Horton Hears a Who - Review

Plot Description Listed First - Review Follows

Plot: In the Jungle of Nool, a caring, imaginative elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) takes a dip in the pool. A dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it. Believing that an entire family of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he places it on top of a clover that he holds in his trunk.

In fact, he finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and all its inhabitants, led by Ned the Mayor (Steve Cerell). Ned has a loving wife (Amy Poehler), 96 daughters, and one son named Jojo, who is by Who law in next for the mayoral line, and as such, gives it his best effort to give Jojo enough attention. Ned hopes his son will one day be a great mayor, but unaware to him, Jojo doesn't share his father's wish.

Horton and the Mayor both agree that Whoville needs a more permanent, stable environment, and Horton resolves to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. This outlook earns Horton nothing but ridicule from the inhabitants of Nool, especially from the strict Sour Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), who tries to get Horton to give up the speck, so as not to put ridiculous ideas into the heads of the children. Ever faithful to his motto, "A person's a person, no matter how small," Horton refuses. Also showing disbelief toward Horton are the Wickersham brothers (all voiced by Dan Fogler), a group of bullish monkeys who love making misery.

All the small incidents that Horton experiences on his trek across the jungle have a catastrophic effect on Whoville (as an example, leaving the speck outside overnight will cause it to frost, thereby, making it snow in Whoville, during the summer). Ned has a rough time warning the city council of the unusual occurances caused by the speck being carried everywhere, as nothing in Whoville has ever gone wrong since it was founded. As the other Whos become suspicious, the Mayor finally reveals his outlandish prophecy to them, but the Whos don't believe him any more than the animals believe Horton.

Sour Kangaroo enlists a nefarious vulture named Vlad Vladikoff (Will Arnett) to get rid of the speck by force. Vlad manages to steal the speck and drop it from hundreds of feet into a valley full of identical clovers. The impact nearly demolishes Whoville like an earthquake, yet Horton finds the right clover, after painstakingly picking 2,999,999 clovers through the field. The earthquake is enough to convince the rest of the Whos that the Mayor is not crazy, and they all tell Horton they believe in him.

Sour Kangaroo finds out that Horton still has the speck, and, as her patience completely runs out, forms a mob by telling lies to get rid of the speck once and for all. They plan to rope and cage Horton, but Kangaroo turns this into a chance for attention, and offers Horton an ultimatum: give up the speck and "admit" he was wrong, or pay the price. Despite a heartfelt speech from Horton that clearly touches the animals, Kangaroo still takes this refusal as an insult, orders them to proceed with the torture, and drop the speck into a pot of boiling beezlenut oil, which is shown to have very hot properties. The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise, so the animals can hear them. At the last second, Jojo (voiced by Jesse McCartney), revealing his musical genius, and learning his dad is proud of him no matter what he wants to be, contributes the last "YOPP!" that breaks a hole in the atmosphere. Hearing their cries, the animals finally realize the atrocity they almost committed. Sour Kangaroo is shocked and ashamed, but she still makes up with Horton, and at the end of the film, everyone helps Horton carry the speck up to the top of Mt. Nool.

I took my children to see this movie. I'd never heard of it before and don't think I've ever read the book. If I did it is buried away somewhere deep in my childhood memories. The only two books I remember from Dr. Suess would be the two that I think are probably the two most famous ones "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham". When the movie started it right away good me in a good mood. The main character of the movie, Horton, is really funny. He actually had me laughing out loud in the theater. He is a loving, peaceful, carefree elephant who you might say is kind of a dork in a good way. After discovering that there is basically a whole world on the speck that he has, he sort of becomes the god of the "Who's" world by having the power to destroy it if he desired. There is a scene where he blows onto the speck and the "Who's" world gets some major wind, to go along with some bad breath. The mayor of Whoville is Horton's contact and ends up having similarities with Horton. Horton is ridiculed for thinking that there is life on this speck by the other animals in the jungle, especially the Sour kangaroo. The mayor of Whoville goes through the same thing when he tries to explain to his fellow "Who's" about Horton, no one believes him and he also gets ridiculed. All the characters in this movie really grow on you. A vulture named Vlad, who is hired by the kangaroo to destroy the speck made me laugh when he tried to play a tough guy and demanded a big payment for his work but then ended up begging for the job, which he ended up doing for free. I had no complaints about this movie and would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to take their kids out to see a good movie and enjoy the movie themselves. GREAT MOVIE, way more laughter than I would have expected! - My kids wanted to go see it again but I told them we got to wait so now my kids are waiting for HORTON HEARS A WHO to come out on DVD.