Horton Hears a Who Trailer
20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Movie Stars Jim Carrey and Steve Carell
Jul 29, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann
I liked Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky Animation's Ice Age franchise and I still love Dr. Seuss' bizarre, whimsical children's stories so I was seriously stoked when I learned that Fox and Blue Sky were going to bring the classic Horton Hears a Who to the big screen. It seemed like a “tough to get it wrong” kinda deal, although I have every faith in the average Hollywood executive to muck things up royally.
So far, Fox and Blue Sky seem to have got things right. This movie has a stellar cast list that includes Jim Carrey as the titular Horton, Steve Carell as the Mayor of Who-Ville, Isla Fisher, Seth Rogen, Jaime Pressley, legendary comedian Carol Burnett and Dane Cook. Okay, scratch "stellar" from Dane Cook; I still don’t know why that guy gets work.
Ex-Pixar animator Jimmy Hayword (Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo) is directing the flick, assisted by Steve Martino (Robots). Unfortunately, the screenplay writers don’t inspire as much confidence: Ken Daurio (Bubble Boy, Santa Clause 2) and Cinco Paul (Santa Clause 2).
Now Fox has released the first trailer for this flick and it's mostly a good 'un. First off, the backgrounds are excellent. It isn't Pixar-doing-Ratatouille level but the image of the dew dripping off the leaf is up at the top for a very good freakin' reason. However, the Raiders of the Lost Ark homage in the middle is a little worrying, but the basic story should be fairly fool-proof.
The character designs are what you’d expect: imagine Dr. Seuss’ whimsical visions placed in CGI. Much better than Ron Howard’s live-action Grinch Who Stole Christmas from seven years ago. Of course you have Carrey and Carell's distinctive nuttiness – with two such motormouthed comedians on hand and a fairly brief original story, it's not surprising that the directors would place plenty of spots in the script for Carrey and Carell to go crazy – but the basic idea of the movie comes through. I can't wait to see what Burnett does with her villainous (okay, extremely irritating) Kangaroo character.
So far, I’m buzzed about this flick, but I still have a few reservations. You can check out the trailer here.
Horton Hears a Who in theatres on March 14th, 2008.
Fun Fact: Dr. Seuss' Whos made a much-acclaimed return in the equally classic book The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Jim Carrey starred in a 2000 live-action remake of that story, which also starred Jeffrey Tambor and was directed by Ron Howard. It still doesn't hold a candle to the classic 1966 cartoon Christmas special, which was narrated by the original Scream Machine himself, Boris Karloff. Dr. Seuss plus Boris Karloff equals “Oh baby!”
scene from Horton Hears a Who
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