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Techtite's Movie Reviews! |
"In this instance it's actually a major accomplishment that someone made a Doctor Seuss story into a feature-length film that's actually watchable." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- Is It Harder To Jump the Hurdle of Dr. Seuss' Legacy...or Chuck Jones? When it comes to a story based on a Doctor Seuss classic, it's pretty hard to follow in the shadow of the great children's book storyteller. When it comes to a movie about such a story, you've got another problem: just about every timeless Seuss classic was made into a similarly timeless TV special, as directed by the late great Chuck Jones. That was the first of many problems with Ron Howard's The Grinch, and while that movie had about a hundred other problems going with it, this film has just the one: following in the footsteps of the 1970's animated classic. Does it succeed? I think so. Not to pick on Ron Howard's catastrophe too much, though it's actually amazing enough that someone made this movie viewable. Where was Dreamworks, when Ron Howard decided to make a similar Seuss classic into one big pile of stinky poo?
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Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
A Review by TechtiteLet's jump right to it: this movie's actually good. Surprised? I know I am. Not only did this CGI film have to follow in the footsteps of the late great Doctor Seuss; it also had to follow in the footsteps of the late great Chuck Jones, and his timeless 1970 classic TV special, based on the same Doctor Seuss story. In addition to that, this film had to follow in the wake of not one, but two seriously bad attempts at feature length films based on a Seuss story. You can find a fanboy here and there who will insist otherwise, but the truth is: The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat were both horrible cinematic disasters. Who knew a giant elephant could jump such hurdles? Horton Hears a Who! is, against all odds, a winner.The story is pretty rudimentary to anyone who remembers their childhood literature these days. Horton the elephant has ears huge enough to listen to the cries of a small town, on a small little dust speck. He winds up talking to one of the "Who's" in "Whoville," who in this case happens to be the town mayor (in the 1970's cartoon, he was a lonely scientist). It helps that this film is conceived by the creators of Ice Age, which similarly had to make a batch of odd animals into lovable computer animated characters. That film was able to make a goofy prehistoric squirrel named "Scrat" into one of my most favorite computer animated characters of all time. Does this film similarly make Horton and the Who's into beloved characters? To be honest, it doesn't have to; the original Seuss story already did that. All this movie has to do is respect the subject matter. It does. It's as simple as that. Yet the core problem of any film based on a Seuss story, is how to expand a children's book into a feature length film. Ron Howard's Grinch tried to do this with a bunch of politically correct jibber-jabber. The Cat in the Hat tried to do this, with such humorless plot additions as a quest to find the kids' lost family pet. Horton, by stark contrast, attempts to simily expand the story's original moments. You know that moment when Horton is being chased? It's longer...though enjoyably so. You know that other moment when we see what's happening in the world of Who-ville? It's longer...though enjoyably so. It's like seeing a "director's cut" of Seuss' original story...and enjoyably so. So where does the film fail? You knew that question was coming, so let's get to it. While this retelling of the Horton tale does entertain, it's not quite as funny as it could have been. This is not entirely the fault of the film, since Horton Hears a Who, while whimsical, is not as hilarious as most other Seuss fare. Horton hears little creatures and is more or less ostracized by the other animals. One lone Who contacts Horton, and is considered a mental case by the other Who's. Animals in the "real world" attempt to boil the dust speck in oil, for no other reason than because they're bitter and cruel. Hundreds of Who's might die. Mind you; this film is not as dark as this paragraph might convey, though it does explain why ---to be perfectly candid--- I did not laugh once in this film. However, I did have an enjoyable time watching the film, and that's what matters here. Horton Hears a Who is among my top three favorite Seuss stories of all time, and this film respected the subject matter, and delivered the story with great panache. That's more than I can say for those abysmal Grinch and Cat-in-hat catastrophes...and no, I have not said enough about how bad those other two films were. If there was a pack of monkeys trying to boil those two DVDs in oil, I would say: word. When it comes to Horton, I have far fewer complaints.
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