Horton Hears a Huh?
Last night I watched the Jim Carrey version of the Dr. Suess classic “Horton Hears A Who” with my wife and seven year old daughter. At least I watched the first half. I had to leave in the middle to pick my son up form somewhere. (Ain’t fatherhood grand?) But it didn’t bother me too much, because I was seriously downing on it anyway.
I thought the movie did major violence to the essence of the book, mainly because it got its main character completely wrong.
In the books (the faithful pachyderm is also the star of “Horton Hatches An Egg”) the essence of Horton’s character is that he is quiet and gentle. Left to himself, he wouldn’t really get up to all that much. He’d wander slowly around the jungle, minding his own business. Who does that NOT sound like? I’ll give you a hint: First name Jim, last name Carrey.
The movie Horton is, like the human whose voice sounds remarkably like him, a hyperactive, extroverted clown. He bounces around and through trees, twists himself into bizarre contortions, fantasizes himself as the hero of violent Mangas. In general acts loud and obnoxious. Far, far from the quiet and deeply honorable hero that Dr. Suess conceived of.
Of course I understand that books have to mutate when they travel to the screen to better accommodate the medium. But when such translations are done right, they stay true to the essence of the source material, even if they make major changes in the details. (I have no problem with organic web shooters!)
The film version of Horton just left a bad taste in my mouth. My wife put it well: “The movie lost the sweetness of the book”.
I should add, though, that my daughter loved it…
For a somewhat better take on Horton, you can watch this Bob Clampett Warner Brother’s Carton adaptation of Horton Hatches The Egg:
