Horton Hears A Who! (possible spoilers)

[mobo85]

Dr. Seuss told the story back in '54,
Chuck Jones animated it, and now there’s one more-
A new CGI film from the folks at Blue Sky,
The Ice Age, Robots, and Ice Age: Meltdown guys.

The story’s familar: way over in Nool,
The elephant Horton is thought as a fool
When a speck on a clover emits a strange sound-
But only to him and when no one’s around.
Jim Carrey is Horton- a very good choice,
He’s very amusing as this fellow’s voice.
Horton’s quite dumb, but this makes him amusing.
But the other jungle folks can be quite abusing:
Carol Burnett’s a kangaroo who doesn’t think
That a person could live on a clover that’s pink.
She hires a nogoodnik fellow named Vlad-
Not a bunny with cookies, but a vulture who’s bad.
It’s up to Horton to save his new friend.
But who are these fellows on whom he depends?

Well, they are the Whos. The Mayor’s Steve Carrell,
Although what his job is, I really can’t tell:
The Town Councilmen think that he isn’t wise,
And that his elephant stories are all lies.
He lives with his wife in the Who-Mayor’s house
With 96 daughters (some on loan from the Mouse),
And a goth-like son Jojo, who doesn’t act bad,
But doesn’t want to be Mayor like his dad.
This Jojo subplot is thankfully not much-
Much more time is spent with the Mayor and such.
The Mayor’s quite dense, and he and Horton are
Quite an odd couple- the humor goes quite far.

The CGI style is quite a surprisel,
As it’s unique but true to the style of Ted Geisel.
Most of the film is in three dimensions,
But two 2D dream sequences deserve a mention:
Horton dreams of the Whos in a Dr. Seuss style
And an anime spoof that really made me smile.

But the thing that’s most pleasing on this silver screen
Is that Dreamworks-like jokes are few, far, and between:
Though there’s a brief parody of Fox’s own MySpace
And JFK and Kissinger voices are out of place,
An Apocalypse Now joke kind of falls flat,
But there are no more pop culture jokes than just that.
Okay, so I lied, but one didn’t rub me wrong:
The whole cast “Can’t Fight” singing a Speedwagon song.

It’s clever and funny, yet still true to the book:
And that makes this Horton-Who film worth a look.

[chrisk]

:claps his hands loudly: A well-rhymed and charming review, to say the least!

[norinew]

Great OP! Bravo!

As for the movie, the hubby and I took the kids to see it last night, and we all loved it. My one complaint was the anime sequence. See, I just had abdominal surgery two weeks ago and it was so funny that my poor tummy hurt all the way home, and kept hurting until I took some Darvocet and got to sleep!

I really love the way it seemed grounded in present-day without losing the Dr. Seuss charm. It’s a fine balancing act that I thought the movie pulled off beautifully!

[Lumpy]

Did anyone catch who the portrait of Jojo’s grandfather looked like?A Who-ified Theodore Geisel

[norinew]

@Lumpy

Did anyone catch who the portrait of Jojo’s grandfather looked like?A Who-ified Theodore Geisel

Oh, yeah, my hubby and I did. Cracked us right up!

[Moriarty]

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I intend to tomorrow (time permitting).

The big question, though: Do they give any insight into the eternal question: Is this the same Whoville from The Grinch Who Stole Xmas?

[mobo85]

@Lumpy

Did anyone catch who the portrait of Jojo’s grandfather looked like?A Who-ified Theodore Geisel

Ah, yes, this was pretty clever. One other in-joke that amused me:

Both one of Horton’s friend’s clovers and the Who Mayor’s goldfish are named “Thidwick,” presumably after Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.

@Atomictom

The big question, though: Do they give any insight into the eternal question: Is this the same Whoville from The Grinch Who Stole Xmas?

This isn’t touched upon at all in the film. Some of the Council members look somewhat Grinchy, but this is probably a coincidence.

[Clothahump]

@mobo85

Dr. Seuss told the story back in '54,
Chuck Jones animated it, and now there’s one more-
A new CGI film from the folks at Blue Sky,
The Ice Age, Robots, and Ice Age: Meltdown guys.

The story’s familar: way over in Nool,
The elephant Horton is thought as a fool
When a speck on a clover emits a strange sound-
But only to him and when no one’s around.
Jim Carrey is Horton- a very good choice,
He’s very amusing as this fellow’s voice.
Horton’s quite dumb, but this makes him amusing.
But the other jungle folks can be quite abusing:
Carol Burnett’s a kangaroo who doesn’t think
That a person could live on a clover that’s pink.
She hires a nogoodnik fellow named Vlad-
Not a bunny with cookies, but a vulture who’s bad.
It’s up to Horton to save his new friend.
But who are these fellows on whom he depends?

Well, they are the Whos. The Mayor’s Steve Carrell,
Although what his job is, I really can’t tell:
The Town Councilmen think that he isn’t wise,
And that his elephant stories are all lies.
He lives with his wife in the Who-Mayor’s house
With 96 daughters (some on loan from the Mouse),
And a goth-like son Jojo, who doesn’t act bad,
But doesn’t want to be Mayor like his dad.
This Jojo subplot is thankfully not much-
Much more time is spent with the Mayor and such.
The Mayor’s quite dense, and he and Horton are
Quite an odd couple- the humor goes quite far.

The CGI style is quite a surprisel,
As it’s unique but true to the style of Ted Geisel.
Most of the film is in three dimensions,
But two 2D dream sequences deserve a mention:
Horton dreams of the Whos in a Dr. Seuss style
And an anime spoof that really made me smile.

But the thing that’s most pleasing on this silver screen
Is that Dreamworks-like jokes are few, far, and between:
Though there’s a brief parody of Fox’s own MySpace
And JFK and Kissinger voices are out of place,
An Apocalypse Now joke kind of falls flat,
But there are no more pop culture jokes than just that.
Okay, so I lied, but one didn’t rub me wrong:
The whole cast “Can’t Fight” singing a Speedwagon song.

It’s clever and funny, yet still true to the book:
And that makes this Horton-Who film worth a look.

A well-written review of an excellent movie!

[Thorium_Indium_Potassium]

Bravo! Excellent OP.

We’re hoping to see Horton Hears a Who sometime soon and you’re review makes me want to see it even more.

[Hockey_Monkey]

I saw Horton this weekend, and loved it! The anime sequence was roll on the floor funny. I was on the edge of my seat, rooting for Horton and Jojo.

[FriarTed]

I loved it, tho I thought it wouldn’t hurt being about 20-30 minutes shorter. However, it was only 90 min as it was & I figured that what I considered extraneous material (like the anime sequence & the Mayor’s 90+ daughters) were included to accomodate Jim Carrey’s & Steve Carrell’s hamminess/ADD.