Horton Hears a Who! (film)

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Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

Promotional poster
Directed by Jimmy Hayward
Steve Martino
Produced by Bob Gordon
Chris Wedge
Written by Dr. Seuss (book and story)
Ken Daurio
Narrated by Charles Osgood
Starring Jim Carrey
Steve Carell
Carol Burnett
Dan Fogler
Will Arnett
Amy Poehler
Jaime Pressly
Seth Rogen
Jonah Hill
Isla Fisher
Selena Gomez
Jesse McCartney
Music by John Powell
Editing by Tim Nordquist
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Blue Sky Studios
Release date(s) March 14, 2008
Running time 88 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $85 million
Gross revenue Domestic:
$153,018,574
Worldwide:
$292,284,814
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Horton Hears a Who! (also known as Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who!) is a 2008 computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film based on the book of the same name, the fourth feature film from Blue Sky Studios, and the third Dr. Seuss-based feature film following How The Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Cat in the Hat. It was the first Dr. Seuss adaptation fully animated using CGI technology. This also marks the second Dr. Seuss adaptation to feature Jim Carrey in a lead role, the first being 2000's How The Grinch Stole Christmas! for Universal Pictures.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In the Jungle of Nool, a caring, imaginative elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) takes a dip in the pool. A dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it. Believing that an entire family of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he places it on top of a clover that he holds in his trunk.

In fact, he finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and all its inhabitants, led by Mayor Ned McDodd (Steve Carell). He has a loving wife, Sally (Amy Poehler), 96 daughters (all voiced by Selena Gomez), and one son named JoJo (Jesse McCartney), who, by Who custom, is next in line for the mayoral position, and as such, gives it his best effort to give JoJo enough attention. Unaware to Ned, JoJo doesn't share his father's wish. Ned is aware, though, that JoJo does not speak and tries to befriend him to get him to speak.

Horton and the Mayor both agree that Whoville needs a more permanent, stable environment, and Horton resolves to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. This outlook earns Horton nothing but ridicule from the inhabitants of Nool, especially from the strict Jane Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), who tries to get Horton to give up the speck, so as not to put ridiculous ideas into the heads of the children. Ever faithful to his motto, "A person's a person, no matter how small," Horton refuses. Also showing disbelief toward Horton are the Wickersham brothers (all voiced by Dan Fogler), a group of bullish monkeys who love making misery.

All the small incidents that Horton experiences on his trek across the jungle have a catastrophic effect on Whoville. He almost falls off of rickety bridge, which causes a dentist's needle to accidentally slip into the Mayor's arm while getting a root canal taken care of. At night, leaving the clover outside will cause it to frost, which creates winter in the summer down in Whoville. As the other Whos become suspicious, the Mayor finally reveals the truth, but the Whos don't believe him any more than the animals believe Horton.

Jane enlists a nefarious "black-bottomed eagle" named Vlad Vladikoff (Will Arnett) to get rid of the speck by force. Vlad manages to steal the speck and drop it from hundreds of feet into a valley full of identical clovers. The impact nearly demolishes Whoville like an earthquake, yet Horton finds the right clover, after painstakingly picking 2,999,999 clovers through the field. The earthquake is enough to convince the rest of the Whos that the mayor is not crazy, and they all tell Horton they believe in him.

Jane finds out that Horton still has the speck, and, as her patience completely runs out, forms a mob by telling lies to get rid of the speck once and for all. The animals plan to rope and cage Horton, but Kangaroo turns this into a chance for attention, and offers Horton an ultimatum: give up the speck and "admit" he was wrong, or pay the price. Despite a heartfelt speech from Horton that clearly touches the animals, Kangaroo still takes this refusal as an insult, orders them to proceed with the torture, and drop the speck into a pot of boiling beezlenut oil, which is shown to have acidic properties.

