Jane Kangaroo is the former main antagonist of Horton Hears a Who!. She is a busybody and creator of the jungle's laws who is skeptical about the existence of the Whos and Whoville on a dust speck (due to being under the pretense that anything that cannot be seen, heard, or felt is nonexistent). She is also the mother of Rudy Kangaroo, who considers her very embarrassing. She is a major antagonist in the first season of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and a supporting character in the second season.
The kangaroo was christened Jane, and the name is retained for Wubbulous World. Like her literary portrayal, Jane is a snobbish matron and the mother of Junior Kangaroo, and she resides in the Jungle of Nool. Her valuing of the status quo and insistence on order occasionally precipitate crises. Notably, in "The Mystery of Winna-Bango Falls," Jane orders the Winna-Bango Falls residents to stop playing with fruit peels and instead throw them away, causing an environmental catastrophe. While often serving as an antagonist, Jane tends to be depicted more sympathetically than the show's other more villainous troublemakers, such as Yertle or the Grinch; her worst actions are often attributed to delusions of grandeur or short-sightedness rather than intentional malice or selfishness.
In most cases, she realizes the consequences of her mistakes and is repentant. She is also shown to have a motherly personality, being very protective of Junior and sometimes helping Horton care for his son, Morton, in her own eccentrically regimented way. In keeping with her obsession with order in the jungle, Jane is also recurrently shown to value tidiness and housekeeping.
Overview[]
Jane serves as the main antagonist of the film. 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 with questions she won't be able to answer. In order to avoid this, she begins making deals with the Wickershams and the vulture hitman Vlad Vladikoff. As the film progresses, her aims shift towards crushing Horton's spirit and building up her reputation. The kangaroo is too dismissive of the products of imagination and creativity, even when she keeps her son Rudy jammed inside her pouch. 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, Horton's convincing changes her mindset.
In Seussical, she thinks Horton is crazy for talking to a speck, spreading the news around, and causing Horton big trouble. In the TV special, there is not one kangaroo but five kangaroos, and they are children: three boys and two girls.
Description[]
In the book, she's a yellow kangaroo. In Seussical, the kangaroo children are pink, orange, yellow, blue, and purple with round heads. In the film, she is purple with turf of fur around her neck and long hair on her that stands up straight.
Book Appearances[]
Filmography[]
- Horton Hatches the Egg (1942 film) (Cameo)
- Horton Hears a Who! (Cartoon)
- Halloween is Grinch Night
- The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
- Horton Hears a Who! (Film)
- Seussical
Gallery[]
