Review: Horton Hears a Who
This past weekend, Nicole and I took the kids to see Horton Hears a Who! It was Joshua’s first time in a movie theater, and he did okay. (He got a bit whiny toward the end, so I took him over near the door and held him a bit, and he calmed down.)
Anyway, the movie was a lot of fun. I had trouble keeping track of whether Horton and the kangaroo represented “mainstream culture vs. evil, close-minded fundamentalists” or “believer vs. atheist.” It was a little too disorienting to try and embrace both models at the same time—maybe due to my taking personally the homeschooling dig early in the film. 
As with previous Dr. Seuss theatrical adaptations, a number of additions were made to convert the 72-page book into an 86-minute film. Unlike previous live-action Seussian projects, however, these additions (for the most part) added something to the story without mutating it into a children’s book version of Ace Ventura. Even the anime fight sequence worked! The main exception in my mind?
“In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”
At first glance, Katie seems to have been intended to play the part of the cute toddler who sometimes makes strange remarks. She ends up just being creepy, though. Her character is so dissonant in relation to the rest of the movie that she doesn’t just seem out of place… she seems like a saboteur, intentionally seeking to derail the story.
Aside from Katie, the movie just works. So, since she doesn’t have much screen time, I’d give the movie 4.5 (out of 5) stars!
April 28th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Hear, hear! I concur.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Thanks for the review. I’ve waited too long perhaps and will have to wait until DVD to see this one, now that the kids are already begging to see Speed Racer and Indiana Jones (which I’m looking forward to as well).
May 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hey I’m glad I’m not the only one who got miffed at the homeschool comment
Otherwise great movie, though!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Yeah, I had to keep telling myself, “but Travis, there are homeschooling parents like that!” Which is true, but it definitely distracted me and kept me from fully enjoying the movie. :/
June 4th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
[...] As for me? So far this year, I have yet to see anything beyond Horton Hears a Who. [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
I love Katie!!! For me she’s a welcome ingredient to the flic, the aaaahhhh scenes are my absolute favourites!! As for covert religio-politico messages, as compared to other animated movies e.g. Happy Feet, they aren’t as clear-cut and pronounced.Yeah Sour Kangaroo will make some people uncomfortable as they see their arrogant selves in her character. Love Horton the movie!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 12:34 am
i thought katie was awesome!
December 27th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I love this movie and I think katie is so funny but it gets a little slow in the middle!!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:46 am
Well if you got offended by the homeschooling comments, maybe you shouldn’t ruin your kids lives and homeschool them. Maybe thats what the movie was about
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Steve, you make a great point: I should ruin their lives by sending them to public school instead. Thanks for showing me the light!
February 6th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Don’t diss Katie, she MAKES the movie HILARIOUS, without KAtie, the movie would be an epic failure, Katie is my homie, and she represents retards of America, a symbol I truely believe in. KATIE YOU BETTER WORK!