"Horton Hears A Who" *** 1/2

Thursday April 3, 2008

Most parents will probably stay away unless they take the kids, but, believe me, this one crosses over the line beautifully and is a delight to behold! Although the film doesn't approach the skill and brilliancy of last year's "Ratatouille", this one is worth seeing for it's wonderful script by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul as well as the visuals utilizing the computer-animated talents of Chris Wedge's Blue Sky Studios (who gave us "Robots" and "Ice Age"). Add to that the wonderful voice overs by Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Carol Burnett (!) who dutifully and expressively tell this Dr. Seuss Tale of Horton the elephant who discovers the community of Whoville-which just so happens to live on a speck of pollen. The fun is in how Horton (Carey) tries to convince his jungle buds that there exists living things even though they can't be seen. Conversely, the mayor of Whoville (Carell) tries to convince the citizens of Whoville that there exists an elephant in the sky. Burnett plays the "evil" kangaroo who tries to organize the jungle animals to destroy the speck before the heresy expounded by Horton goes too far. Daurio and Paul utilize Seuss' poetry throughout the proceedings while the animation in the Whoville universe retains the style and whimsy of the books. The only negative for me was that the animation goes off track at times in the "real" world but, overall, this is great fun for all ages!