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| Available at Amazon.com |
If you’re not familiar with the old Dr. Seuss story of Horton Hears A Who!, I’ll fill you in. Horton is an elephant that is friendly to everyone who comes his way as he simply frolics around the forest and enjoys his life. One day a fluttering speck makes its way past him and it would seem like any other ordinary speck. That is until he hears a faint cry for help as it whisks past his oversized ears. Without hesitation, Horton makes sure to catch the speck on a flower and hold onto it with all his might.
After some trial and error, Horton gets his voice through and hears something again from the speck. A little friendly conversation later and Horton finds out that living on that speck is the entire town of Whoville and all those who inhabit it, the Whos. That speck is their world and thanks to a thorny brittle ball, it has been knocked off its stationary spot on a sunflower. The Mayor of Whoville is the only one that hears Horton and realizes his entire town needs help or their whole existence could be decimated. Horton is also the only one in the forest that can hear the Mayor on the speck. Everyone he tells about the people living on it…well, they think he is crazy.
Horton takes it upon himself to find a safe spot for the Whos to live and be away from harm. The safest spot though happens to be way up on top of a mountain and it is a long treacherous journey. Matters aren’t made easy by the ruler of the forest, Kangaroo always on his case about things don’t exist if they can’t be seen, heard, or felt. Horton knows better though and will do anything to get the Whos to safety. Even if it means trekking through the entire forest dealing other obstacles and dangers along the way.
After recently reviewing the theatrical version of Horton Hears A Who!; it’s weird, but I was almost disappointed here. It just seemed to be lacking from what my mind recalls from so long ago. Also my brain can’t stop rhyming as I type out this review and hope my words don’t come out ending in “Who.” See, there it happened and it wasn’t quite intentional, my main goal here is to write this review, which is my principle.
OY!
Sorry everyone, but it is quite contagious. Where this short animated film misses though as compared to the newer film version are the songs. A lot of the musical numbers (which have always been quite prominent in Dr. Seuss productions) were taken out of the theatrical version and now I realize why it was better. In the short cartoon they just seem out of place and unnecessary. The story is so good in itself that it could have done with just moving right along and forgetting that elephants, monkeys, and other forest creatures could just randomly break out in song.
There are three other features added on though after Horton Hears A Who!. The first is called Butter Battle Book where two different colonies of people (The Yooks and The Zooks) live on opposite sides of a wall. The two groups are against another simply because they eat their bread with the opposite side of the buttered bread up or down. It is a horribly animated look at the world and its differences.
The second added feature is introduced by the Cat In The Hat and is entitled Daisy-Head Mayzie. A young girl wishes to simply get along like all other kids until she soon realize there is a daisy growing from her head. Of course, all the rest of the class decides to laugh and make fun of her which in turn gets Mayzie very down. Through the help of others though, Mayzie realizes that being unlike everyone else really isn’t all that bad.
Finally, we are introduced to Horton once more in Horton Hatches The Egg which is brought to us in Warner Bros. Looney Tunes form. This is the only other cartoon I recall from my youth along with Horton Hears A Who! Maisy is a lazy bird that has to sit on her egg until it hatches, but she just doesn’t want to anymore. So she talks Horton into sitting on the egg for her while she flies off to some warm beaches for a little rest and relaxation. Horton agrees and goes through ridicule and inclement weather to be faithful as elephants always are. This cartoon is simply fantastic.
The features are shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and besides the bad animation on Butter Battle Book, everything looks great. The colors are bright and sharp while the remastering is just awesome.
The features are heard in Dolby Digital Stereo Sound and it is more then enough for these cartoon shorts. Everything sounds just fine.
In Search Of Dr. Seuss – My God this was a good extra. It is an hour and a half long look through time and space for Dr. Seuss and everything he’s ever done. Starring Kathy Najimy, Matt Frewer, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Graham Jarvis, Brady Bluhm, Andrea Martin, David Paymer, and more; this feature could have been an entire other DVD all by itself. There are clips from numerous other Dr. Seuss presentations, still pictures from other works, and some musical numbers sure to entertain anyone.
You Can Hear Horton, Horton Can Hear You! – This is a short five minute sing-a-long animated video.
Trailers – The Smurfs: Season One, Volume One, Be My Valentine Charlie Brown: Deluxe Edition, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Presents: Academy Awards Animation Collection – 15 Winners – 28 Nominees, Tom And Jerry Tales, Vol. 4, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: The Complete First Season, and Pop Go The Wiggles
The feature length film will be coming out on DVD sometime in the next three or four months and I’m willing to bet most people will end up passing on this one for that. That is the wrong way to go about all this. Everyone should pick up this DVD simply for the two Horton stories and even more so, the documentary in the special features. Kids and parents alike can enjoy this together as a family or separately. You’ve got to really check out the original before or even after seeing the new and “improved” one. There’s plenty more included here as well that will keep you busy for close to five hours. I’d say that is good and some are really such a sight; that you’d do better staying in, and watching all of them for the night. Oh boy!
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Warner Bros. presents Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who!: Deluxe Collection. Directed by: Chuck Jones. Starring: Hans Conried, Chuck Jones, June Foray. Written by: Dr. Seuss. Running time: 26 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: March 4, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
About Danny Cox
