Blue Sky's TERRIBLE Horton Hears a Who...

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:02]Why are you like this?

[00:00:03]>> This is Blue Skye's terrible Horton.

[00:00:06]Here's a Who Released in 2008. This was the first adaptation for Blue Sky Studios. And if there's one particular thing that stands out to me about this movie, it's kind of gray and to me comes off a little bit boring. Possibly one of the worst words you want to hear in association with a Dr. Seuss adaptation.

[00:00:27]Overall, blue sky movies tend to run with original ideas or most notably making five movies out of the first idea they ever had and then Disney covered them further with six and seven. No. At this point in time, the Dr. Seuss estate was in a little bit of a post Cat in the Hat crisis. Having initially found success with Universal and the Jim Carrey Grinch movies, things hadn't quite gone to plan when applying that same principle to Cat in the Hat and Mike Meyers. And even though now it's kind of considered an ironic modern classic, even then that's not exactly the result you want from your blockbuster kids movie. Alas, the Dr. Seuss estate blocked any future liveaction movies, which is why we've only had animation since. The first of these being Blue Sky Animations Hort and Here's a Who. So, how did it go? Well, let's take a look.

[00:01:18]I will say this movie opens with some stunning animation off rip. This opening shot of water droplets on a leaf just looked like the real deal. Blue Sky boasting Toy Story 4 levels graphics in 2008. Incredible. But don't get your hopes up, though. That's pretty much the best shot of the movie. Kind of funny thinking about the wacky design of the rest of the movie. Just wait until you see Horton's wacky NPC friends and their designs.

[00:01:43]They just decided to go 11 for this one sequence. All right, guess it's all about first impressions. It's also here you realize just the complete blizzard of names this movie had in the cast as they flash up on the screen. Jim Carrey again, Steve Carell, Amy Polar, Seth Rogan, Isa Fischer, Jonah Hill, Will Arnett, and Selena Gomez. Good lord, there's so much to say about that. And the immediate one is what a bizarre overlap of errors of people. What does it say about the industry that this the same people still being used now?

[00:02:13]And for a lot of them, this was actually their first animated movie credit.

[00:02:18]Before all of them, there was Horton.

[00:02:21]Here's a Who. Even just Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Seth Rogan alone feel like three different clusters of American comedy movies. And of all things, it's coming from the now forgotten Dr. Seuss movie from the Ice Age studio that converged all of these people. Weird. As we pan out from here, we do get a pretty seamless transition into a more susian art style. The opening of this movie inevitably parallels the Grinch's opening, considering both of them are about tiny world of the Who's. But whereas the Grinch's world of the Who's was on a snowflake, this faction are instead on a single piece of pollen on a flower, which I'm feeling the effects of. My hay fever histamines are going off on me in the background with this video. They really want you to understand the sense of scale in this movie. So, they drill that in from this opening sequence. We then see the spec dislodged from the flower into the wacky jungle of our principal characters introduced like it's a world of its own from the photorealistic one we've just seen. I am honestly so down with this opening sequence right up to the spec floating through the giant 3D logo. I love when a movie finds a creative way to introduce its title. We have so many movies now that think it's more artistic to show it at the end, but no, man. Have a big 3D one at the start. Please give me the goods. I love getting jump scared from the Toy Story 2 titles back in the day.

[00:03:41]Unfortunately, while I do have praises for this movie, and maybe you can argue this falls into the mid dull category instead with our binary descriptions of amazing or terrible, inevitably there's going to be some complaints. And the real big overviewing one I have is that this opening is unfortunately the strongest part of the movie.

[00:04:03]It's literally all downhill from here.

[00:04:05]It's been a great way to immerse the audience into the world before a single word's even been uttered. It's great cinematic art up to this point, but not for long because it's time to introduce ourselves to Horton.

[00:04:22]There's still all sorts of micro praises to be in there. Like with his introduction, I like how we have the logic of elephant ear turning into a swimming cap.

[00:04:30]Also kind of interesting on a meta front that the second real movie they made and they went with another elephant character. Is Manny the reason they were chosen for this movie?

[00:04:39]>> I wouldn't draw attention to myself, pal.

[00:04:41]>> And another strength you can definitely say is that this definitely looks different from their other movies. It's not like illumination's version of the Grinch where it's kind of half Seuss half despicable me in visual design.

[00:04:52]Though it is also to note a connection there. Chris Meladandry is involved in Blue Sky and this was actually his last movie with this studio before starting things up with Illumination and similarly taking the rights it seems of Dr. Seuss IP since now Illumination are the ones going off to make the Lorax and the Grinch. But enough about the backstory. A bit unusual for a Seuss movie, but still, it's only at this point that we get the trademark narration coming in >> in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool.

