Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
3/23/08
Sometimes
you see a movie you just want to hug. The clever wordplay, imagination
and sophisticated innocence in the children's books of Dr. Seuss (aka the
late Theodor Geisel) are a natural for animation, as Chuck Jones proved
with his classic adaptation of How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
But both previous features based on his work, Ron Howard's ill-advised
reworking of The Grinch as a Jim Carrey vehicle and the Mike Meyers
Cat
in the Hat, have been live-action, where Seuss's fluid, magical and
bizarre creatures are reduced to simple guys in creepy suits. At
last, the latex is gone, as is any pretense to irony or playing to the
adults in the audience and with Horton Hears a Who!, the true spirit
of Seuss shines through. Carrey returns to the scene of the crime,
leading a first-rate vocal cast to tell a story so sweet and good-hearted
that it bucks all current movie trends, both animated and otherwise.
Alert the media: Horton is a family movie as close to free of objectionable
content as any story worth telling could possibly be.
The
faithful elephant Horton (Carrey) lives in the jungle of Nool, where he
“teaches” a daily class of baby animals the wonders of their world.
One day, he hears a sound coming from a speck of dust that flies by his
giant ears and becomes convinced that there are people on it. And
he's right: on the speck is the tiny world that includes Whoville,
the town where nothing ever goes wrong. Catching the drifting speck
with a flower, Horton tries to speak to the Whos, and finally makes contact
with Ned O'Malley, the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). He convinces
Ned, busy both with planning the upcoming Whocentennial and his 97 kids,
that his world is on a drifting speck. The Mayor consults a local
scientist (Isla Fisher), who believes that if Whoville doesn't come to
rest in a stable location, their world will be destroyed. Sure enough,
when the speck is in the shade, it snows, when it moves to the side, the
town tilts at a dangerous angle. The people, unprepared for hard
times, just look the other way, but Ned convinces Horton to look for a
stable spot to put the speck down. He knows of one, in a cave on
a nearby cliff, but the journey is complicated by the Kangaroo (Carol Burnett)
who's Nool's self-appointed moral watchdog. There is clearly no one
on that speck, she argues, and what will happen to The Children if they
listen to an elephant who believes in things he cannot see? To put
an end to such foolishness, she secures the services of a vulture named
Vlad (Will Arnett), who promises to devour the flower, speck and all.
But he meant what he said and he said what he meant: Horton will
stand by the Whos one hundred percent.
While
I went through a pronounced Dr. Seuss period when I was very young,
I don't honestly remember reading Horton Hears a Who!, though I
did love the elephant in his earlier adventure Horton Hatches the Egg.
The Seuss books are morality plays of the most basic kind, encouraging
kids to do the right thing and get along with their fellow man, and Horton
may be the most pure-hearted character in all of fiction. The marriage
of elephant and actor couldn't be more perfect: Carrey's comic edge
ensures that the character remains utterly good rather than simple-minded
and Horton returns the favor by keeping the comedian from getting too carried
away in inprov silliness. The funny, fun-loving elephant who dreams
of kicking butt as an anime superhero (a hilarious sequence) is sure to
become the instant hero of millions of tots. Carell makes a
great Seussian Mayor, who's already having doubts about the perfection
of all things Who, as anyone scheduled for a Who Root Canal (“You know,
sticking 'Who' in front of everything doesn't make it hurt less!”) might.
Burnett is wonderfully judgmental as the Kangaroo, and her big speech whipping
the jungle animals into a lynch mob is a show-stopper. Journalist
Charles Osgood makes an auspicious acting debut at the age of 75 as the
Narrator, hitting just the right storytelling note.
As
adapted by Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul, the film is bursting at the seams
with positive messages that are also dramatically potent. It's one
thing for Horton to do the right thing in finding a new home for the Whos,
even braving danger (a wonderfully rickety bridge and the evil Vlad) to
do it. But standing up to the Mob that's pursuing him takes real
courage (Geisel wrote this story in 1954 while the Army-McCarthy hearings
were taking place), and the scenes at the end have some surprising dramatic
punch. The Mayor must also go out on a limb to do what's right, standing
against a Town Council that's CERTAIN nothing bad could ever happen, and
in the process he persuades one particular Who to put his own special talents
behind the fight to save their world. The final 10 minutes or so
are such a whirlwind of courage, community, and forgiveness that they left
me crying like a baby, and the movie is smart enough to turn around and
find good-natured humor in just how incredibly sentimental it is.
Throughout, there's a great reflexive sense of humor that pokes fun at
the goings-on without getting in the way of their charm and spirit.
For
those not interested in the civics lesson, the good news is that Horton
Hears a Who! is also seriously funny. In addition to the stars,
the supporting cast is filled with great vocal performances including Arnett
as the incompetently ruthless vulture (not to be confused with that OTHER
Vlad, the Bunny who bakes cookies), Fisher as the wacky scientist, Seth
Rogan as Horton's best friend Morton, and Amy Poehler as Ned's wife Sally,
quick to reassure her husband that it's OK to be crazy as long as you don't
tell anybody. The animation not only captures the spirit of the original
illustrations but also nicely grafts on the characteristics of the actors
(Horton really does seem to be PLAYED by Carrey). As with any good
Seuss adaptation, visual wit abounds in the crazy world of the Whos.
Luckily,
no one would ever quote me in an ad, so I can say this without feeling
like a sellout, but Horton Hears a Who is an instant family classic.
It says all the right things in a funny and exciting story that doesn't
feel padded (not an easy trick given how few words are actually in the
story it's based on). Dr. Seuss fans of all ages should rejoice,
as should old softies like, well, you know... |
