Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Movie Review

Like millions of other parents, I took my son to see this newest Seuss movie. To say that it was a good movie would be an understatement. It was not fabulous, like some of the earlier Disney movies, but it can definitely hold its' own against them. I for one will be putting this on my must have movies for this year when it comes out on DVD.

Why, you ask? Well, for starters, two incredibly talented actors, Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, voice the two main characters. While I am not fond of Steve Carrell, I adore Jim Carrey, as does my son. Unsurprisingly, none other than Carol Burnett voices the other "main" character. Who wouldn't appreciate her talent? Combined together, these talents are only part of what makes the movie so good.

They also make it believable. I could actually see them in my mind's eye working through the script for their characters, lending their extraordinary talent to the movie. By the end of it all, I could have said that Whoville actually exists, Elephants can talk, and there are tiny people living on a spec on a flower! I realize it sounds crazy, but this is how I felt. The story also has a moral to it, which we sometimes don't even realize anymore, but it was there.

The story is about an Elephant, Horton (Jim Carrey) who is a bit of a dreamer. Initially, what we see is that he thought he heard something coming from a spec. He tracks the spec and gets it safely settled onto a clover, where he then hears something again, so he yells Hello at the spec, not expecting someone will actually answer him. "Who" answers him? The Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carrell) who believes that he is going crazy because he is hearing voices coming out of a metal tube, so clearly shocked, he is running around like a mad man. As Horton explains to the Mayor about the fact that Whoville is actually on a spec, on a flower, the Mayor doesn't want to believe him. That is, until Horton shows him how day and night are seemingly so easy to change. That was able to convince the Mayor that what Horton was saying was the truth.

From there, it became a battle to save Whoville. Horton decided to take the spec, which contained Whoville, up to a cave in the peak of a tall mountain where there is a secluded sunflower. Of course, Horton has to overcome the ridicule of those in the Jungle who think he is causing trouble. Kangaroo (played by Carol Burnett) seeks to have the spec destroyed, along with Horton's reputation. She tries to get others to think that Horton is causing harm to the children for helping them further their imaginations. She fails in her quest.

We also see during the story, that the Mayor, who has 96 children, (95 girls, and 1 boy), is pushing his only son to be just like him. Only, JoJo, the son, doesn't want to be anything like his father, or any of their ancestors. JoJo is a dreamer, one who likes astronomy and building things, as it turns out. By the end of the film, we see what JoJo is really about. It turns out that he was building something very complicated in the old Astronomy Observatory. That his invention ends up helping to save Whoville was not really too surprising. That was the moral of the story that I mentioned early.

Between his actions and the actions of Kangaroo's son, Rudy, they saved Whoville. JoJo was able to amplify the sounds of Whoville and Rudy heard them, snatching the clover to safety before his mother could destroy it.

The moral of the story? Never underestimate your children. They are smarter and more compassionate, more open minded than we give them credit for. Additionally, don't expect them to live your dream, let them have their own dreams. Don't expect them to like what you like or to be what you want them to be. Example: the Mayor expected JoJo to become Mayor someday because all the men in the family had been Mayor. JoJo didn't want to be a Mayor, he want to be an inventor/builder/astronomer. His father learned this at the end of the movie.

This is why I like this movie. It was funny, heartwarming, and endearing. It taught me something.

Therefore, if you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth watching. Out of say 5 stars, I'd give it at least 3 and a half, maybe 4.

"Who" knows, maybe you'll learn something, too!