[00:05:20]>> Over 3 minutes in without a narrator. I mean, that must be a record for him.

[00:05:24]>> When Horton the Elephant heard a small noise, >> inciting incident right away, this movie ain't messing around. Well, in a minute, it very much does, but not up to this point.

[00:05:34]>> Jump on board.

[00:05:36]>> Horton himself being voiced by the apparent king of Dr. Seuss characters.

[00:05:40]Jim Carrey of course kind of gets overlooked that he played two iconic Dr. Seuss characters. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Dr. Seuss estate themselves actually wanted it back as obviously being one of the best adaptated forms of the live action movies.

[00:05:55]If anything, you can see Carrie's energy in the voice booth being 100% more extra than what's on screen. But I think that's a notable thing here as well.

[00:06:04]This is not exactly a character that makes the most of Jim Carrey, which is probably why it's not as remembered.

[00:06:10]Again, a little on the dull side. The most you really get is these sequences of kid targeted slapstick to fill in the time.

[00:06:18]>> I think I swallowed one. Anyway, here's the one character everyone seems to remember.

[00:06:24]I feel like she's in a strange collection of characters in the same category as the do the raw kid. You know, she joins a colorful ensemble that what what are these even meant to be?

[00:06:34]Like the natural extension of Horton's classic gray elephant look was this.

[00:06:41]I'd wager do not match the incredibly realistic design of Horton. It's like the budget went on him whilst the others feel much more like the creators of Nickelodeon's Barnyard showed up and dropped some LSD on set.

[00:06:55]>> I mean, as far as I'm aware, none of these guys in Horton's class are in the book. They're basically a let's make some vaguely Dr. Seuss looking characters. There is one character from the book of course though. This Karen, I mean kangaroo.

[00:07:07]>> The jungle is no place to act like a wild animal.

[00:07:11]>> I'm sure the writers thought that was really clever. Not the most original character in the world, but she is straight out of the book. So, what are they going to do? Weirdly, I think this may be the introduction to the Karen stereotype for a lot of us. Back to a bit which I do like actually is the first Horton imagination sequence. All of which are gloriously 2D animated.

[00:07:30]>> I want to live.

[00:07:33]>> The Horton world may generally be a decent realization of the Sue style, but these sequences literally look like a page from one of the books in motion.

[00:07:43]>> There must be someone on top of that small speck of >> Yeah. Where they do insert the narrator and his rhymes, you do wonder if he needs to be there at points. Not the best use of this adaptative node, I guess. Like even as an 11-year-old, I got what was happening here. You've gone to the trouble of animating Horton's thoughts only to then spell them out as well. Tell don't show. Both, but not as well. I got to go. Katie, you're in charge. As we go into Horton chasing the spec, we have an enjoyable gag from the monkeys.

[00:08:13]>> Give me those.

[00:08:16]>> No notes. And the banana armpit artillery gags pretty funny as well.

[00:08:20]>> Bring the ammo.

[00:08:22]The Wicicoers definitely have the best gags in the movie. Followed by some flare of Jim Carrey with the slow-mo gag.

[00:08:28]>> The diplomatic process is beginning to break down.

[00:08:31]>> And finally, he retrieves the spec.

[00:08:34]>> I know I heard you say something. I just know it.

[00:08:37]>> And immediately Karen Guru is on the scene to be the onenote antagonist.

[00:08:41]>> You will not breathe a word of this lie to anyone else. which does add some social commentary about saying the right ideas in the community which seem relevant to certain things going on.

[00:08:51]It's just a tad force that she goes this hard on him and the damn flower this early. Like I feel like there could have been a bit more of a buildup behind this to the flower is dangerous for our children point. You know, >> do not want you poisoning their minds with this nonsense.

[00:09:07]>> It's just a bit of a rush narrative, is it? actually getting to see that paranoia build up rather than being the message crusher right away could have actually made this better. Just because that's the message of the story, it doesn't mean this execution is clever.

[00:09:20]Again, adaptive wise, not very good.

[00:09:22]There's also some solid carry in this exchange >> and then maybe someone else will come along and say, "Are you calling me a liar?"

[00:09:27]>> A particular highlight being Horton's ears turning into a flat cap as he illustrates the flight, showing some genie like flashes in there. Anyway, let's go to the Who's world now. Hello.

[00:09:40]>> With a zoom in transition that must have been complicated to animate.

[00:09:43]>> Horton was right.

[00:09:46]>> Taking us to a world with all the more social commentary. It is Dr. Seuss >> feeling happy and safe knowing only good news.

