"Horton Hears a Who"

By: Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

“Even though you can’t see them at all, a person’s a person no matter how small.” The rhyme, the meter and the message, all distinctly Seuss, join forces with Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and engaging animation to make “Horton Hears a Who” a delightful movie for children of all ages as well as adults who have Dr. Seuss in their blood.

“Horton Hears a Who” is about Horton (Jim Carrey), an aloof elephant, who hears a faint, high-pitched voice emanating from a tiny speck floating through the air. Oddly concerned, Horton instinctively tromps through the jungle to save this squeaky speck from destruction. After saving the speck by catching it on a bright pink flower, he establishes a connection with the zany mayor (Steve Carell) of a miniscule town called Whoville located in the center of the speck. Of course, the citizens of Whoville do not know they are little bigger than a molecule, and thus the populace of the community is about as likely to believe their mayor is talking to a giant elephant in the sky as the populace of a jungle is to believe that a goofy elephant has found a microscopic city on a speck.

On the one hand, Horton has to vie with a grouchy and obstinate kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who despises anyone claiming to believe in anything she cannot see, hear or feel. She tries to get Horton to give up his speck, and although one might ask why anyone would care about one elephant’s apparent fantasy, this kangaroo on a mission sees dispelling such fairy tales as a matter of principle. On the other hand, the mayor of Whoville is forced to cope with a pragmatic but delusional city council that strictly defends anything that threatens to sour the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of Whoville. This is not an easy sell-job, to say the least. “Hey, hon,” said the mayor to his wife. “Did you ever get the feeling that you are being watched, and that maybe that thing watching you is … eh, a giant elephant?”

While Horton and the mayor scramble to convince their friends, family and community of what they know, they both discover that Whoville is in great danger, as any slight change in Horton’s environment results in potentially catastrophic changes in Whoville. No one seems to get it besides Horton, the mayor and a select few who are more loyal to their eccentric friends than they are loyal to the idea that another world could exist. Thus, the task is left to Horton to save the speck, and to the mayor to convince the town to prepare for the worst.

How is it that a movie intended for a five-year-old can have more allegory, more metaphor and more meaning than 90 percent of the movies intended for adults? Are kids just more likely to listen? To learn? “Horton Hears a Who” is about faith, about standing up for what you know is right and true no matter what, and about opening ourselves up to the possibility of a world greater or more intricate than our own. Horton promises to save this tiny world, and “he says what he means and he means what he says.” It makes sense that the only characters who are open to the possibility of such alternate realities are the ones that are seen as eccentric, crazy and zany.

The typically-overacting Jim Carrey was perfectly cast as the voice of Horton, as was Steve Carell for the mayor of Whoville. Seth Rogan, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett and Isla Fisher filled out the cast nicely. The animation was brilliant and engaging, and the portion of the screenplay that was in addition to Seuss’ book did not miss a beat. “Horton Hears a Who,” although not at the Pixar level of a genius, was funny, instructive and endearing.

“Horton hears a Who” is rated G.

"The Spiderwick Chronicles"

By: Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

“Their world is closer than you think,” or so the movie tagline says. This world full of fairies, griffins and ogres, the world of “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” is a battle of good versus evil. It excites the imagination; it is fantastical—or so the ads say. The growling voices and flittering wings of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” may be whimsical enough to wow younger children, but the sub-par acting and cliché screenplay will ultimately fail to give older kids and adults an adequate excuse to stay inside on a Saturday afternoon.

Originally a book series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, the cinematic version of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” begins with an obviously discontented single-parent family arriving at their new haunted-mansion-esque home in the wilderness. Originally from New York, Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker), her daughter Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and her twin sons Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore), clearly have some adapting to do if they are to properly adjust to their new, creepy home—the only thing of which they know is that a relative and the last owner of the home was taken to a “nut house” after claiming that her father, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) was taken away by fairies.

As is to be expected, the children quickly discover that their long-forgotten relative was not so nutty after all, and her father was indeed taken away by fairies because he authored a book, “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” revealing the many secrets of a magical world not seen by most. As quickly as the family discovers that there is more to their new home than meets the eye, they also discover that this magical world is not all fairies and pixies. An evil ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) is trying to get his hands on the book so that he can discover the magical secrets chronicled by Spiderwick and use them to destroy everyone and everything. Thus, the task is left to three, out-of-place New York children to protect the book and the magical world from the wrath of this horrible creature.

While these three children are discovering facts about their family’s past, audiences are discovering that this plot is nothing short of formulaic. Even so, the details of the story are somehow still unpredictable at times, and honestly, just about anything with fairies and ogres is fun. At first, the movie seems to be about opening one’s eyes to an imaginative world so often ignored by busy, city-types, but as the story unfolds, the tale also becomes a caution against crippling escapism. Everything in moderation, I suppose is one of the less hackneyed messages of this film. But messages aside, this story is just that—a story. It is a battle between good and evil, and the torn family backdrop gives audiences an easy jumpstart of sympathy for the protagonists.

Unfortunately, the acting was rarely riveting and often inadequate. Even the ever-endearing Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) and David Strathairn (“Good Night and Good Luck”) register sub-par performances. Hearing the names of these familiar faces is usually reason enough to be excited about a movie, but that is all the more reason to be disappointed with this particular result. Movies like this hinge on the audience-protagonist relationship, and the lack of such a connection in “The Spiderwick Chronicles” kept it from delivering a knockout punch.

This movie is fun, this movie is fun—I keep telling myself. It is fun, but not good. If that is all right with you or your children, check out “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is rated PG for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements.