Like the giant animated elephant star of "Horton Hears a Who!" you'll be surprised at what you're hearing.
Yes, that really is Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Seth Rogen, Carol Burnett and Amy Poehler — all in the same movie. If the five formed a basketball team of comedy, they'd be angling for a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday. And none of the comics is doing a dumbed-down kid-flick voice. Well, except for Burnett, who may not even have a normal voice.
Given the whimsical Dr. Seuss source material, the words tend to outshine the vocals, but the actors do what they can to distinguish their lines with enthusiasm and inflection. Which is nice, because the thin, over-stretched tale needs every bit of laugh gas in the tank to clunk past the finish line. "Horton" is no revelation, but it's certainly an improvement over the Seuss-aptations "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Cat in the Hat."
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Directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino meld the celebrity voices with robust computer animation — as well as a hand-drawn dream sequence — to advance the scope of the kiddie book and the 26-minute cartoon version released in 1970.
An uptight elephant, Horton (Carrey) is the only one aware of the existence of Whoville, a realm that exists entirely within a piece of dust sitting atop a clover. Concerned that the town could be crushed or swept away by his oblivious animal neighbors, Horton is determined to save the town by getting it to a safe place atop a mountain. His Whoville stories make him a laughingstock, raising the ire in particular of an overprotective mother kangaroo (Burnett), who believes all beliefs that aren't hers are bad for children and should be banned.
The town's Mayor (Carell), speaking through a voice-amplifying pipe, faces a similar dilemma, with none of the Whos believing there's a giant, invisible elephant warning the mayor of impending doom.
There's a healthy mix of slapstick and sly social satire aimed at adults. The young and old alike will be able to appreciate the quirks of Whoville, a lively society of crooked, angular houses and hairy-faced Grinch-like creatures who use the word "who" as liberally a universal prefix as the Smurfs do "smurf."
Carrey, resisting the urge to let his trademark lunacy fly free, steals the film with authoritative cool. He plays Horton as a steadfast innocent who remains calmly determined despite mounting antagonism.
The overarching lesson for kids is to trust those who claim to hear voices, as well as compulsively worry that any time they bust out a dust cloth, they may be destroying thousands of civilizations. Huh. It's definitely best to hope the little ones laugh too hard to consider the story's implications.
Horton Hears a Who!
***
• Rated: G for all audiences.
• Voice cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen.
• Directors: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino.
• Family call: Fine for families.
• Running time: 85 minutes.