The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise by shouting, "We are here!", so the animals can hear them. JoJo runs off to Whoville's abandoned Star-Studying Tower and soon Ned takes off after him. Inside, he reveals his ingenious invention: the Symphoniphone, a giant machine that serves as an orchestra, and proceeds to add it to the mix of sounds. Still, the animals don't hear anything and Jane steals the clover, holds it over the oil, and lets go. In a last-ditch effort, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Horton's voice, runs up the highest tower and yells "YOPP!" A sound wave emerges and ripples up to the clouds, which are already under a lot of stress, and collides with them, causing an explosion. Hearing the Whos' cries, Rudy (Josh Flitter), Jane Kangaroo's son, grabs the clover and returns it to Horton, refusing his mother's orders to return to her pouch. The animals finally realize the atrocity they almost committed. Jane is shocked and ashamed, but Horton forgives her. At the end of the film, everyone helps Horton carry the speck up to the top of Mt. Nool. After a big number of the cast singing REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling", the camera zooms out, revealing that along with numerous other worlds in our universe , the jungle of Nool is just a speck like our planet.

[edit] 2D Animation

Two traditional animation sequences are featured in the first act of the film, both representing Horton's over-active imagination. The first is rendered to resemble Dr. Seuss's original pen-and-ink drawings from the books, shown when Horton firsts hears a Who. The second is a more elaborate, anime-inspired montage of Horton fighting off "enemies" and defending the speck.

The end credits feature still drawings resembling Dr. Seuss's illustrations as backgrounds.

