharine of so many similar movies with a like message. And then there's the whole "belief in something even though it can't be seen, touched, or felt" that should perk up the ears of people of faith. There's nothing messianic about the plot, per se, but faith in the unseen (and the resulting persecution) is glorified and rewarded.

It's clever, it's genuinely hilarious at times - and it rises above the bog of mediocre/crass/cliché/uninspired/pointless CGI kids movies being pumped out of Hollywood these days. I highly recommend it. Unless, naturally, you do not enjoy having oppresive emotional burdens temporarily lightened or experiencing the light briefly returning to your eyes.