The Strict Movie Reviewer
Meh. It's not bad, but I think Blue Sky's can do better. I mean, for god sake's the whole movie is CGI! The movie is actually a reboot from the 1970 TV movie: Horton Hears a Who! The original book was made by Dr. Suess (idk how to spell his name.) But the 2008 reboot. Huh? The movie is about Horton, an elephant who finds a speck and believes that there is a small world is in the speck. But there is a kangaroo that implies otherwise. Despite her saying there is nothing in the speck, Horton ignores her and tries to find a safe place for the speck so it can be undisturbed. In the speck, there is a world called, WhoVille. To be honest, the movie is not bad! There is some adult jokes in it. 1: "Boob" is said multiple times. 2: Pee jokes. 3: Poop Jokes. But the most inappropriate joke in the movie was that when Horton Crosses a deadly bridge that he almost died in, he has a smile in his face as if its like nothing ever happened, saying: "Woo! that could've been a disaster!" Then while he's walking, his legs start to move up and down. Then suddenly, he starts to shake his butt in front of the screen, with a smirk on his face. WHY!!!??? THEY EVEN ADDED A SOUND EFFECT IN IT. WHILE HE SHAKES HIS BUTT, A SOUND WOBBLY COMES WHILE HIS BUTT IS SHAKING! (which sounds wrong) Then he says: "Wow! This feels very good! It's gonna be my new since of purpose." WHAT THE HECK!? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!? Then suddenly he jumps closer to the screen TWERKING! FOLLOWED BY THE INSTRUMENTAL VERSION OF THE SONG: BABY GOT BACK!! 2 SECONDS LATER, HE JUMPS MORE CLOSER TO THE SCREEN STILL TWERKING WITH A HAPPY EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE! (its almost as of Horton was proud of his fat butt shake) 3 SECONDS LATER, HE JUMPS EVEN CLOSER TO THE SCREEN, STILL TWERKING, AND STILL SMILING!!! WHO MADE THAT SCENE? WHO DID IT AND WHY!!!??? To be honest, I love his butt shake. (IM NOT GAY) But other then those jokes, its a great animated movie for kids of all ages! I recommend it! 4 out of 10!
Stompgal_87
I have never read the book this film is based on but when it was released at the cinema I fancied seeing it because I'm an animation nut so I saw it with a member of support staff from my previous care home and we both enjoyed it. Upon renting this film twice on separate occasions, I got more out of it on these occasions in comparison to my first viewing.The 3D animation is consistent for the most part, but I found it rather jarring and jerky towards the end and I liked the 2D segments, the first of which was true to the style of Dr Seuss's book illustrations as were the 3D character designs of Horton and the Whos but the second had a bizarre anime look to it. Horton is the funniest character here and I like what he does to certain parts of his body such as forming his ears as a swimming cap, using his trunk as a shower and later blowing his trunk up like a balloon to enable him to cross the rope bridge more easily. I liked the action at the dentist that took place at the same time as Horton's struggle to cross the bridge while 'The Blue Danube' played - this made me think of the episode of 'Mr Bean' where the eponymous character visits the dentist. The other scenes where Horton's actions had a huge impact on Whoville (the second Seuss film adaptation to have a town with this name, the first one being 'The Grinch') were fun to watch as well. Not only did I like the use of 'The Blue Danube (one of my favourite and the most popular pieces of classical music despite not being a big fan of the genre) ' but also how the opening music started off sounding soothing then progressing to being more powerful and upbeat when Horton is introduced and I liked the music the Whos played whilst repeatedly chanting, "we are here" during the climax. Although there is only one 'true' song sung by the characters at the end, it is quite catchy nonetheless. The writing is clever and witty while the satires of the iPhone and MySpace keep the story up to date. I do agree with another reviewer that certain parts are clichéd such as the slow-motion moments, the false alarm of Morton scurrying through the grass and Horton shouting, "No!" during the climax. Besides Horton, the other characters I liked were the Mayor of Whoville and his family, the strict and overprotective Kangaroo who insists on keeping Rudy inside her pouch at all times, the comical Morton, the adorable Katie and the equally adorable Good Vlad the rabbit who appears very briefly towards the end. Bad Vlad the vulture was not quite as frightening as he looked but I liked his change of heart towards the end as well as that of Kangaroo's. Most of the characters and the backgrounds are surreal yet vibrantly coloured but the scenes of Jo-Jo sneaking out and the introduction of Bad Vlad are dull in colour. In addition to the humour and intelligence, the writing also has superb snippets of rhyming narrative that was an essential staple of Seuss's books. The film also has some pleasant surprises such as Carol Burnett (Miss Hannigan in the 1982 film adaptation of 'Annie') providing Kangaroo's voice, Jo-Jo shouting, "Yop!" to make the Who's chanting and music more audible to Horton and the other animals and squeaky-voiced comedian Joe Pasquale providing the dentist's voice. Further to the voice acting, Jim Carrey and Steve Carell (both of whom had previously appeared in 'Bruce Almighty') voice Horton and the Mayor of Whoville impeccably while Seth Rogen is a hoot as Morton. While the ending of the zooming-out from the jungle is effective, I would personally have changed it to show Horton placing the speck on the sunflower.Overall, this is the best animated adaptation of a Dr Seuss book I have seen so far, closely followed by 'The Lorax (2012 CGI version)' and 'Daisy-Head Mayzie' but preferable to the Warner Bros adaptation of 'Horton Hatches the Egg.' 8/10.
