April: Movie Reviews - Horton Hears a Who!

Hi guys! Thank you for all the comments for the review I did for Juno. I truly appreciate it. Okay, I’m not very good with my thank-you(s) so can I shut the crap and carry on with the next one?

OKAY – ‘Horton hears a Who!’ in a nutshell: Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey) is an elephant (in case you don’t know this already) who’s imaginative and extremely kind, heard a voice from a speck of dust floating in the air and landed on a clover. So in this speck of dust, there lived people. Like real people. It contained a whole town called ‘Whoville’ with many little people living in it. The mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell) did not believe there’s a world bigger than their world but after talking to Horton, he realized that maybe he and his people may be in great danger after experiencing a great change in climate (darkness in the middle of the day and snow in summer). The mayor tried to warn his people of the impending doom but everyone refused to believe him and thought he was crazy so did Horton on his side of the world, nobody in the jungle believed that people actually lives on that speck of dust but he promised to put the speck in a safe place and out of danger.

Let me see a raise of hands of people who enjoyed an old classic cartoon called ‘Dumbo’ which was also a story of an elephant? (ME! ME! ME! ME!) I absolutely loved that story and I actually do believe that cranes deliver babies. But nevermind, that’s not the point. THE POINT IS, I love elephants because they’re always displayed as kind and loving animals despite their size and Horton is the epitome of it. Let me tell you a little bit about Horton – he flaps his big ears and swims with it. He thinks he lost a lot of weight because he swims too. Not only that, he’s also really kind and shares great things with the other animals in the jungle. (Remember ‘Share’ the pink elephant that was the icon of charity organization?) Horton may be big but he’d never hurt anything or anyone and he strongly believes in what he believes. That reminds me of something – an innocent child filled with imagination who’s so pure and not corrupted by the evils of the world. I quote Horton somewhere along the film, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant!”. An elephant is an elephant, one hundred percent.

And there is the Mayor of Whoville who is slightly eccentric; well the people who live in Whoville appear weird anyways! He has 96 daughters and 1 son named Jojo (Who all share a bathroom!) whom he wants to take over him as Mayor. But even as a Mayor, he has issues to deal with. He had a son who doesn’t talk at all (only because he’s afraid to say something to disappoint if he speaks) and he had a panel of people in the council who doesn’t believe him or took whatever he said seriously so he struggles hard to be a great Mayor to the people of Whoville. (I shall stop now to prevent anymore spoilers)

My take on the movie, this animated movie is an adaptation of Dr Seuss children’s book. It is very educational and is excellent for young children that’d give them a story to live by. But hey, when I say young children I’d like to believe anyone who still has a little bit of imagination should be entitled to watch the movie without being said you’re too old for it. A movie like this made me want to be a kid again because as far as I could recall when I was a kid, I had no worries but I was a warrior as I protected what I believe is right. I led my life in a world of my own with things I believed in (be it fairies, goblins, hobbits, ugly stepsisters, whatever it is in your world). But as we grew up, reality sets in, whatever we used to make believe are usually broken by truth and adults who’d tell us not to be ridiculous (and told to go back to your room). The movie shows the fine qualities such as faithfulness, trustworthiness and helpfulness like Horton who’s determined to help the people in Whoville no matter the consequences even though he was stopped by the evil Kangaroo by all means voiced by Carol Burnett.

There are other elements of the show where Horton Haters (you should see what the monkeys can do with their bananas!) tried to bring him down by destroying whatever he believed in and the people in Whoville laughing at the fact that there are bigger creatures outside the realms of their own world. It is as if one’s trying to convince a large group of atheist that there is a supreme being up there and he’s watching our every move which made the story even more entertaining and believable. I truly enjoyed the movie and I think every character in the story made the ticket worthwhile. If you’re up for an educational ride, bringing you back to where you were once a kid with values you lived by, go watch it. And another reason why you must catch the film? Because, “A person is a person, no matter how small”. WINKS.

Oh before I forget, try to get into the theatre earlier to catch the sneak of Ice Age 3 that will be coming soon at all theatres in a somewhat… near future? Ok, April OUT! (Too much American Idol) See you!

XOXO,

April