Post by King Shocker the Monumentous on Mar 18, 2008 22:14:00 GMT -5
I went into this movie with mixed expectations...on one hand, the last 2 Seuss movies weren't exactly well-received. On the other hand, they weren't animated.
I won't try to compare it to the original cartoon, because I've never seen it. I tried to rent it once, but I stumbled into the wrong section of the video store and accidentally rented "Horton Hires a Ho" instead. I can, however, compare it to the book, which was read, both to me and by me, several times over the course of my childhood.
The plot is rather simple, and remains the same as the book: Horton the elephant, whilst bathing in a pool one day, hears a cry for help coming from what appears to be a speck on a flower. He soon discovers that there is a civilization of small people, called Whos, living on it. He is unable to convince his fellow jungle-dwellers, who think he's crazy. Meanwhile, down on the speck, the Mayor of Who-ville is similarly unable to convince his citizens that they're actually living on a speck of dust being carried around by an elephant. They agree that Horton needs to move the speck to a safer, stabler place. Horton goes forth on his quest, having to avoid the sour Kangaroo, the Wickersham Brothers, and Vlad Vladikoff, all of whom are trying to separate Horton from his speck. But Horton presses on, proclaiming that "a person's a person, no matter how small."
The film features all the major characters from the book (Horton, Kangaroo, Vlad, the Wickershams, the Mayor, Jojo), as well as a few new characters (Morton the Mouse, Tommy, all the other Whos, etc.) who don't take away from the story by any means.
For being an 88-minute movie based on a 24-page book, the script is quite well-done. In fact, having read the book again since watching the movie, I was amazed at just how accurate the movie was. Is there fluff? Of course there is. But unlike the fluff in Cat and Grinch, this fluff is good and actually makes sense. Basically, it's the subplot where the Mayor, in a situation that mirrors Horton's, is unable to convince his peers of what's really going on.
The voice cast is fairly impressive; the major cast (Jim Carrey as Horton, Steve Carell as the Mayor, and Carol Burnett as Kangaroo) is well-done, and as for the minor cast, I'm actually quite amazed at the quality of the actors they were able to get for characters with so few lines (namely Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jaime Pressly, Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher, Will Arnett, Niecy Nash, and Jesse McCartney).
The movie features other Seuss references as well...on at least 2 instances, references are made to characters named Thidwick. Also, Horton's catchphrase from Horton Hatches the Egg ("I meant what I said, and I said what I meant; an elephant's faithful, 100 percent.") makes a few appearances.
I have complaints about the film, but they're very minor, and to gripe about them would also spoil the ending. Basically, Horton's goal is to take the speck up to the top of Mt. Nool for safety, something that we never actually see him do. We just have to assume he did.
But to sum up, this movie gets a 4¾ out of 5 stars from me. And I hope to god that at next year's Oscars, it beats Wall-E, which, judging from the trailers, just might be Pixar's first film to completely miss the mark.
I won't try to compare it to the original cartoon, because I've never seen it. I tried to rent it once, but I stumbled into the wrong section of the video store and accidentally rented "Horton Hires a Ho" instead. I can, however, compare it to the book, which was read, both to me and by me, several times over the course of my childhood.
The plot is rather simple, and remains the same as the book: Horton the elephant, whilst bathing in a pool one day, hears a cry for help coming from what appears to be a speck on a flower. He soon discovers that there is a civilization of small people, called Whos, living on it. He is unable to convince his fellow jungle-dwellers, who think he's crazy. Meanwhile, down on the speck, the Mayor of Who-ville is similarly unable to convince his citizens that they're actually living on a speck of dust being carried around by an elephant. They agree that Horton needs to move the speck to a safer, stabler place. Horton goes forth on his quest, having to avoid the sour Kangaroo, the Wickersham Brothers, and Vlad Vladikoff, all of whom are trying to separate Horton from his speck. But Horton presses on, proclaiming that "a person's a person, no matter how small."
The film features all the major characters from the book (Horton, Kangaroo, Vlad, the Wickershams, the Mayor, Jojo), as well as a few new characters (Morton the Mouse, Tommy, all the other Whos, etc.) who don't take away from the story by any means.
For being an 88-minute movie based on a 24-page book, the script is quite well-done. In fact, having read the book again since watching the movie, I was amazed at just how accurate the movie was. Is there fluff? Of course there is. But unlike the fluff in Cat and Grinch, this fluff is good and actually makes sense. Basically, it's the subplot where the Mayor, in a situation that mirrors Horton's, is unable to convince his peers of what's really going on.
The voice cast is fairly impressive; the major cast (Jim Carrey as Horton, Steve Carell as the Mayor, and Carol Burnett as Kangaroo) is well-done, and as for the minor cast, I'm actually quite amazed at the quality of the actors they were able to get for characters with so few lines (namely Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jaime Pressly, Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher, Will Arnett, Niecy Nash, and Jesse McCartney).
The movie features other Seuss references as well...on at least 2 instances, references are made to characters named Thidwick. Also, Horton's catchphrase from Horton Hatches the Egg ("I meant what I said, and I said what I meant; an elephant's faithful, 100 percent.") makes a few appearances.
I have complaints about the film, but they're very minor, and to gripe about them would also spoil the ending. Basically, Horton's goal is to take the speck up to the top of Mt. Nool for safety, something that we never actually see him do. We just have to assume he did.
But to sum up, this movie gets a 4¾ out of 5 stars from me. And I hope to god that at next year's Oscars, it beats Wall-E, which, judging from the trailers, just might be Pixar's first film to completely miss the mark.
