While the story depth and animation quality don’t quite rival the masterpieces Pixar cranks out on a regular basis, Horton Hears a Who! is a first-rate animated flick that’s one of the best of 2008. Certainly, Wall-E will take home the Oscar for best animated film, but in a lesser, non-Pixar year, it’s not too hard to imagine Horton taking home Oscar gold.
Based on the classic Dr. Seuss tale, Horton Hears a Who! tells the story of two very different societies – a jungle filled with animals, including a fun-loving elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey), and a tiny town of Whos that resides on a microscopic speck in the jungle world.
When Horton hears cries of help emanating from a speck of dust floating through the jungle, he catches it on top of a purple flower. In his attempts to communicate with the being on the speck, he reaches Whoville’s mayor (Steve Carell), and discovers it’s actually an entire city on the tiny piece of dust.
Horton makes it his mission to find safety for the speck, but faces endless ridicule from his fellow jungle dwellers for believing there could be life on something so small. Similarly, the mayor of Whoville finds himself a target of the city council’s censorship when he announces that the town might be in trouble, and their only hope is a giant elephant.
Horton Hears a Who! carries a stronger social message than most of Seuss’ work, but it’s broad enough that it could be interpreted in a number of ways (and has). The mantra of “A person’s a person, no matter how small” is a poignant, effective message that resonates with children and adults alike.
Still, the message isn’t really the focus here – the comedy is, and Horton is often quite funny, thanks mostly to the great voice work by Carrey and Carell. Carrey’s a natural at this kind of thing, and you get the feeling he could do voiceover work in his sleep. Carell is perfectly cast as the bumbling mayor – it’s like a Who version of Michael Scott, minus the social inappropriateness.
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