Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! (also known as Horton Hears a Who! or simply Horton) is a 2008 computer-animated musical fantasy comedy adventure film based on the 1954 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss and the special in 1970, and is directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino while produced by Blue Sky Studios. It stars Jim Carrey, Seth Rogen, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Steve Carell, Jesse McCartney, and Amy Poehler.
Plot[]
The film opens up with a tiny speck of dust popping out of a sunflower by a rolling Burl of a tree and starts flying through a hold to Jungle of Nool, where a caring, imaginative elephant named Horton, the jungle's nature teacher, takes a dip in the pool. The speck of dust 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 atop a clover. Horton finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and its inhabitants, led by Mayor Ned McDodd (Steve Carell). He has a wife, Sally, 96 daughters (whose names all begin with the letter H), and one small teenage son named JoJo. Despite being the oldest and next in line for the mayoral position, JoJo doesn't want to be mayor, and he's so scared of disappointing his father, he rarely ever speaks.The Mayor finds out from Dr. LaRue that Whoville will be destroyed if Horton does not find a "safer, more stable home." Horton resolves to place the speck on a sunflower atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. Jane Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), not believing Horton's beliefs, tries to get Horton to give up the speck after brekaing what they talked about for the comminuty of the jungle, over the children to think if people are in specks. Horton refuses but crosses the line on the Sour Kangaroo. Also taking force toward Horton are the Wickersham brothers, a group of bullying monkeys who love making misery.
One night, the Kangaroo eventually enlists a vulture named Vlad Vladikoff (Will Arnett) to get rid of the speck by dropping it into a clover field. After a failed attempt by Vlad, the Kangaroo finds out that Horton still has the speck, and decides to rally the jungle community into confronting Horton by telling lies that Horton's goal will lead to anarchy around the children of Nool. When they catch up to hime close to reaching Mt. Nool, the Kangaroo offers one last chance Horton to tell everyone that there's no one on the speck. When Horton refuses, she orders the animals to rope and cage him and issue Whoville's destruction via a cauldron of boiling beezelnut oil. As the Whos overhear this from within the speck, the Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise by shouting "We are here," as well as playing a variety of instruments, so the animals may hear them. Finding Jojo in the old abandoned obsevratory, he finds his talent being music by his masterpiece: the Symphonophone, an inventoin that creates an huge musical instrument and shows Jojo's passion being music.
With Horton roped and caged, he Kangaroo takes the clover and drops it into the boiling oil. But at the last minute in Whoville, in an act of desperation and a wonderful, determinate idea, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Horton's voice, runs up the highest tower and yells "YOPP!", breaking through the sound barrier, just before the Kangaroo's son, Rudy, grabs the flower when it nearly hits the oil. Rudy warns everyone that the whos are here as the animals now realize that Horton was right all along, thinking that the Kangaroo was trying to crush Horton's spirit and build her own reputation in the jungle while knowing that Horton wasn't harming the children by what the Kangaroo said about the speck turning their kids into chaotic delinquents. While realizing what she almost did is wrong and feeling ashamed of herself, The Kangaroo tries to take the flower out of Rudy's hand, but Rudy dodges, hops out of the pouch, and returns the clover to Horton after refusing his mother's orders. The Kangaroo bossily orders the Wickersham brothers to take the flower from Rudy, but they refuse to trust her anymore as they let him give the flower to Horton. The Kangaroo frantically tries to order the animals of Nool to take the clover from her son, but they isolate her for tricking them, much to the Kangaroo's sadness.
While being praised for his integrity by his neighbors, and gained a cookie from a bunny named Vlad, Horton is apparently nice enough to even forgive the Sour Kangaroo by giving her the cookie when he sees her sulking in sorrow, feeling embarrassed, regretful, and left out out of the crowd. She accepts his friendship with a makeshift umbrella for Whoville, finally believing that there are people on the speck after all. Horton thanks the animals of Nool, Morton, who stood by him, and, most importantly, Ned McDodd, who believed in him from the very beginning. JoJo asks Horton what are they gonna do without him, and Horton replies that he'll always be around. Here, the people of Whoville and the animals of Nool gather in song and recite the chorus from "Can't Fight This Feeling." The film ends with the animals heading to Mt. Nool to put the Speck on the sunflower while the narrator revealing that the Jungle of Nool is just one speck, among numerous others, floating in the universe.
Cast[]
- Jim Carrey: Horton the Elephant
- Steve Carell: The Mayor of Who-ville
- Seth Rogen: Morton the Mouse
- Carol Burnett: Jane Kangaroo
- Will Arnett: Vlad Vladikoff
- Jesse McCartney: JoJo
- Amy Poehler: Sally O'Malley
- Isla Fisher: Dr. Mary Lou LaRue
- Jaime Pressly: Mrs. Quilligan
- Jonah Hill: Tommy
- Laura Ortiz: Jessica
- Joey King: Katie
- Charles Osgood: The Narrator
- Niecy Nash: Miss Yelp
- Dan Fogler: Councilman/Yummo Wickersham
- Josh Flitter: Rudy Kangaroo
- Shelby Adamowsky: Hedy/Hooly
- Jack Angel: Old Time Who
- Caitlin Rose Anderson: Helen
- Emily Anderson: Heather
- Jan Rabson: Town Cryer
- John Cygan: Crowd Member Who
- Jess Harnell: Crowd Member Attic Who
- Debi Derryberry: Who Mom
- Jimmy Hayward: Obnoxious Who
- Samantha Raye Droke: Hildy/Holly
- Karen Disher: Who Kid
- Marshall Efron: Wickershim Guard
- Tim Nordquist: Wickershim Guard 2
- Bill Farmer: Willie Bear
- Jason Fricchione: Joe
- Heather Goldenhersh: Who Girl
- Selena Gomez: Helga
- Christina Martino: Heidi/Haley
- Ellie Martino: Hanna
- Laraine Newman: Glummox Mom
- Colleen O'Shaughnessey: Angela
- Joe Pasquale: Who Dentist
- Connor Anderson: Who Child
Additional voices[]
- Isabella Acres
- Bob Bergen
- Jeff Biancalana
- Madison Davenport
- Teresa Ganzel
- Kathy Graves
- Sherry Lynn
- Danny Mann
- Mona Marshall
- Mickie McGowan
- Madison Pettis
- Grace Rolek
- Jennessa Rose
- Ariel Winter
Music[]
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. Near the end of the picture, the cast comes together and sings the song "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon.
Other songs featured in the film include:
Title | Performer |
---|---|
We Are Here | Steve Carell, Amy Poehler & Choir |
"Can't Fight This Feeling" | Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett, Dan Fogler, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Fletcher Sheridan & Choir |
"Quickie" | Thomas Foyer |
"Swingville Sashay" | Muff & Rezz |
"Água Melão" | Gilberto Cândido |
"The Blue Danube" | Johann Strauss II |
Trivia[]
- This is the first Dr. Seuss movie adaptation for several things:
- The first fully CGI computer animated Dr. Seuss feature.
- The first Dr. Seuss movie adaptation that has not been distributed by Universal, as this movie was released by Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios.
- The first Dr. Seuss movie adaptation composed by John Powell (The second one was The Lorax).
- The first (and so far, only) Dr. Seuss film to receive a G rating from the MPAA.
- A picture of Dr. Seuss appears in the hall of Mayors (as JoJo's Grandfather), as does an altered version of the Mona Lisa (as JoJo's Great-grandmother).
- This movie also, was released six months after Episode 4154 of Sesame Street, where one of the Wickersham brothers appeared as one of the greasemonkeys on the Nascount segment since.
- The bird that informs Vlad and the kangaroo about Horton finding the clover again bears a faint resemblance to Thing One and Thing Two.
- The US release has instrumental music in the credits by John Powell, whereas the international release has a reprise of the song Can't Fight this Feeling Anymore.
- some elements were borrowed from or later incorporated into some of the books as follows:
- If I Ran the Zoo:
- Mrs. Quilligan and her daughter Jessica are Russian Palooskis, Angela and her mother are Glummoxes which are the unnamed animals in pre/post page. the deer with Whose-horns-are-connected-from-one-to-the-other makes an appearance as one of the inhabitants(additionaly there are ones with no antlers).
- Dr. Seuss's ABC
- the adult Yaks resembled the yawning yellow yak.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Some of the Chairman resemble The Grinch, and another one who playing a flute resembled him too.
- Green Eggs and Ham
- The food Green eggs and Ham are seen and eaten by Mayor McDodd, Sally and their 99 daughters and their son JoJo.
- Scrambled Eggs Super!
- Similar to the TV special, various generic birds makes cameo appearances.
- On Beyond Zebra!:
- Zatz-its made appearances as residents of the Jungle of Nool.
- There's a Wocket in my Pocket!
- A vaccuum nose like creature makes a slight resemblance to the Nink.
- Horton Hatches the Egg
- The quote "I meant what I said and I said what I meant an Elephant's faithful one hundred percent" is used for Horton and Morton.
- Oh, the Thinks you can Think!
- One of the creatures was the inspiration for The Zong.
- Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, who played Horton and Mayor, both co-starred in Bruce Almighty and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
- Joey King (who played Katie) and Steve Carell Would later co-starred together in Despicable Me 4 as Gru and Poppy
- If I Ran the Zoo:
Transcript[]
See here at Horton Hears a Who!/Transcript
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Official site <-- (no longer active)
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