Horton Hears A Who
Rated G.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
Hands down, "Horton Hears a Who!" is the most fun movie title to say over and over and over again so far this year. Try it -- especially with just a touch of British accent and a little tiny question mark at the end. See? Now just try to stop saying it. Oh, and it's also the best movie about faith in quite a long time. And there's an elephant.
The Story
Like I said, Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey) is an elephant. Popular with all the little animal kids in the jungle for his acrobatic, lumbering antics, Horton is a major annoyance to the local Kangaroo (Carol Burnett). She does not like the way he provokes the kids to use their imaginations -- which is why she's keeping her little one in "pouch school." And she really hates it when Horton claims to have discovered a tiny little world existing on a speck of dust now stuck to a clover clutched by his trunk. Horton's mouse friend Morton (new king of voices Seth Rogen) is friendlier about it, but even he thinks Horton is a little nuts.
But those little folks really are down there in the tiny world of Whoville. Mayor McDodd (Steve Carrell) is having a similar problem to Horton, only in reverse. He is able to hear Horton's big voice through a drain pipe, but he's sure nobody will believe in his conversations with the giant elephant in the sky who controls the weather. The city council never listens to him, and though his wife, 98 daughters, and one mute son love him, he is a little odd.
Working together, the mayor tells Horton that the big guy needs to find their speck a safe place in the world to keep it from blowing away or getting trampled or eaten. Horton knows just the spot -- in a sunny cave on the very top of Mount Nool. But to get there, he'll have to get past the angry Kangaroo, the mercenary vulture she's hired to take the clover (Will Arnett), and an angry mob of monkeys eager to put Horton in his place.
And Mayor McDodd must somehow convince the Whos that Whoville has a problem -- it's first really big problem ever. The elephant says so.
Verdict
Hooray for Horton! It was time for one of Dr. Seuss' books to be turned into a really good movie. After "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Grinch" (starring a live-action Jim Carrey), I wasn't sure it was possible. It is. Horton keeps the spirit of Seuss' short book and thrives on brilliant slapstick comedy, gracefully funny dialog, and genuinely giant ideas about faith and the value of human life.
The voice cast perfectly fits the storybook animation. Carrey and Carrell are excellent, as is Carol Burnett as Kangaroo. Charles Osgood's warm narration anchors the story, and you'll notice the voices of several big stars along the way.
The adults at my screening were laughing almost as much as the kids at both the broad physical comedy -- especially the bit where Horton barely makes it across a rope bridge and the scene where McDodd loses all the feeling in his arm -- as well as the funny asides that will fly right over the heads of all those giggly fiver year olds.
Yes, things might lag a bit for some of the kiddos in the middle -- and the animation is more fanciful and loopy and organic than that razor sharp stuff Pixar has spoiled us with -- but Horton is just too lovable, good natured, and faithful to his mission to let you get too critical. It's a good time right up to the big group singalong of "Can't Fight This Feeling" just before the credits roll.
Worldview
"Horton" is a big, bold movie about faith -- both Horton's faith in the existence of all the tiny little lives nobody can see and McDodd's faith in the great big elephant in the sky that's trying to protect his people. The movie's messages aren't about God, necessarily, but anyone who has ever been challenged for believing something unprovable will resonate with Horton's courage.
The villain is a strict materialist. Kangaroo angrily denounces Horton's insistence that he has found life on his little speck: "If you cannot see or hear or feel something, it doesn't exist." She doesn't want the children brought up to believe in unproved fantasies. But Horton's refusal to back down from his pro-life message -- "Even though you can't see them or hear them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small" -- makes it easy to connect the story to the struggle to protect pre-born human life.
Mayor McDodd fights a different battle over unbelief. In Whoville, nobody wants to hear that something might be wrong with their world. The city council shouts him down. Still, he stands for what he knows is true even at the cost of his reputation as a mayor.
Again, the movie is NOT about God or Christianity in any obvious way. In fact, people with faith in just about anything will relate to our hero Horton. But those with faith in Christ -- and those who are interested in that -- are getting used to being dismissed as ignorant for refusing to let go of their clover in our materialist world. Hebrews encourages us: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (11:1) Sometimes that faith costs us a lot, especially when we follow it to protect those who can't speak up for themselves.
At least, that's what the elephant said.
Questions:
• Did you read (or have read to you) "Horton Hears A Who!" when you were a kid? Do you dig how the filmmakers converted it to a movie?
• Were you surprised by any of the voice actors? Which ones were your favorites?
• Any other beloved kid's books you'd like to see made into films?
• Did you click with the film's essentially pro-life message?
• Do you ever feel foolish for believing something that might sound silly to people who don't understand it or can't experience? Have you ever pretended not to believe something to avoid being mocked?