[00:09:53]>> Yep. We've got a tale of two sheltered worlds going on here. This one led by a tiny Steve Carell and his huge family. A predespicable me Steve Carell. Ah, history. I remember it well. before he'd never get to use his own accent in voice acting again.

[00:10:08]>> 96 daughters and some there, some of you here.

[00:10:11]>> The Who's design of course significantly differs from the button-nosed humanoid look of the other Jim Carrey fronted Dr. Seuss movies featuring the Who's again.

[00:10:20]Weird it happened twice. Here, their brown fur marks them as more definitively a species of their own design-wise. They're an interesting case study.

[00:10:28]>> Oh, I will think about it. as then Illumination would go back to the more human look with the Grinch movies. Like despite being animated characters, they look even more humanlike than in the live action Grinch movie. What a timeline the Who's have been on on camera.

[00:10:43]>> Two, it's a teenage sweetheart. It's to >> wonder how they'll play into the Warner Brothers susverse. They seem like connective cornerstone beings within it.

[00:10:51]At the same time, they otherwise may as well be weird furry humans in this version, particularly with the 2008 coded dialogue. Can I please have a who phone, dad?

[00:11:01]>> And you can't have 2008 coded movie lines without the emo kid showing up who doesn't speak.

[00:11:07]>> His son, the smallest who of all, >> complete with a bit of down with the kids dialogue.

[00:11:12]>> So Jojo, what's uh what's shaken?

[00:11:14]>> And the big thing is that Jojo here is seemingly heir to the throne of May. So we have a mayoral monarchy and the son has the birthight of mayor over the 96 daughters. Hey, why does he GET MORE?

[00:11:30]>> I agree with her. Also, side note, um, one of these daughters is voiced by a very young Selena Gomez. That's her credit in this movie. One of 96 daughters that gets sidelined for the boy. Like, it is quite impressive to imply that many female characters and still managed to make the one male character the center of attention. 2008.

[00:11:49]You know what's awesome? This. It could be argued it's to show the families behind the times. So, I guess that does check out. But why not have 96 sons and one emo daughter when otherwise your only female character with agency is the damn Karen Kangaroo? H even if you argue it's a Dr. Seuss thing from the original books. You think maybe that's one of the things you should change in the adaptation for a modern 21st century picture.

[00:12:13]>> There is nothing like being mayor.

[00:12:16]>> Anyway, shall we get one of the earliest examples of Seth Rogan having a voice role in every movie?

[00:12:21]>> I am really happy you found this speck.

[00:12:24]I do think there are voice lines that he does suit, but perhaps the mouse, whose physical characteristic is zooming and zipping around, >> keeping it to yourself >> wasn't the one. Like, he'll move from one place to another really quickly and then just talk like Seth Rogan. It's weird.

[00:12:42]>> That's awesome, Horton.

[00:12:43]>> Speaking of weird, the gang of random colorful characters is here.

[00:12:48]And this is the point you realize, oh man, we had an hour and a half of an elephant trying to secretly protect a speck. This is the original story, but as with many Seuss adaptations, this is the stretching of a 5 to 10 minute story into a 90-minute feature film. It feels like the movies just making extra time with what will be a series of either you can't tell anyone or the intercutting between the jungle and the patriarchy ruled for the sake of variety. But you can still ultimately feel this is a stretching of a preschool story book because that's fundamentally what it is.

[00:13:23]Perhaps it's hard to adapt a Dr. Seuss movie, not just for the visuals, but for the actual narrative as well. At every point, it feels like there's something wrong with the way it's been adapted from the source material. So yeah, good luck to Warner Brothers and their old Cat in the Hat animated movie already been delayed once, so we'll see how that works out for him. This is also somewhat around prime Jonah Hill time and it's hard not to notice him once again cast as the chubby character. You know, background character voice acting controversies. They eb and flow in new waves. Nowadays, it's Chris Pratt and everything. Back then it was Jonah Hill.

[00:13:57]Let's not even talk about personal life stuff as well with all sorts of cast members. But anyway, on the Jonah Hill front, you can see this as well in Megamind and How to Train Your Dragon.

[00:14:06]Woo! 2008. We'll tell them not to tell anyone. Perfect.

[00:14:11]>> And here we have the point where you have more interaction between Horton and his effect on Hooville. Finally, >> they don't feel themselves.

[00:14:20]>> Hey, look at that.

[00:14:21]>> Leading the mayor towards doing the unthinkable, delivering bad news. Well, following the who salute that's mercifully angled at 12:00 and not 11. Where's Hulon when you need him? God, that was a long time ago.

[00:14:34]and also yesterday.

