Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Horton hears a Who, the movie

I took the little guy (he's not so little anymore) to the movies the other day. We were trying to decide between the only available kid friendly (?) movies, Nim's Island or Horton Hears a Who. We went with the latter.

I've come to a couple of conclusions.

1) Jim Carey usually plays Jim Carey.
My two middle daughters loved the "The Series of Unfortunate Events" books, but felt the movie was marred by the fact Jim Carey played Count Olaf not as Count Olaf, but as Jim Carey.

Horton suffers a little from this as well.

2) Dr. Seuss books make very nice 30 minute TV specials. Stretching them to an hour and a half is... well.. a stretch.

Nice parts:

The son and I both chuckled at Horton's Anime fantasy segment. No, you are not having a memory lapse. That sure WAS NOT in the book... but it was cute.

The Mayor of Whoville was delightful. This book character was fleshed out so much for the film, I'd say he was 'invented' by the team who did this movie. Steve Carrell did a wonderful job with this role. His son Jo Jo reminded me a bit of my youngest teen. This added story of the Mayor and his son was one part where the 'fleshing out' of the book worked very well. It was sweet.

The team from Ice Age who animated also did a wonderful job. Whoville was spectacular and very Seussish. The Whimsy in the Animation saved the movie. Loved Vlad the Vulture, Vlad the Bunny, and a few of the other minor characters added to the story.

Note for homeschoolers: There is a jab at homeschoolers in the movie. Sour Kangaroo wants to protect her child from evil things like Imagination, so she "Pouch Schools" her kid... and the kid breaks away from the oppressive parent at the end.

I couldn't really take offense to this, though. Sour Kangaroo seemed much more from the NEA than from any homeschool group I know. And Horton's "lessons" with the kids (he had some sort of teacherish role) early on was much more like a day in a homeschool than a day in a classroom.

I had a brief flashback to college, when a guy I was dating heard the Billy Joel anti-Catholic song "Only the Good Die Young." The boyfriend said, "that song is so true."

I said "Am I like that?"

He said "No."

I asked if another friend of ours, a religious Catholic, was like that. He said, "No."

I then asked if the crew from our Newman Center was like that. He paused, then said "Um.. No."

I asked if he knew any Catholics like that.

More silence. Followed by "Um.. No."

Actions speak louder than songs, or lines in a movie.

Overall, I'd give Horton a C+. Great animation, whimsy, and the wonderful line "A person's a person no matter how small."

That covers a multitude of silly filler.

1 comment:

Dawn said...

100% agree with this review. I just watched this tonight with the kids. It was cute..thanks for your review.