Last weekend we had family movie night featuring the new DVD Horton Hears a Who. My skeptical husband (who is not necessarily a fan of “family movie night”) said, “How can they make a 90 minute movie out of a 30 page book?”
The kids and I saw this movie in the theater, and I remembered thinking what a great job they did adapting Dr. Seuss’ picture book to a feature-length film, so I quickly replied, “Quite well, actually.”
Jim Carrey (Horton) and Steve Carell (the mayor of Whoville) keep parents and children laughing. Seriously, the kids were guffawing, and one time Amanda (age 10) looked over at my husband and said, “Look — Daddy’s smiling. He likes it too!”
This movie adaptation perfectly captures the whimsical Seussian world without it seeming too grim, as it sometimes does. The colors are bright and the people are delightful. The story is told with narration straight from the book (and additional narration that sounds as if it’s straight from the book), interspersed seamlessly with scenes of dialogue and action.
The kids laughed (and yes, we laughed too), but the bigger themes really come through loud and clear, without being at all preachy: responsibility, the value of each person — and as a parent — letting your kids be who they are, not who we want them to be.
And of course there’s Horton, the responsible elephant, reminding us often, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant: an elephant’s faithful 100%.” Oh, how can you not just love Horton?
This is the best family film I’ve seen in a while. If you are looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for any kid on your list from three to ten (or just a special at-home treat for family time over the holidays), I couldn’t recommend this one more highly. Why not package it with the classic book as well? I also noticed that there’s even an audio collection (and you know how fond I am of audiobooks), or a gift set that packages the DVD, Horton plush, and an audiobook.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan is a contributing editor at 5 Minutes for Mom. She blogs at Snapshot about daily life with her tween daughter and preschool son.
This sounds awesome. I can’t wait to see it!
I really enjoyed this movie too. I have a feeling that Santa may be dropping this into my son’s stocking!
Okay – my grandparents have offered to buy this for my children, and I have a question!
I heard on a list that this movie portrays homeschoolers negatively. Any thoughts? We’re homeschoolers :). I haven’t seen the movie – any input is greatly appreciated.
I just suggested that we get this one from Netflix and Camden’s under the impression that he’s “too old” for it. Your review has convinced me to get it anyway and check it out. I know if I can just get him to start watching, we’ll all really enjoy it.
Jennifer,
I agree with your review. Our two granddaughters (age 3 and 9) love the film – over and over. I feel good about showing it knowing their parents will approve. I don’t recall anything about home schooling in the film. Lots of good values here.
We watched it tonight as a family and LOVED it! ALL of us. This is the first movie we have all been able to watch together. And probably the only one we’ll be able to watch together for some time. My son, as you know, is 2 and we did fast forward the buzzard scene as being a little freaky (as you suggested to me that it might be) but it wasn’t a big deal and the rest of teh movie was bright, colorful and happy. And Jonathan and I laughed and laughed.
GREAT film! You get six thumbs up from our family!
P.S. On the home schooling thing…..yes, I picked up on that. The Kangaroo is talking at the very beginning of the film about how Horton is encouraging the kids to be too wild. She pats her pouch and proudly proclaims that her kid kangaroo is “pouch schooled” and it was stated negatively. Very snobby. It was one blatent statement and so I spent the rest of the film watching for it. YES the kangaroo is negative throughout buuuuuut…..I was raised home school and so was my husband and we were able to overlook that and completely enjoy the film. (But it would have been nice if they had just left that ONE SENTENCE O-U-T!)