[00:14:37]>> But of course, the meeting ends with the old Jules plotline of governmental ignorance and going ahead anyway.

[00:14:43]>> But as you see, it's beautiful day. The beaches are open.

[00:14:46]>> I guess it feels less like a mayorbased dictatorship if he has accountability with a council and more of a whole council keeping their society in ignorance despite the mayor of generational statuses warning leading the mayor to accidentally staple his own face in frustration. Yeah, cuz that can just happen to be fair. It's kind of my humor sometimes. Sometimes with said pain leaning to the next port of contact with Horton as we step closer to this Bruce and Evan almighty reunion.

[00:15:14]>> This is the mayor.

[00:15:14]>> The mayor. I'm talking to the >> which in the timeline just happened last year. Everything's in place to send this humble mayor into existential crisis.

[00:15:27]It's definitely the interactions between the two worlds where this movie really pops. Less of the keep big secret beats that come straight out of the family movie playbook. Whilst the kangaroo character from the book has her function, the rest of it is what drags the movie down. I basically know nothing about the ensemble jungle characters and likewise have no interest to find out.

[00:15:49]And when I say the mayor has an existential crisis, I mean the mayor takes himself straight to the doctor.

[00:15:55]Well, scientist anyway, just to reinforce some exposition of the stakes.

[00:15:59]>> Our world would be destroyed.

[00:16:01]>> And with a couple of lines and a lisp, that's her role done for now. All leading to the mayor just telling Horton they need a new and stable home, which in fairness, they make a good case of showing why that isn't so easy.

[00:16:13]>> This entire jungle IS A HOUSE OF DEATH.

[00:16:16]>> And apparently, Horton has hyperpowered sight as well as he's able to spot a flower from a mountain away. And of course, it's the flowers the spec got knocked off in the first place.

[00:16:26]>> There he knew every who would be safe.

[00:16:31]>> We are not the same.

[00:16:33]>> Anyway, >> I found it, mayor.

[00:16:34]>> The perfect place.

[00:16:36]>> And thank god someone has the self-awareness of the Smurfesque who puns.

[00:16:40]>> Sticking who in front of everything doesn't make it hurt less.

[00:16:43]>> And now it's time for the anime scene.

[00:16:45]Maybe an artistic flourish. Maybe an overdone trope that every animated comedy seems to do now. Definitely Jim Carrey doing the accent.

[00:16:54]>> So, you think you can sneak up on me?

[00:16:55]>> If anything, I kind of wish they'd done this sequence with the Seuss aesthetics like the animation earlier, but I could see what they were going for. Maybe it just seems a bit out of place. This random anime bit. I like the idea that CG characters think in 2D animation, THOUGH.

[00:17:12]>> There's some logic to that.

[00:17:15]>> Oh, sorry, little fella. Lisa's creative and more interesting than >> we've all got our own clovers with worlds on them.

[00:17:21]>> A Christ, go away. It's giving unnatural friend character. Except it's not even Disney's wish where they stuff them in a seven dwarves reference.

[00:17:29]>> That Horton is a menace.

[00:17:31]>> Sure, they feed into the parental outrage plotline of the kangaroo, but she seemed fine doing that on her own in the book. And I know Katie is the character our mean-coded brains ironically remember, but her character design absolutely reeks of ugly 2000 CG.

[00:17:46]A look that this movie generally avoids.

[00:17:49]>> And poop butterflies.

[00:17:52]>> And I say meme coded because her big gag is redoing the Simpsons Hedge meme.

[00:17:59]>> Hey there, thank you for making it to the halfway mark of this video. Come subscribe if you haven't already for more terrible movies. With this, I think we've concluded pretty much every Dr. Seuss animated movie, and we still got a good way to go to complete all the Blue Sky movies, but we're working on it. So, thank you for joining along. And now to the second half of this video.

[00:18:18]I know the movie was also made under Fox, but come on, that's plagiarism.

[00:18:25]>> Oh, yeah. The kangaroo. We haven't seen her in a while. Better get her to deliver another variant of her one line.

[00:18:32]>> Give me that clover Horton. So hand it over.

[00:18:34]>> Kind of a weird society this jungle where everyone just goes along with this kangaroo's ideals without question. It's like if a mom at the school gates became a dictator >> and I'm going to make you pay.

[00:18:46]>> Which to be fair isn't that farfetched.

[00:18:48]Anyway, here's the famous line.

[00:18:50]>> Person no matter how small.

[00:18:53]>> I'll give it this. Kids watching this will leave with a clear idea of the morals of this movie. I'd say it does better than the Lorax. Anyway, >> so never can forget that. But then the monkeys are just there at her will like some wicked witch of the west situation.

[00:19:11]>> Sure, we briefly established at the start that the monkeys weren't keen on the guy, but all of a sudden they just all appear, which seems convenient and a half to me. So is this bridge that suddenly turns up in this world that appears barren of humans.

[00:19:23]>> When they build a bridge like this, they take into account that elephants will be crossing here. Who's they? The monkeys.

[00:19:29]Whatever. They get the shot used on the poster from this sequence. So, what can you do? Also, the framing for this piece of bridge to dental slapstick.

[00:19:40]Again, it's kind of hitting on my humor.

[00:19:42]Pain, but only sometimes. I mean, pain in the dentist, but maybe an evil part of me finds it more funny when it's actually live action. You know, I'm a big Home Alone guy, but even then, you can go too far.

[00:19:54]Look at the Home Alone remake. It's not Christmas. Why am I bringing this up in May? Anyway, whilst it is a pretty common phrase, he is the first two times Jim Carrey would say this line in a 2008 animated movie. I'm light as a feather.

[00:20:08]The other being him as Scrooge in the weird looking motion capture Christmas Carol from the Polar Express guys. My guy did Seuss and Dickens in the same year, as well as adding the other grumpy Christmas character to his resume. Guess the guy really just hates Christmas. I got to stop mentioning Christmas. I'm It's blazing hot today. Anyway, I'd say the line here gets a better payoff.

[00:20:32]There are some solid gags in here. You know, that's just the blue sky forte.

[00:20:36]Even in the worst Ice Age sequels, you will still find some great jokes.

[00:20:41]Anyway, this inevitably ends with a needle stabbing the mayor in the wrong place. His arm, which we then see play out in more family movie slapstick ways to kill Mortime. That's what happens when you adapt a 72page book from 1954. Man, the good doctor could have doubled that word count if he'd added in a bit of bridge to dentist action. Although, he did cheat on his wife, so maybe he wasn't such a good doctor. That could have been a disaster. Anyway, want to see the obligatory and pointless scene where classic characters dance modern music?

[00:21:13]It's a standard.

[00:21:17]You're welcome. And remember the emo son from like half an hour ago? But the screenplay is also just remembered, too.

[00:21:24]>> Hey, Jojo. They barely give him any screen time, yet his arc is the climax of the movie. There are certainly some decisions happening here, aren't there?

[00:21:32]Even the boy who outranks 96 girls doesn't get a lot of screen time. Maybe this movie just hates children. We also get the wife's first line in the entire movie, which is about as complex as you'd expect.

[00:21:43]>> What are you doing?

[00:21:44]>> Yep, it's another incredible use of Amy Polar. Not even Inside Out could get this much death out of her. I feel like we often get to this point where the male character just rambles off the plot onto the unsuspecting wife and he ends up looking crazy. It happens a lot and always ends up with the wife saying, >> "I know you're under a lot of stress."

[00:22:04]>> But you know what? Maybe it's fine. It's only 2008. At least they don't take the bait in getting her to say, "It's not the end of the world, honey.

[00:22:10]>> It's not the end of the world."

[00:22:14]>> Oh, time for more Carrie and Carell antics. 96 daughters, >> busy guy. We now increasingly head into the territory of character embarrassed of thing they've discovered despite being positions where they could easily prove what's happening. Such a cliche.

[00:22:31]Secretary earlier was literally right by the speaker he was talking through. I just forget how high this movie scored on the cliche bingo, which we need to make. Anyway, our beloved mare then evades the request of his 96 daughters to disrupt his emo son instead just as he's about to sneak out the window to have his subplot.

[00:22:48]>> Hey, Jojo. Lot of liquid. Lot of liquid.

[00:22:51]>> In true Henry VII fashion, he's all about that male air.

[00:22:54]>> You can be whatever kind of mayor you want to be.

[00:22:57]>> Sentiment that goes down so well he runs off to do his rudely interrupted subplot and tragically misunderstood by his dad.

[00:23:05]I say subplot. We just see him go into his lonely observatory where I guess he spends his life being sad rather than anything that will save the whole town later.

[00:23:13]>> What was inside there? I'd say if I could.

[00:23:16]>> Spoilers.

[00:23:17]>> Meanwhile, the kangaroo goes to an eagle just to take a flower from Horton.

[00:23:22]>> Mr. Vlad.

[00:23:24]>> Lady, if you just let the damn elephant put his flower on the mountain, life would be a lot easier for you. But who am I to stop a woman with a principle?

[00:23:32]Unfortunately, this is as strong as the female characters get in this movie. So, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if she just plowed on to destroy the spec, even if she knew there were thousands of people on it.

[00:23:41]>> I want that clover destroyed.

[00:23:43]>> I think again, that's the issue when you make a short story with caricatures that you then have to balloon into a feature where their principles are drawn out and come across completely unreasonable.

[00:23:53]Also, yes, the eagle is voiced by Will Arnette.

[00:23:56]>> Easy peasy. Man's got a thing going with voice roles for comedy versions of dark, isolated characters in caves.

[00:24:03]>> What do you think?

[00:24:05]>> Meanwhile, the morning frost has brought snow into the town because apparently they never came across morning frost incidents when they were on a flower.

[00:24:12]And they keep pushing this idea of the end of the world to add states for the who's >> headed for disaster.

[00:24:20]>> It makes sense the scientist who doesn't know about Horton would think that. But with no knowledge of the eagle guy, there shouldn't be much reason for the mayor to worry about that extreme. He's got a cosmically inconceivable elephant on his side.

[00:24:36]Also, remember the Morton mouse character from like 20 minutes ago. You know, the Seth Rogan one. I know it's a bit of a faint blurry memory at this point, isn't it?

[00:24:48]>> I hate running.

[00:24:49]>> Anyway, he's back for sheer narrative function. Word is she's gone to Vlad.

[00:24:54]>> How does he know that? I hate it when my secret evil plan gets leaked with no logical explanation. I mean, I guess at least they established earlier that he was fast to explain how he got to Horton on his quest so quickly. Also, the Eagles called Vlad. I guess Selena Gomez isn't the only Hotel Transylvania crossover in here. Vlad. I know two Vlads. At least in that one, she got to be the spotlight daughter character rather than just one of 96 of them.

[00:25:22]Well, time to get in Horton's otherwise famous line from the books. And an elephant's faithful 100%.

[00:25:29]>> I could be wrong. It may be from both books, but I think they actually took that from another Seuss book, Horton Hatches the Egg, where he literally nests on an egg for a bird. Either way though, this guy is just so pure. Always looking out for people. Pretty sure the kangaroos tried to screw with him in that one as well. Poor fella. Wonder if there would have been a sequel if this movie actually did better. That's my code. My motto. So Horton warns the mayor about the eagle, which seems a bit redundant with the scales we're playing at here. But unfortunately, the mayor has bigger issues. Bureaucracy.

[00:26:00]>> The city council. They never listened to me.

[00:26:04]>> My guy should just do the new presidential thing and ignore the constitution entirely. Apparently, it works. Or what they call this the constitution in this society.

[00:26:12]>> Okay, listen.

[00:26:15]genuinely made me jump. And having seen Horton moving about vigorously in previous scenes with almost no effect on Huville, all of a sudden it's maximum impact because the bad guys now here.

[00:26:29]There is no consistency with this movie's physics.

[00:26:34]Thankfully, Horton hears a catapulted eagle right in the >> And now it's left to the mayor to spread the words. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to actually have any power at all.

[00:26:46]Rather, the chair of the council seems to be the real guys in power, which may be semifaithful to standard process, but a bloodline of mares certainly isn't.

[00:26:55]>> The mayor is just being a >> Like, what does the mayor actually do in Whoville? He doesn't have a say in anything. Do this democratically.

[00:27:04]>> I mean, yeah, that's what's supposed to happen. Was he not an elected official?

[00:27:08]Of course though. No one goes for this option. in the HOUSTON IN AN UNDERGROUND STORAGE AREA.

[00:27:13]>> And you know how this goes.

[00:27:16]>> YEAH.

[00:27:18]>> CROWD goes silent. May tries to tell them about Horton. They all laugh at him.

[00:27:25]But wait, surely if Horton spoke to them, that Cell thinks hopefully nothing happens to the I know.

[00:27:34]Ah, that's unfortunate. We've reached the low point for the characters, everybody. Eagle got the clover and no one believes the mayor.

[00:27:42]>> KITEFLY RACE BEGIN.

[00:27:44]>> There is a great visual of Horton moving like a steam train. Yeah, that's pretty neat.

[00:27:50]He then proceeds to scale this tall and steep mountain and catch up to a flying eagle in record time though, which is a tad hard to believe for an elephant.

[00:28:03]>> By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

[00:28:05]>> I get it. Don't apply real physics to a Dr. Seuss movie, but still. Meanwhile, another meaty piece of dialogue for Amy Polar >> and GET SOMEWHERE SAFE.

[00:28:14]>> I WILL.

[00:28:15]>> COOL. That'll do. Also, get emo boy back in there, ready to actually do something in the finale. I tell you what would make this worse. The eagle dropping the clover in an inexplicably large field full of the same clovers. And that'll just be awful. No. No.

[00:28:30]Why is this damn field bigger than the jungle? Like, it goes all the way out to the horizon. Also again, all because a damn kangaroo got annoyed about an elephant and his flower.

[00:28:43]A big conundrum. So what does Horton do in this situation? After all, this massive field would be the safest place for the town, right? The kangaroo, eagle, and all complacent animals won't be finding a speck in that field very easily anytime soon. And you know, maybe this is for the best, and the Horton should leave them be. But clover by clover by clover he found. Or he could completely deforest the entire field, completely destroying a whole ecosystem and potentially billions of other hoovils in there. We don't know. They could be. We just haven't heard them yet. I'm sure the Lorax would be elated about this little number. Pretty diabolical actions if you ask me. What message are we leaving the kids with this? If you drop something in a field, >> kill the field. Our narrator, who just remembered to participate again, by the way, tells us he plucked 9,05 flowers in the end. What a hero.

[00:29:37]>> Was all his searching finally done?

[00:29:39]>> Does it matter anymore? Look at all those dead plants. But yes, he's found Whoville, which has now been completely devastated. Enjoying the movie, kids?

[00:29:48]Thankfully, being a family movie, this is merely a townwide fake out death scene. That's got to be a record, right?

[00:29:55]Most amount of fake deaths in a movie.

[00:29:57]Everyone's still there and they just weren't saying anything whilst the post- disaster shots were on display.

[00:30:03]>> You're okay. Harden, stop.

[00:30:06]>> Q's silent smile from wife before male lead addresses the town. What a journey this character's having.

[00:30:12]>> Hooray.

[00:30:14]>> And we believe in you. And with that, Horton removes them from the field he's destroyed that they would have actually been safer in and takes them up to the tall exposed mountain with high winds instead where we've already established an eagle has access to. Great idea.

[00:30:31]Incredible writing. Am I criticizing Dr. Seuss at this point? I'm sorry. Was the field in the books? I don't think so.

[00:30:37]Unfortunately, the Marge Simpson of birds is on hand, too, to sound the alarm that it's time for the climax.

[00:30:43]>> I got to get to the kangaroo. Woohoo!

[00:30:46]Well, you could start by learning a name. And this is just rude. Not a good time to be an eagle taking a victory lap.

[00:30:51]>> Me you're talking to. We have history.

[00:30:53]>> Is the implication here that the eagle and the kangaroo hooked up? Well, anyway, let's move on to the make the jungle of new great again speech. Try fitting that one on a hat.

[00:31:02]>> There once was a time when people were people and specs were specs.

[00:31:05]>> I mean, you're technically all different animal species rather than people, but carry on. Also, again, this is a very extra measure against an elephant and his flower that he's not even making anyone else's problem at this point. But I suppose you can draw some real world parallels there, can't you? I can imagine some certain parts of this world where you could convince a collection of idiots to be outraged over a guy holding a flower.

[00:31:27]>> Our way of life is under attack.

[00:31:29]>> It's pretty clear, yet the movie wastes no time in spelling its message out as well. NOT THE CHILDREN, >> cuz the kids won't get it if you don't bash him over the head with it.

[00:31:39]>> When tells our children about worlds beyond the jungle, he makes them question authority.

[00:31:42]>> This is just a watered down version of the Bug's Life speech anyway. But still, the kangaroo successfully mobilizes a mob of fascist parents.

[00:31:53]And we then once again have an incident where the scale of distance and time gets a little messy because this time the entire jungle catches up with Horton within minutes on a path that took him days to complete. They're really Game of Thronesing this. Better still, they're coming from the direction he's facing.

[00:32:13]So, of course, we have to roll this clip again.

[00:32:15]>> This does make sense.

[00:32:17]>> Does anyone in this movie want to make a self-aware joke that they've seemingly teleported? No. Okay, like this is the studio that made Ice Age for God's sake.

[00:32:26]>> Guess not. Bye.

[00:32:27]>> That movie was one giant journey, yet you let this plot hole slip through.

[00:32:31]>> Let's ro them.

[00:32:33]>> Jesus Christ. It's a flower. But that's what they do. They tie him up and get ready to burn that flower. And what does it all boil to? Well, the Karen principle.

[00:32:43]>> That you were wrong and I was right.

[00:32:46]>> Over this argument about a speck, she gets Horton caged up in a boiling cauldron to destroy the flower. We've got to make some noise.

[00:32:54]>> And here we are. Time for the emo child to suddenly become relevant to the story. In the midst of the most Dr. Seuss looking shots of the movie, our boy's off to his observatory, only to reveal >> Jojo, you built this.

