KEY POINTS:
HORTON HEARS A WHO!
Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen
Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Running Time: 86 mins
Rating: G
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, and Berkeley Cinemas
Herald Rating: * * * *
Verdict: Gorgeous and lovable holiday entertainment for the younger kids. This is just adorable.
Horton Hears a Who! is an adaptation of Dr Seuss' 1954 classic children's book, and like previous attempts to bring Dr Seuss to the big screen it could have easily have gone terribly wrong. Horton fans can be assured, however, that this cute and charming film should keep intact your love of Dr Seuss and entertain the younger kids these holidays.
Other Seuss films, such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat, were live action, but the producers behind Horton Hears a Who! (responsible for the Ice Age films) have opted for CGI (computer-generated images) animation, and it's a much better fit.
The animation is bold, bright and colourful, a touch surreal, and full of the wonderfully curvaceous and wonky imagery that is the Dr Seuss trademark.
The film encompasses two worlds: the more recognisable jungle of Nool, home to our lead character, the caring elephant Horton (Jim Carrey), and the wackier microscopic world of Whoville led by Ned the Mayor (Steve Carell) who, by the way, has an impressive 97 children.
Surprisingly this is the first time Jim Carrey has voiced a character in an animation, and as you can imagine he's well suited to the job, as is Carell (Over the Hedge). There are a few new characters, but the essence of the story is intact.
One day while Horton is frolicking in the river in the jungle of Nool, he hears a cry for help come from a tiny dust speck that floats past. At first he thinks he's going mad, but then he makes contact with Ned the Mayor and discovers that a whole town populates the speck.
Both the Mayor and Horton are regarded as lunatics by those around them. No one can see anyone on the speck, so why should they believe Horton when he claims there is a whole world of Whos there. And for the poor Mayor, it's unconceivable to the people of Whoville that they exist merely as a tiny speck in the scheme of the universe.
Horton lives by the motto "an elephant's faithful 100 per cent", so when he promises the mayor that he will save the people of Whoville because "a person's a person, no matter how small", he risks being ostracised from his home for believing in something that can't be seen to be true.
What is so engaging about Dr Seuss is the unique way he manages to get across his philosophies on life through his imaginative storytelling and visuals, and this film seems to have successfully captured this.
Dr Seuss' ideas on how we should treat people, our small, insignificant place in the universe, and being faithful to ourselves, are all presented in a clear and simple manner that can be understood by the younger audience and doesn't patronise the parents.
It's a bit of a struggle making this story stretch to the length of a feature film and, in having to do so, it loses a little of the magic of Dr Seuss' rhyme, but it also means that we end up with a short, snappy film that will be appreciated by those with preschoolers.
