More to This Story Than I Remember
Parent of School Age Children, Movie Reviewer, a storyteller
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MAR
22
2008
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008) —
Horton Hears a Who was one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories growing up, so I was astonished once I was watching the film adaptation in the theatre how little I remembered of the story. Surely a few things were added to turn this short book into a full length movie, but that much couldn't have been added.I started off my movie experience dragging my 11 year old daughter to the theatre. She wanted to see Horton Hears a Who, but thought it would be a "baby movie" and was afraid of what she would be met with in the theatre. This was the first time ever she was expressing a need to disassociate from those younger than her. To the contrary, my 14 year old son was dying to see the movie, but I know that was because it had the vocal talents of two of his favorites, Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell.
The only part of Horton Hears a Who that I remembered was the basis of the elephant finding the Whos residing on the tiny speck that he kept on the clover, yet there was so much more than that to the story. Horton was a teacher of sorts, and the parents of his students were very upset that he was talking to this clover, refusing to believe that there could possible be a city residing on the tiny speck on the clover. Despite this, I did remember the line born out of that situation that becomes the moral of the film, "A person's a person no matter how small."
I remembered the Whos, but not the specific Whos. You could tell by the way the Whos were described in the film that it was part of the original story, but I just didn't remember it. The Who that "finds" Horton and creates a relationship with him, the mayor, has a whole background story of having 96 daughters and one son. Each child gets an allotted few seconds with his or her father, barely enough time to utter one statement. His son, JoJo, doesn't want to follow in the family tradition of becoming a mayor.
I do remember the city of Whoville being disrupted by Horton carrying the speck around on the clover, but I don't remember the mayor telling the City Council that they had to cancel the Who-Centennial because of the disruption to their daily lives and being refused. I don't remember the council calling the mayor a boob, nor do I remember a part in the book turning into Japanese animé, so that was surely something added in to keep the film updated.
Throughout the small changes made to the story while keeping most of the classic parts intact, Horton Hears a Who comes alive even more with its great cast of comedic talent. It starts with Jim Carrey starring vocally as the elephant and Steve Carrell as the mayor, and continues with the voices of Carol Burnett and Amy Peopler as well.
By the end of the film, my daughter was no longer embarrassed to be seen at the movie, and neither were the many other families with children young and old that were seeing it. I don't know if I would have seen the movie on my own without kids, but having seen it, I was glad I did, seeing a favorite story form my younger years brought to life, even if it was a little embellished.
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008) is recommended by LauraBelle
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