Horton Hears a Who! (film)

Horton Hears a Who!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jimmy Hayward Steve Martino
Screenplay by	Cinco Paul Ken Daurio
Based on	Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
Produced by	Bob Gordon Bruce Anderson
Starring	Jim Carrey Steve Carell Carol Burnett Seth Rogen Will Arnett Dan Fogler Isla Fisher Jonah Hill Amy Poehler
Narrated by	Charles Osgood
Edited by	Tim Nordquist
Music by	John Powell
Production companies	Blue Sky Studios[1] 20th Century Fox Animation[2]
Distributed by	20th Century Fox[1]
Release date	March 14, 2008 (2008-03-14)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85 million[3]
Box office	$298.6 million[3]

Horton Hears a Who! (also known as Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!) is a 2008 American computer animated adventure comedy film based on the 1954 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino in their directorial debuts, the film's screenplay was written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and features the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell as Horton the Elephant and Mayor Ned McDodd, respectively, alongside Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Isla Fisher, and Amy Poehler.^[4] John Powell composed the film's musical score. It is the second screen adaptation of the book following the 1970 television special.

The film was released theatrically on March 14, 2008, and grossed $297 million on a budget of $85 million. Horton Hears a Who! was the third Dr. Seuss feature film adaptation,^[5] the first adaptation to be fully animated,^[6] and the second Dr. Seuss film starring Jim Carrey after How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).^[6] It received positive critical reviews.

Plot[]

In the Jungle of Nool, Horton the Elephant, the jungle's eccentric nature teacher, hears a tiny yelp coming from a dust speck. Believing that an entire society of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he gives chase to it before placing it on top of a flower. Horton finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and its inhabitants, the Whos, led by Mayor Ned McDodd, whose family includes his wife Sally, 96 daughters whose names all begin with the letter H, and one teenage son named JoJo. Despite being the oldest child and next in line for the mayoral position, JoJo does not want to be the next mayor, and he does not talk because he is so scared of disappointing his father. Once Horton begins carrying the speck with him, the city starts experiencing strange phenomena (earthquakes and changes in the weather), and the Mayor finds his attempts to caution Whoville challenged by the Town Council, led by the opportunistic yet condescending Chairman.

After he makes contact with Horton, the Mayor finds out from Dr. Mary Lou LaRue that Whoville will be destroyed if Horton does not find a "safer, more stable home". With the help of his best friend Morton the mouse, Horton decides to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. The head of the jungle, the Sour Kangaroo, who refuses to believe that the Whos exist, demands numerous times that Horton give up the speck for overshadowing her authority, but Horton refuses. Also taking force toward Horton are the Wickersham Brothers, a group of monkeys who like to cause anybody havoc and misery. Eventually, the Kangaroo enlists a sinister vulture named Vlad Vladikoff to get rid of the speck by force.

After a few failed attempts, Vlad manages to steal the flower away from Horton and drops it into a massive field of identical pink flowers causing an apocalyptic tremor in Whoville. After unsuccessfully picking 2,999,999 flowers, Horton eventually recovers the flower (exactly the 3,000,000th flower), also revealing himself to the rest of Whoville. The Kangaroo eventually finds out that Horton still has the speck, fires Vlad, and she rallies the jungle community into arresting Horton, preying on their fears that their own children will become chaotic delinquents under his influence. Upon cornering him, the Kangaroo offers Horton a final chance to renounce Whoville's existence. Horton refuses, and despite the heartfelt speech that he gives, the Kangaroo orders the animals to rope and cage him, and to have the speck and Whoville destroyed in a pot of beezlenut oil. The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise, so that all the animals will find out they're really there, assisted by JoJo's "Symphonophone", an invention which creates a huge musical contribution and reveals that JoJo's "true" passion is music, but still fails to penetrate the surface of the speck.

The Kangaroo snatches the flower from the captured Horton and prepares to drop it into the pot. Meanwhile, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Horton's voice, runs up the highest tower, and screams his first word, breaking through the sound barrier just seconds before the speck hits the oil. Rudy, the Kangaroo's son, grabs the flower and proclaims he hears it, and the other animals of Nool notice that they hear it too. Despite his mother's objections, Rudy returns the flower to the released Horton, while the animals, realizing the truth about the Whos' existence, turn on the Kangaroo for deceiving them. While being praised for his integrity by his neighbors, Horton forgives the devastated and regretful Kangaroo, who befriends him with a makeshift umbrella for Whoville. The film ends with the Whos and the animals of Nool gathering to recite the chorus from "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, and it is revealed that the Jungle of Nool (and Earth as a whole) is just one speck, like Whoville, among numerous others, floating in space.

Voice cast[]

• Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant, a big-hearted, eccentric, outgoing, sweet and thoughtful elephant and teacher in the Jungle of Nool who possesses acute hearing abilities.
• Steve Carell as Mayor Ned McDodd, the eccentric and fun-loving mayor of Whoville who has 96 daughters, 1 son named JoJo and a wife named Sally.
• Carol Burnett as the Sour Kangaroo, an egomaniacal kangaroo who mistrusts Horton's inquisitive nature as a threat to her legal authority over Nool.
• Will Arnett as Vlad Vladikoff, a savage and scary Russian-accented^[7] vulture hired by the Sour Kangaroo to steal Horton's flower.
• Seth Rogen as Morton, a mouse and Horton's best friend in the Jungle of Nool who seemingly doesn't believe his story, but still helps him on his mission.
• Dan Fogler as The Chairman, the lead Whoville councilman who is dedicated to traditions and mistrustful of Mayor McDodd.
  • Fogler also voices Yummo Wickersham, the leader and overall largest of the Wickersham apes.
• Isla Fisher as Dr. Mary Lou LaRue, a professor at Who U.
• Jonah Hill as Tommy, a orange bear and one of Horton's students.
• Amy Poehler as Sally O'Malley-McDodd, Mayor McDodd's wife and mother to Jojo and her 96 daughters.
• Jaime Pressly as Mrs. Quilligan, a Russian Palooski and Jessica's mother.
• Jesse McCartney as JoJo McDodd, Mayor McDodd's quiet son (until the end) who doesn't want to be the next mayor.
• Selena Gomez as Helga McDodd, one of the mayor's daughters.
• Josh Flitter as Rudy Kangaroo, Sour Kangaroo's doubtful son who is much kinder than his mother.
• Niecy Nash as Miss Yelp, Mayor McDodd's secretary.
• Laura Ortiz as Jessica Quilligan, a Russian Palooski, Mrs. Quilligan's daughter and one of Horton's students.
• Joey King as Katie, a cute and eccentric yet odd baby yak.
• Bill Farmer as Willie, an orange bear and Tommy's dad.
• Marshall Efron and Tim Nordquist as the Wickersham Guards, Yummo's younger brothers.
• Heather Goldenhersh as Who Girl
• Charles Osgood as the Narrator

Production[]

Dr. Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel, was dissatisfied with the 2003 film The Cat in the Hat that she decided not to allow any more live-action feature films based on his work.^[8] In March 2005, as Blue Sky Studios was completing Robots, the studio and 20th Century Fox Animation president Chris Meledandri asked Geisel on getting the adaptation rights for Horton Hears a Who!.^[9][2] The art director for Robots, Steve Martino, along with story consultant and additional scene director Jimmy Hayward,^[10] created a model of protagonist Horton and some animation tests to showcase their design ideas to Geisel,^[9] who eventually agreed on "a seven-figure deal" for both the book and its predecessor Horton Hatches the Egg. Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio were then hired to write the script,^[11] to be directed by Hayward and Martino with a set release date of 2008.^[10]

Geisel was credited as a supervising producer and watched production up close,^[9] and also gave the directors full access to her late husband's archives, including his original sketches, 3-D sculptures, work done for the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953), and even memos Dr. Seuss traded with Chuck Jones during the production of the Grinch TV special.^[12] For references in doing the character animation, along with footage of the voice actors performing their lines, the Blue Sky animators recorded themselves performing the script in an "acting room" to see what of their body language could translate well into the film.^[13]

To make Horton different from the mammoths Blue Sky worked with in the Ice Age series, he would at times walk on two legs, in a way that it looked like "a fat man in an elephant suit". While the design had a major difference from the original book, with a bigger mouth to allow for wider facial expressions like those of Jim Carrey, as the directors noticed Horton's design in the book varied according to his emotion, the 3D wireframe tried to allow for the same effects.^[14]

Soundtrack[]

The original score for the film's soundtrack album was composed by John Powell. A soundtrack consisting of the film's score was released on March 25, 2008 by Varèse Sarabande.^[15][16] Near the end of the picture, the cast comes together and sings the song "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon.^[17]

Others songs featured in the film are:^[18]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.00/10, based on 137 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Horton Hears A Who! is both whimsical and heartwarming, and is the rare Dr. Seuss adaptation that stays true to the spirit of the source material."^[19] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, calculated a score of 71 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."^[20] According to CinemaScore, the film version rated an "A−" on an "A+" to "F" scale.^[21]

Box office[]

Horton Hears a Who! grossed a total of $297 million on an $85 million budget. $155 million came from the United States and Canada, and $143 million from other territories.^[22]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $45 million in 3,954 theaters, averaging $11,384 per theater in the United States and Canada, and ranking #1 at the box office.^[23] The film also had the strongest opening for a film starring Jim Carrey since Bruce Almighty, with the same applying to his costar in both films, Steve Carell.^[21]

The film previously had the fourth-largest opening weekend in March, behind Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown and 300, and as of September 2012, it ranks on the 15th place.^[24] In the United States and Canada, Horton Hears a Who! was also the #1 film its second weekend of release, grossing $25 million over the Easter frame, in 3,961 theaters and averaging $6,208 per venue. It dropped to #2 in its third weekend grossing $17.8 million in 3,826 theaters and averaging $4,637 per venue.

Interpretations[]

Horton Hears a Who!, like other Dr. Seuss creations, contains layered subtexts and messages. A major theme regards learning about universal values between vastly different places and people, as shown by the quote "A person's a person, no matter how small". This is employed on many levels, primarily with Horton hearing a world in a speck, while also appearing with the Mayor's relationship with his son, and Sour Kangaroo learning the truth about the speck.^[25]

Awards[]

Home media[]

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 9, 2008. Three versions of the DVD are available: a single-disc edition, a 2-disc special edition, and a gift set packaged with a Horton plush.^[34]

A Blu-ray combo pack with a DVD and digital copy was released on October 11, 2011.^{[citation needed]} The home media included an Ice Age-related short film, Surviving Sid. And the trailer from the new movie In 2009 Ice age Dawn of the dinosaurs 3D

In the United States, the film earned $77,630,768 from DVD sales and $180,434 from Blu-ray sales for a total of $77,811,202 in video sales.^[35]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horton Hears a Who! (film).

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Horton Hears a Who! (film)

• Official website
• Horton Hears a Who! at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Horton Hears a Who! at IMDb
• Horton Hears a Who! at AllMovie