Horton Hears a Who Trailer
20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Movie Stars Jim Carrey and Steve Carell
The first trailer for Twentieth Century Fox's Horton Hears a Who makes its debut. Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino direct.
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!”
