Horton Hears
a Who! is
unexpectedly one of the hardest movies for me to review in a
long while. On one hand, it offers exactly what it promises: a
fun time for kids under ten and a diverting one for everybody
else. On the other, the movie represents exactly what cinema
shouldn’t be: forgettable, conventional, and uninspiring. The
only real reason to see Horton
Hears a Who! is
that there’s no reason to skip it. I was perfectly entertained
as I watched it, but on the countless occasions in which I have
been asked what recent releases I recommend since the screening,
not once has the film’s title sprung to mind.
Never have I been so eager to use the
word “fine” to describe a movie as I am with this one. How is Horton
Hears a Who!’s story, which has been adapted from the
whimsical, rhyming children’s book written by Dr. Seuss? Nothing
remarkable, but perfectly fine. How do funny-men Jim Carey and
Steve Carell fare as voice-actors in the lead roles? They come
across as funny and amusing for the film’s short
eighty-eight-minute running-length just fine, I suppose. How is
the quality of the animation done by Twentieth Century Fox’s
Blue Sky Studios? Not as good as what you might find in a Pixar
production, but bright and colorful and fine in its own right.
I’d hate to characterize my reaction
to Horton Hears a
Who! as being
ambivalent because I kinda-sorta liked everything about it. The
core problem with the movie was that it ceased to move me.
Seriously, how much passion could one possibly generate for a
picture that chronicles an amiable elephant’s quest to prove the
existence of a tiny universe on a speck of dust on a clover in
order to spare the clover from being destroyed by the other
animals in his community? Perhaps if John Lasseter or Brad Bird
had gotten their hands on the story, they might’ve transformed
it into something more exuberant. Then again, there’s probably a
reason for why they didn’t choose
to tackle the project in the first places. As such, Horton
Hears a Who! is a
perfectly likable motion picture that will eventually fade into
infinity. For the sake of keeping this review short and
sweet—I’m already blabbering on unnecessarily at this point
given the lack of things I have to say about the movie—I’ll
conclude with a simple recommendation. If you have kids, then
take them to see the picture; they’ll probably enjoy it. If you
don’t, your time is better spent staying home and watching a
classic you’ve yet to discover; Horton
Hears a Who! will
only take you so far in life, ‘ya know?
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 3.19.2008
Screened on: 3.16.2008
at the UltraStar Del Mar Highlands 8 in Del Mar, CA.