[00:33:08]>> An observatory full of musical instruments that he's managed to keep secret this entire time. And thankfully survived that devastating fall that destroyed half the buildings despite all the delicate parts within it. There's another plot hole for you. Also lucky that the thing he was hiding was the thing they needed to save the day. It's an entertaining sequence nonetheless, despite the stakes being completely ridiculous with the crazed authoritarian kangaroo. And it's right up to the last moment. Kangaroo ready to drop it.

[00:33:40]>> Yes, another silent character goes ahead and saves the day by speaking.

[00:33:46]>> I hear it. I hear it.

[00:33:48]>> Yeah, that's awkward. I mean, she still initially tries to stick it out despite now hearing that people are definitely on their clover. Like, what a psychopath.

[00:33:55]>> Wickers, get that clover.

[00:33:57]>> But it's fine. Horton offers her a cookie.

[00:34:02]>> Why? Why? Why?

[00:34:04]>> There is a weird energy at this point, though, because as soon as it's proven that Horton was right, everyone's now just stood around like, "Whoa, we were like just about to rope the guy up in a cage over this flower." Everyone suddenly becomes aware. Of course, Horton's unapologetically nice about it, but it's hard to put the angry mob genie back in the box. Like, they all did that to him, and it doesn't feel like there's a lot of accountability for it at all.

[00:34:28]And then we get the most random line in the movie from Seth Rogan.

[00:34:31]>> Dude, you are a warrior poet.

[00:34:34]>> Uh, okay. And now Jojo can speak. He chooses to use the newfound voice to roll off on the generic lines.

[00:34:41]>> Dad, you're one of the greats. What are we going to do without you, Horton? And would you be surprised to hear that this ends with a pop song and all of the characters dancing? Don't think so.

[00:34:54]>> And this time we have two worlds of characters dancing. Lucky us. We almost burnt a guy at the stake and now we're going to dance alongside him. That's how we solve society.

[00:35:04]>> Beautiful metaphor.

[00:35:05]>> The final of Amy Polar's 12 to 15 lines in this movie. Sounds expensive per line. Like how many lines have I said in this video? Apparently about 490 including the part where we put clips in. And yes, at a point where maybe a song about two worlds or something coming together could have been the vibe. We instead get >> ah yes, it's a full cast song number. So we get everyone not quite hitting the notes to enjoy too. Love that.

[00:35:38]>> It's funny because the cartoon character is singing badly. Also, just to reinforce that Morton has to be one of the most empty adjective best friend characters ever. Shows up like three times, but ultimately has so little to do as you already have a sort of duo with Horton and the mayor. I just love how irrelevant he is to the overall story. Yet, he still gets this moment to be like, "Hey, look, I'm the funny character singing."

[00:36:01]Like, dude, I barely know who you are.

[00:36:03]And so as the song plows on, the kangaroo uses a little umbrella to help Horton get the flower to the right place. That being the mountain, not the field he destroyed already. Plus the final twist that they're also on a speck out in space like we probably are.

[00:36:21]>> A person is a person, no matter how small.

[00:36:24]>> Just a nice little bit of existential dread to leave your kids with at the end.

[00:36:28]>> Thanks. I hate it. Just like Men in Black and the horrible marble galactic worlds to give you an existential crisis on scale, be nice to others because you could get squashed by a cosmic giant.

[00:36:40]Lovely message.

[00:36:44]And so Katie floated away and died.

[00:36:47]And that was Blue Skye's terrible Horton. Here's a who. It's not quite terrible with a capital T, yet it is definitely worse than I remembered. It once again boils down to the fact that fundamentally they had to blow up a story that was 72 pages that mainly consisted of illustrations and some rhymes. It comes with a great moral for kids as do most Dr. Seuss stuff. Yet, I'm not entirely convinced it was the one that lent itself to being told over a 90-minute period. And it certainly showcases symptoms of poor adaptation choices, if there even is room for good ones. Ah, whatever. If this Cat in the Hat one does well, I'm sure Warner Brothers will do a pointless remake of this thing anyway. Or maybe they'll adapt the Horton Hatches an egg book. I remember. Whatever the case, that was the time Blue Sky had a crack at making a Dr. Seuss movie and then never did again. It's not as bad as Cat in the Hat. But to be honest, most things typically are. For now, though, I'm going to finally end it off there. My name's been Daz. Thank you very much for reaching the end of this video. Do tell us your thoughts on all things Hort and here's a Who. got any particular praises you have for it? Or hey, maybe some alternatives to the adaptation you might have considered instead. I'd love to hear all of your thoughts and more. But otherwise, I shall see you all in a little bit. Cheerio