[edit] Character Cast

  • Horton the Elephant, voiced by Jim Carrey. The main protagonist. Horton the elephant is that rare grown-up that never lost the rich imagination he had as a child. It was that imagination along with his unwavering dedication that makes Horton a great teacher, unconditional friend and a force to be reckoned with. Horton holds strong to his belief that "a person's a person, no matter how small" so much so that he promises to risk everything for a world of people so tiny, he can't even see them. Horton says it best, "I meant what I said, I said what I meant, an elephant's faithful, 100%". For more information, see: Horton the Elephant
  • Morton the Mouse, voiced by Seth Rogen. Morton the mouse is Horton's best friend who makes up in speed what he lacks in size. He's smaller than the elephant's big toe, but when Morton speaks, Horton listens. Morton will endure Horton's whims, but when the elephant takes off on flights of fancy, Morton knows it's his job to bring him back to earth. He's successful, most of the time. Morton also acts as a messenger for Horton, bringing him news about Vlad, and warning him about the oncoming mob.
  • Ned McDodd, the Mayor of Whoville, voiced by Steve Carell. Ned McDodd is the mayor of a microscopic world, and father of ninety-six daughters and a son named JoJo. He is very proud and formal and cares very much for his city and its people, but when he starts hearing the voice of Horton, whom he cannot see, things begin to unravel for the Mayor. It is noted that the name of the character wasn't revealed until the theatrical release.
  • Sour Kangaroo, voiced by Carol Burnett. Kangaroo is a busybody who is skeptical about the existence of the Whos and Whoville on a dust speck. Sour Kangaroo is the main antagonist (but not villain) of the film, and she finally believed that Whos exist on the speck of dust at the end of the film. However, as Horton's claims begin to drive her towards darkness, she believes that once other people start listening to Horton, they'll start to come to her for questions she won't be able to answer. In order to be rid of it she begins making deals with evil monkeys and the vulture hitman Vlad Vladikoff. As the movie progresses, her aims start to shift towards crushing Horton's spirit and building up her own reputation. Sour Kangaroo is too dismissive of the products of imagination and creativity even to the point she keeps her son Rudy jammed inside her pouch, leaving her with really serious back problems and him with just as serious emotional ones. She believes that outside the "comfort" her ideas provide him, non-conformity and anarchy are minutes away from turning their ordered life into chaos. Yet, in the end, all it takes is a simple act of forgiveness and friendship from Horton to cause a change of heart.
  • Rudy, voiced by Josh Flitter. Rudy is Kangaroo's young joey. Since his birth, he's been trapped in his mother's pouch, in which he now spends all his time. Over the course of the movie, he starts to question his mother's ethics as she continually tries to demolish the clover on which Horton has caught the Whos' speck of dust. Years after he should have been on his own two feet, his giant legs are crammed next to his head in an unnatural (and uncomfortable) position. But his stifling environment can't contain his free-thinking spirit, and Rudy is ready to take the next step, even if it's his first. He is the first animal to hear the Whos after his mother drops the clover and catches it just in time.
  • JoJo McDodd, voiced by Jesse McCartney. JoJo is the Mayor's only son and the eldest of the mayor's children. Since he is the oldest, JoJo is next in line to become the Mayor of Whoville, though he doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. He is afraid to speak because he is worried that he will disappoint his father. Because of this, he has not spoken in years. However, he is able to hear rhythmic patterns in just about anything around him. His undiscovered voice is a vital asset for the Whos' survival. He also shows a surprising talent for inventions. In fact, he turns the inside of Whoville's abandoned observatory into a mechanical music studio. After saving the town with his new found word, "YOPP", he begins speaking to his father and Horton.
  • 96 Daughters, voiced by Selena Gomez and Samantha Brooks. The Mayor's 96 daughters and all of them are younger than JoJo who is the eldest and only son. Each of the girls are very different. One is intelligent, one is a baby, the other wants a WhoPhone (parody of iPhone), and so on and so forth. Through out the movie, you see them running around and just having fun.
  • Sally McDodd, voiced by Amy Poehler. Sally is the Mayor's wife and mother of 96 daughters and one son named JoJo. With all of these children, Sally's responsibilities dwarf even those of her husband. Still, she's able to juggle them with the grace of a first lady. The last thing she needs is another problem child with an overactive imagination, but when her husband starts hearing voices, that's exactly what she gets. It's a situation even her sharp wit and pointed sarcasm can't defuse, but when the truth is revealed, she's willing to give it her all to help her husband save Whoville.
  • Doctor Mary Lou Larue, voiced by Isla Fisher. Dr. Larue is an eccentric Whoville scientist who can be a bit scatterbrained at times. However, being the smartest of the staff at Who University, she is willing to help the Mayor find out how they can preserve the peace that holds their town together. She is one of the first Whos to believe that the Mayor was right about Whoville being a speck.
  • Vlad Vladikoff, voiced by Will Arnett. Vlad is a reclusive vulture mercenary who lives in a tree stump in a swamp surrounded by thorns. The Sour Kangaroo hires him to get rid of Horton's clover. At first, he agrees to do it in exchange for her son Rudy, or a brand new pair of objects never specified. After "thinking" it over, she uses reverse psychology to get him to do it for free. He speaks in a thick Russian accent and extremely theatrical in his wickedness to the point of embarrassing himself.
  • Yummo, voiced by Dan Fogler. Yummo is the rumbling leader of the Wickersham brothers who serves as a bully for Horton, as he sees him as an annoyance. He's hot-tempered, power-hungry, and just plain hungry. He helps with the capture of Horton because he agreed that Horton was poisoning the youth of the jungle, first said by Kangaroo.
  • Mrs. Quilligan, voiced by Jamie Pressly. Mrs. Quilligan is a jungle bird that is a two-faced and easily influenced busybody. She sways with public opinion and everybody knows it. It's not unusual for her to be caught flip-flopping and backtracking to cover herself, keeping her firmly entrenched in the" in crowd".
  • Jessica, voiced by Laura Ortiz. Like any teenager, Jessica might be embarrassed by her mother's busybody behavior, but it's obvious to everyone else in the community that she's Mrs. Quilligan's mini-clone. She views herself as an independent thinker, but since conformity leads to acceptance, she's just another cog in the wheel.
  • Tommy, voiced by Jonah Hill. Tommy is a strange orange marsupial/primate/hippopotamus type creature that is one of the children of the Jungle of Nool that looks up to and views Horton as a teacher. He seems to have somewhat of a frat boy/smart aleck persona, but truly believes in what Horton is trying to do, even if he is being ridiculed for it.
  • Katie, voiced by Joey King. Katie is a small sheep-like creature that has strange habits. She tends to say 'ah' a lot and speak random thoughts. She also has the ability to float, which she demonstrates at the end of the film. Katie is one of the female pupils of Horton, as her teacher.

[edit] Additional voices

[edit] Soundtrack

The original score for the film's soundtrack album was composed by John Powell. Near the end of the picture, the cast comes together and sings the song, "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon. This version of the song was not featured on the soundtrack.

