‘Horton Hears a Who’ but he stretches out the plot

By ANDY PAUGH
OTTUMWA COURIER (OTTUMWA, Iowa)

OTTUMWA, Iowa Sat, May 17 2008

— I’m not sure if Dr. Seuss’s stories were ever meant for the big screen.
Eventually you knew Hollywood would get to them and the ones they’ve put out have ranged from all right (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) to atrocious (The Cat in the Hat).
Hollywood’s latest effort with a Seuss story gets back to the animated side with “Horton Hears a Who.” For the most part, it’s a nice little story, but like the other Seuss movies, they have to pack a lot of filler in them to get a full-length movie.
The movie follows Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey), an elephant living a happy life in the jungle of Nool, as we’re told by narrator Charles Osgood.
Horton is enjoying another happy day when he hears a sound from a tiny speck that floats by him. He chases down the speck and is eventually able to rescue it on a clover.
The speck contains its own world, the land of Whoville. Whoville’s blundering mayor (Steve Carrell) is the first one to make contact with Horton through a drainpipe in his office and has the task of telling the rest of the town that they are a miniscule society that could be destroyed at any second.
Horton, being a bit slow-witted, but with a big heart, agrees to take the Whoville society to a place where they will be safe and undisturbed by the dangers of the world.
Horton’s quest is interrupted by bossy Kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who thinks Horton is crazy for wanting to save a speck and doesn’t believe there are people on the speck.
“A person’s a person, no matter how small,” Horton says, the theme to the entire movie.
That’s really about it. From there, directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino fill out the adventure with a bunch of rapid-fire delivery from its voice cast, also including Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Will Arnett, Dan Fogler, Amy Poehler, Jaime Pressley and Isla Fisher. It’s not really that funny, although kids will probably get a bigger kick out of it than the adults.
It was reported that extra scenes and filler had to be put in to fill out the animated “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and that was only 30 minutes long. This is a nice simple story, but it’s really stretched out and feels too long even at 86 minutes. It ends up diluting the story’s nice message a little bit.
Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell are good choices as Horton and the mayor. Their style works well enough although neither one is going to make people forget Robin Williams’ genie in “Aladdin.”
But Hollywood should really resist the temptation to turn any more Dr. Seuss adventures into movies, animated or otherwise. The world does not need a live-action version of “Green Eggs and Ham.” Horton’s message is a person is a person no matter how small. The same goes for a good story, no matter how short.

Two and a half stars out of five

“Horton Hears a Who” is 86 minutes long and is rated G.

Andy Paugh writes for the Ottumwa (Iowa) Courier.. He can be reached at aspaugh@mchsi.com