moviefreak523-690-457443
This film, out of all of the Dr. Seuss movies, not only had the closest look to the original source material, but it looks amazing. And, I was like, "Hey, they actually did it. This actually looks like a Dr. Seuss movie done in computer animation." I was very impressed by it.But, no matter how great an animated film looks, it can only be good as its story. And, my God, did they screw that one up, big time.Not the actual story itself, that's fine. It's the pop culture references that they just dumped into this film. Really? Are you that afraid that you may lose the adults that you have to sledgehammer those stupid jokes in? And, the sad part about it is that there were moments in the film that actually felt like it came straight out of the books that this was adapted from. I mean, I understand it's a short book, but you didn't have to fill it up with these things that make no sense to the story. Or, worse, distracts you from it!Now, I didn't mind them adding Jim Carry's shtick to Norton's personally, although I felt it would have been better if they didn't. So, because of that, he was sort of amusing to watch, although, sometimes, I just drop my head in embarrassment as some of the things he does. But, I did think that Steve Carrel did a good job, himself. In fact, I actually thought the two actors were doing such a good job working off each other that it actually felt natural.But, as soon as those moments were gone, we get some of those good ol' pop culture references. Like that anime sequence that makes no sense because how does Norton's know what anime is. Was there a television in the background, somewhere?Now, in case you don't see my rating at the top, I'm just going to prematurely tell you my rating of this movie is a two. And, yes, I know that my review, up to this point, sounded like it should have been higher, like a six. Well, let me tell you why I gave this a two.As this movie was about to wrap itself up, I was thinking, "Hey, you know what, it wasn't great, but I thought it was nice and those pop culture references, as annoying as they were, they weren't that bad." Then, as if a hand came out of the screen and b***h-slap me, they have to end the film with a song. And, to make matters worse, they animated it like a music video. Why? What, in God's name, does it have to do with the movie? What is the point of it? What message does it convey, besides showing how NOT to end a movie that is tightroping on a line of mediocrity? Now, if it was a song that was originally made for this movie, I would have just let it go. However, after of plethora of stupid pop culture references, I would be very surprise if that song didn't aired on the radio years ago. Well, guess what, it was a hit by REO Speedwagon back in 1985 called "Can't Fight This Feeling." Wow, how ironic.And, do you remember that cute little character named Jojo? Well, in the beginning, I knew that he was voiced by Jesse McCartney. You know, Justin Beiber's predecessor? Well, he only had about three or four lines in this movie, as the character of Jojo was silent through most of the time. And, as soon as that...f'ing scene came up, he gets to sing a solo line. And, that's when I began to think that they only got him just so they can do this scene. Or, since he is primarily known as a singer, they just want to throw him a bone and let him sing a little. Either way, it doesn't work. No, wait a minute, it does work. In that it made it even more worse!And, that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I gave this a two. I was willing to let it be as it is, but because they ended this movie on such a horrific note, that is so God-awful, that it made me reject the film as a whole because it felt like it was leading up to that moment. A song that has no business to be in a Dr. Seuss movie. A song that doesn't even match with what they were doing. Except that I can't fight my feelings I have for this crappy movie!Yes, the animation is great, and it does have its moments, but it was hijacked from the very beginning by writers who seemed to have little or no respect for the source material. I wish to give it more stars, but every time I think about this movie, I kept thinking about that stupid ending and how it left a terrible taste in my mouth. And, after three years, I'm still trying to wash it out. That's how much I hate this movie.
