I Thought I Heard a Who, Nope Just My Other Personality

Oh my the places we go and the things we do, like going to a kid’s film with my daughter. Aside from the actual film, this is a truly enjoyable experience for me. I have a daughter that loves to watch movies, and loves to talk about them. So we packed ourselves up and headed out to see Horton Hears a Who! Right away you know somethings wrong when your daughter finds the trailer for Kung Fu Panda more exciting than the movie.

I really should break this down into two direct observations about Horton Hears a Who! The film is at one time, both really well done and a let down.  As far as staying true to the story, it’s great.  The visuals are awesome at times and the animation is simply Dr. Seuss come to life.  There was obviously much time taken in getting the animation to a point where a child could easily relate what they were seeing on screen with the book.  The details were impeccable.

The story is one that lends itself to a bit of moralizing, imagine that.  Even though it is heavy handed for the younger crowd, it is also well paced so that an adult does not get overwhelmed by the message (take note Happy Feet, you can give a story a moral and not make it as obvious).  By the end, I did find myself a bit teary eyed at the triumphant Horton.  The Whos were saved and a bit of the child in us all cheers.  I’m not sure if my daughter cared at that point, but she was certainly excited that the Whos were saved.  It’s just that by that point, the film has lost much of the audience.

This is where Horton Hears a Who! is a bit misguided.  I know everyone is raving about the film, but I’m not sure that I agree.  While on the surface the film aims at a younger audience, it also tries to be hip for an older parental audience.  I’m glad they did not try to make it as adult as other kid’s films, but I think their choices for humor were off a bit.  Having Jim Carrey as Horton was a bit scary for me, it was possible that we would be getting the guy who talks out of his ass.  Thankfully we got a calm and cool Carrey, but not without a few Carrey moments.  I was excited that both Steve Carrell as the Mayor and Carol Burnett as Kangaroo were doing voice work for the film, but that was quickly replaced with the realization that I shouldn’t be excited because if the film is good the voices should become those of the character and not noticeable.  Well, it didn’t happen.  Some of the jokes felt like they were playing on the actor rather than the character.  If you know Carrell’s character on The Office, the jokes made sense.  My daughter does not, and therefore thought the Mayor was acting weird.

The film was not that bad, but both my daughter and I only talked about it for a few minutes afterward, which is unusual.  Typically we tend to keep talking about it for awhile.  Take for instance a film like Surf’s Up, we still joke about some of the parts from it.  A true test of a kid’s film is whether or not the kid actually takes a bit of it with them.  Horton Hears a Who! is forced at times and younger kids just start shutting out the rest of the film.  She actually told her mother about the trailers for Kung Fu Panda and the new Ice Age before telling her about the film we just sat through.  So, there’s the verdict.  The film is well done but forgettable.  Perhaps the rest of the good reviews take into account that not many kid’s films are out there right now, or perhaps they did not take their kids to it.