Mom Review: Horton Hears a Who
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Like the rest of my movie reviews, I will not focus on a synopsis of the film or even why I enjoyed it. You can probably read that kind of information on hundreds of other websites. I will focus on if the film is appropriate for children, with a special focus on the children the same age as my daughter – who happens to be five.
Horton Hears a Who is engaging. My five-year-old was able to sit through the entire film without much wiggling. She followed the plot and only had to ask me questions a couple of times. I would say the pacing and vocabulary level of the movie are appropriate for pre-schoolers. Older children will still enjoy the film, and may even pick up on some of the more sophisticated jokes (like pop culture impersonations). Parents who brought much younger children (age two or younger) struggled with their children toward the end of the film, simply because a feature length film is hard for the little ones to sit through.
There was not any fowl language or overt violence. The kangaroo voiced by Carol Burnett was menacing and bullying, but she even had her redeeming moment at the end of the film. I did object with some of the names the city council called the mayor, simply because we do not use those words in our house. The mayor was repeatedly called a boob, an idiot and a moron. I know those are not “bad words” per se, but the use of the words does give the children license to add them to their own vocabulary. You might plan some time after the film to talk to your children why it is not proper or nice to call other people those names.
The animation is stunning and the movie mixes it up a little, giving variety to the process. This is part of what kept the kids so engaged. There were various scenes where the action was shown in classic Seuss style, as well as one sequence using anime style. The computer animation is sometimes so vivid as to look real. The very first shot of the movie is a close-up on a leaf with a drop of water falling from the end. It was so realistic is gave me pause and I wondered if I had been wrong and this movie was really live action.
Overall, this is a film I would not hesitate to recommend to other parents.
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