Interesting story, great visuals, though not amazingly executed...

books:


	• Horton Hears A Who! Dr. Seuss Random House Books for Young Readers, 1954 - 72 pages average customer review:based on 86 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

this edition includes 4 Dr. Seuss stories

Horton Hears A Who
Horton Hatches The Egg
Butter Battle Book
Daisy-Head Mayzie

Interesting story, great visuals, though not amazingly executed...

Horton Hears a Who (1970) - Chuck Jones

Overall, I would say that this movie is a good deal of fun. The story, with its Seussian dialogue, is always a delight, and the visuals are pretty amazing. Seuss is a really interesting visual artist with an utterly unique vision. I might be the only one to see this, but there seems to be an abstractly nightmarish quality to almost all of his creations. I don't know what it is, and I definitely can't pinpoint it, but there is something about the looks of his characters that make them all a little creepy, even Horton. So, just watching live animation of his artistic creations is entertaining in itself.

When it comes to the story, its fun and has a strong moral message, but unfortunately, it drags in a lot of areas. In particular, I was not very happy with most of the songs: They detracted more than added.

I have not seen the newly released film, but from what I hear, it changes a lot from the original book (although it is apparently delightful in its own way). Either way, I still recommend one check out this version, which stays true to the original's sense of social justice, while also maintaining the stunning art of Seuss, which the new version morphs to the point where they are not recognizable as Seussian characters anymore.

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Horton Hears a Who Movie Review

To promote the feature-length computer animated remake of Horton Hears a Who!, Warner Bros. release of the Dr. Seuss Deluxe Collection on DVD features not only the original half-hour Chuck Jones cartoon, but three more Dr. Seuss animated films, including the Butter Battle Book, Daisy-Head Mayzie and Horton Hatches the Egg. The first three were appropriately created with the help of Theodor Geisel himself (which of course is Dr. Seuss) who aided in creating additional song lyrics and worked as a producer.

Horton Hears a Who! is a classic animated short originally made for TV that looks amazing in its newly remastered form, as well as retaining all of its charm and family-friendly appeal that it had back in 1970. A jungle elephant named Horton happens upon a floating dust speck that emanates a tiny voice shouting for help. He places it on a peculiarly pink clover for safe-keeping, but a sour kangaroo, with a devilishly obnoxious joey in her pouch, demands that action be taken against the seemingly senile elephant, who is the only one that can hear the tiny voices. The microscopic town of Whoville that thrives in the dust speck must band together to make themselves heard, before they succumb to a horrible fate at the hands of the kangaroo and her band of monkey-like henchman known as the Wickersham brothers.

Obvious parallels to government investigatory committees such as the House Un-American Activities Committee can be drawn, as well as red scare fearmongering and Horton representing a nonconformist savior of social injustices, but from a child's perspective, the film beautifully captures the simple theme that "a person's a person, no matter how small." It takes great disaster for the Whos to believe Dr. Who-Vee, the scientist who communicates with Horton, that their world sits on the end of an elephant's nose, just as it almost takes the death of an innocent elephant to convince the Nurse Ratched-fashioned kangaroo that the tiny world indeed exists. Banding together for an uncompromising friendship, Horton and Who-Vee shed light on simple, short and sweet morals that immortalize this award-winning cartoon.

The Zooks and the Yooks do battle in the second short, Dr. Seuss' Butter Battle Book, directed by Ralph Bakshi, involving two towns divided by an enormous wall. The Yooks spread butter on the top of their bread, while the "uncouth" Zooks eat bread butter side down. The pervading theme of "never give up" is at times dwarfed by the search for bigger and better technology, and the stubbornness of two communities that will undoubtedly never see eye to eye, but this wildly inventive short is still highly entertaining. Making use of Escherian backgrounds and a thought-provoking cliffhanger conclusion, the highlight of the film are the many lines of completely made-up rhyming words and the Butter-Up Band's song stating that you should "believe in yourself and the bread that you butter."

Daisy-Head Mayzie, narrated by the Cat in the Hat, finds a symbiotic daisy growing out of the head of blonde child Mayzie. Her classmates mock her incessantly in a catchy tune, and she quickly abandons friends and family for fame and fortune with a false-faced agent. She finds her dream but loses her way, and by the end she realizes, in morals that are spelled out for the audience, that "love means more than fame and glory." This short is the most musically oriented, although simultaneously the most forgettable.

Lastly, a Merrie Melodies cartoon entitled Horton Hatches the Egg is included, featuring a bird also coincidentally named Mayzie, who convinces the simple-minded Horton to sit on her egg while she goes on vacation. "An elephant's faithful 100%," explains Horton repeatedly, as he suffers through winter storms and the bullying of his jungle friends, and finally the humiliation of being captured by hunters and placed in a circus sideshow. The lazy Mayzie, who frequently dons a Katharine Hepburn impression, returns to reclaim her egg, only to find it ready to hatch, thanks to Horton's unyielding dedication. A funny and wry short, this film is the least like Dr. Suess' more heavily influenced other works and takes on the very recognizable aura of a Looney Tunes classic.

The entire set is a pure delight for Dr. Seuss and nostalgia fans and should make a great evening of preparation for viewers who plan to see the computer animated remake of Horton Hears a Who! due out March 2008.

- Mike Massie

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Dr. Seuss' Best Book!!!

'Horton Hears A Who!' is without a doubt the best work by Dr. Seuss in his long and storied career. From the beautiful artwork to a story that flows and rhymes better than anything else he ever did (and a lot of his books were outstanding), this is THE Seuss book to get. The political ramifications about racism and treating people who are different than you are timeless and never get old. Horton the elephant finds out about a race of people called the Whos that are very small and live on a dust speck. When he discovers them he vows to protect them from harm but others who cannot see or hear the Whos don't believe Horton and when there's something you don't understand there is fear. From fear comes violence and Horton has to use his love and respect for the Whos to show the others who don't understand that not only do they exist but they are important and needed to be treated with respect.

My daughter who is 3 now got this book when she was barely a month old and we have read this to her many many many times. The story never gets old and it's one of the top 5 childrens books I have ever had the pleasure to read.

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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