[edit] Reaction

[edit] Critical reception

The film has received very positive reviews from both film critics and theater goers. As of May 8, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 117 reviews, and an even better 84% rating from the top critics on the site based on 31 reviews, and it also has an 86% rating from users on the site based on 417 votes, all classifying the film as "Certified Fresh". [1] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 71 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 31 reviews, and a 8.2 out of 10 from users on the site, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 52 votes. [2]

[edit] Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $45,012,998 in 3,954 theaters, averaging about $11,384 per theater in the United States and Canada, and ranking #1 at the box office.[3] The film had the 4th largest opening weekend in March, behind Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and 300.[4] In the United States and Canada, Horton Hears a Who was also the #1 film its second weekend of release, grossing $24,590,596 in 3,961 theaters and averaging $6,208 per venue. It dropped to #2 in its third weekend grossing $17,740,106 in 3,826 theaters and averaging $4,636 per venue. Its fourth weekend ranked at #4 grossing $9,115,987 in 3,571 theaters and averaging $2,552 per venue. Its fifth weekend ranked at #6, grossing $5,920,566 in 3,209 theaters and averaging $1,844 per venue. [3]

As of May 22, 2008, it has grossed a total of $288,901,798 worldwide; $151,451,618 in the United States and Canada and $137,450,180 in other territories.[5] This makes it the first theatrical film in 2008 to pass the $100 million domestic mark.

[edit] DVD/Blu-ray Release

The movie will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 22, 2008.

[edit] References in the film

  • While the Mayor is sitting at the breakfast table with his wife and 96 daughters, plates of green eggs and ham can be seen.
  • Kangaroo's confronting of Horton is reminiscent of the trial of Socrates in Ancient Greece. Her words "If you can't see it, feel it, or hear it, it doesn't exist" reflect Aristotle's belief that perception is reality, and her accusation that Horton has "poisoned the minds of the children" echoes strongly Socrates' charge of "poisoning the minds of the youth of Athens".
  • At one point, Horton impersonates John F. Kennedy and Al Gore (i.e. accepting that drastic weather changes are bad) while addressing the citizens of Whoville.
  • One of the portraits of one of the former mayors of Whoville resembles the Mona Lisa. Another is a caricature of Dr. Seuss. All the rest of the mayor portraits are modeled on a famous painting.
  • Horton's line, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, 100%", is actually from Horton Hatches the Egg, another story. Horton does not say this anywhere in the book Horton Hears A Who.
  • Rudy calls his new "friend" in his world on a clover he found Thidwick, a reference to Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. Also, the mayor's fish is named Thidwick. Also, in one of the scenes there is a moose with a bunch of animals in his antlers.
  • The Mayor’s secretarial assistant, Miss Yelp, is messing around the Whoville version of MySpace, aptly named WhoSpace.[6][7]
  • One of the Mayor’s many daughters asks her dad for a WhoPhone, a Whoville version of an iPhone, because she is the only one in her class without one.[6][7]
  • The Whos buy groceries at Whofoods Market, a reference to the Whole Foods Market grocery store.[7]
  • A Who wearing a hat resembling the hat worn by The Cat in the Hat is seen, only the hat has blue stripes instead of red. When the Who tips his hat to the mayor, another, smaller Who appears on his head wearing the same hat, a reference to "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back", also he tries to ski in the snow with a pair of ski's that are curly with bells on the end, another Cat in the Hat Comes Back reference.
  • Several Truffula trees (from The Lorax) can be seen in the Jungle of Nool and one by the Mayor's house.
  • The design for Mrs. Quilligan was taken from Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo
  • When Horton is delivering Whoville to Mount Nool, he says to the Whos that once they get to Mount Nool, they will be guaranteed three inalienable rights that would "be determined at a later date". This is a reference to John Locke’s Three Inalienable Rights of life, liberty, and property.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-04-14.
  2. ^ Horton Hears a Who! (2008): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
  3. ^ a b Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  4. ^ Top March Opening Weekends at the Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  5. ^ Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
  6. ^ a b Modernizing Dr. Seuss - Horton Hears a Who Features WhoSpace, Manga, Cell Phones (VIDEO)
  7. ^ a b c brandchannel.com | Product Placement in Movies | Brandcameo | branded entertainment | Film Brand Integration | hollywood | cameo | products in films | brands | branding

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Preceded by
10,000 B.C.		 Box office number-one films of 2008 (USA)
March 16, 2008 – March 23, 2008		 Succeeded by
21
v • d • e
Blue Sky Studios
Feature-length animations
Ice Age (2002) • Robots (2005) • Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) • Horton Hears a Who! (2008) • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Short animations
Bunny (1998) • Gone Nutty (2003) • No Time for Nuts (2006)
Contributions in other films
Joe's Apartment (1996) • A Simple Wish (1997) • Alien Resurrection (1997) • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) • Jesus' Son (1999) • Fight Club (1999) • Titan A.E. (2000)