Horton Hears a Who is a film that preaches tolerance and faith with heavy-handed anti-secular strokes. “A person’s a person, no matter how small” is Horton’s (our relentless and unwavering pachyderm protagonist) endless mantra as he desperately clings to unseen lives. When mixed with the villainous kangaroo rant “if you can't hear, see or feel something, it does not exist", a decidedly atheist statement, the aforementioned “no matter how small” statement comes across as a desperate pro-life plea. Horton, once recognized as a reaction to the tyranny of McCarthyism, comes across now as another spiritual allegory for impressionable children to hold onto the moral societal signifiers instilled by our forefathers.
The film itself is a mixed bag, delivering the charming rhyming couplets from the original text without alteration, but filling up the additional running time with a great deal of noise and insincere desperation. It’s a product that may satisfy the taste buds on initial contact, but will leave a bad aftertaste if not immediately washed away.
Horton (Jim Carrey), our playful elephant protagonist, hears a noise coming from a small speck on a clover. His boundless imagination and giant ears have allowed him to hear a noise that all the other creatures would miss. It turns out that this noise he hears is a voice amongst many, as this speck is the entire world of the Who’s.
A dialogue is sparked between Horton and the much smaller Mayor of Who-ville (Steve Carell), which changes their lives forever. Both characters in their respective world, is ridiculed and ostracized for their beliefs, having to fight against the moral majority to prove the existence of their faith.
The animation in Horton Hears a Who is really top-notch. One could find themselves lost in the endless detail and landscapes of Who-Ville and Horton’s jungle. This is further marked by rich colour palettes and comfortable juxtaposed animation techniques.
The film works when shrouded with voiceover. The words of Seuss have an emotional quality that mixes well with modern animation. Where the film becomes problematic is in the filler, which takes up a great deal of running time. Conversations between the Who’s and jungle creatures alike are smothered with the same smug referential humour, which bogs down so many children’s films of today. These are the kind of exchanges that are essentially lost on children, but please moderately passionless soccer moms. Also present are some unsavory modern animation references, which take it a step too far when Horton and his friends turn into Japanese anime characters in one particularly incongruous segment.
Steve Carell does a fine job voicing the mayor of Who-Ville, having an awkward comic charm that translates well into cartoon form. On the other hand, Jim Carrey’s manic mugging severely detracts from the sincerity and sheer likeability of Horton. Secondary vocal performers are fine given that little is asked of them.
Horton Hears a Who is a somewhat cookie cutter entry into the animation genre. The film itself has very little sincerity or depth, aside from the relatively disturbing anti-secular overtones. It’s a movie that should please children and parents alike, but is too loud, abrasive, and unoriginal to have a lasting impact.

Robertsbells*