Das sprechende Staubkorn

While some might say that "Horton Hears a Who!" was mostly a funny story for children, I notice a similarity to an earlier cartoon which Chuck Jones - who would have turned 95 today - directed: "Punch Trunk". That one portrays a tiny elephant accidentally ending up in a major city, and anyone who sees it is considered insane (though it really does exist in the cartoon). In this cartoon, Horton befriends the microscopic citizens of Whoville but everyone else considers him crazy. Not only do both stories involve elephants, but they both depict beings which most individuals would probably never imagine existing but really do exist (in the cartoons, that is). What to make of this? Maybe I'm reading too far into the cartoon. Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones probably intended for the story to mostly be entertainment for children, and it is quite enjoyable. I recommend it.

Dr Seuss was one of my childhood favourites and I still have a big soft spot for him now. Of the animated adaptations of his work, almost all are absolute gems and show an utmost respect for it. And Horton Hears a Who is no exception. The animation is bright and colourful with beautifully rendered character designs(they are also true to the illustrations in the book), and the songs deliciously catchy. The writing and rhymes are relatively simple(in a good way) as well as witty and very easy to get in your head. The story is zippily paced, upbeat and charming with a nice message, which is exactly what Dr Seuss should be like, and it doesn't suffer from too much padding or useless scenes. The ending is also very heartfelt. The characters are timeless and always engage you, and the voice acting especially from Hans Conreid is terrific. Overall, a treasure, every bit as good as the book and deserves its place among the other animated Dr Seuss adaptation classics. The Jim Carrey animated film I also found entertaining and easily the best of the feature length adaptations, but I'll always prefer this. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I had fond memories of this movie from when I was a kid. I never see it on TV anywhere though. This is my kids favorite book for me to read. They like to finish the line "A person's a person no matter how small". The most vivid memory is of the Wickersham Brother's singing "Boil that dust speck! Boil that dust speck!" and the "We are here!" letters getting caught in the clouds and the little twerps "Yop!" breaking through. I wish they would make the other Horton story "Horton hatches an egg!" into a movie. This one addresses the topic of adoption in a very cool way. Since all my kids are adopted I especially like that one.

Horton hers a who is great for kids! 8/10

Horton the Elephant discovers the Whos, a race of people who live entirely on a speck of dust and know nothing of the outside world. His jungle friends don't believe him and turn against Horton, eventually threatening to boil the dust speck in beezlenut oil.

There are at least three layers to this film. On the most superficial level, it's a cartoon featuring an elephant, some little people and a handful of catchy songs that kids and parents will love. This is what you'd get if you weren't following along at all, and you'd still have a good movie.

On the next level, we have the film's core message: a person's a person, no matter how small. This is what most people will walk away with, and the intent is clear: we're all created equally. Whether Suess was focusing on race, gender, physical stature or handicap is unclear... but we get the point -- each of us is human, even if we're different.

The third level is a bit convoluted and I'm not entirely sure I grasp it. The Wickersham brothers accuse Horton of trying to create civil unrest. Here we may see parallels to the events of the 1960s. The Wickersham brothers want to protect "free enterprise" and "compound interest rates" and hope to stop Horton from overthrowing the government. I'm not really sure how that relates to a dust speck... this seems a cheap attempt at attacking extreme right-wingers (such as Joseph McCarthy).

So, you'll like the first and second levels... and the third one just might leave you scratching your head. Or, if you're me, liking it even more. I mean, politics is in no way foreign to Suess -- watch (or read) "The Butter Battle Book" or "The Sneeches" or "The Lorax"...

Chuck Jones and Theodore Geisel teamed up to produce the animated adaptation of Geisel's classic Horton Hears a Who! (why does the title always end in an exclamation mark?), as they did earlier for How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Horton's story is just as good as the Grinch's, with wonderful animation by Jones, and excellent lyrics by Dr. Suess (aka Geisel). Horton Hears a Who! has a moral: a BIG one. It deals with the concept of free speech, and how no one should believe they are the center of the universe and are the ones that REALLY matter, let alone that there is no one else at all. Both Dr. Hoovey and Horton are condemned as quacks just because they are not, like the rest of the community, self-centered morons. This in itself is a wonderful short story. But if you combine it with excellent lyrics and unbeatable animation, you have captured the essence of Horton Hears a Who! What really baffles me is that this masterpiece is so unappreciated as to be mentioned in a four-line paragraph at the back of a video with The Grinch as the feature. This "supplement" is just as good as How the Grinch Stole Christmas!