The Dr. Seuss book that Horton is based on targets a 4-to-8 year old demographic. The movie - it would appear - does the same. But if that’s the case, why cast Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill? Are “The Office” and Superbad now favorites of the play age crowd? Here they’re all muted, comedically castrated, being forced to adhere to their Suessian G-rating and leaving the movie feeling too childish and kid-centric to appeal to anyone past the preteen age. The visuals however are infinitely better than either live action Suess adaptation (The Cat in the Hat or How the Grinch Stole Christmas), and we get the usual moral lessons you’ve come to expect, but there’s nothing to distinguish this film. It’s typical of Blue Sky (and Dreamworks), who have managed to pilfer Pixar’s image rendering graphic techniques… but none of their heart. Let your kids watch it, but steer clear of the room when they do.
7 comments:
I totally agree with your Dreamworks line buddy, but this is a Blue Sky production. They made Ice Age and Robots. Obviously not Pixar, but I think they are more interesting than Dreamworks who are making Shrek 4 and Madagascar 2 right now.
Anyways I liked this film quite a bit. I thought it held true to the spirit of Seuss without being a showcase for the talents that all they stars have. Carrey and Carell are subdued, yet still give it enough flair for them to own the role. There is a sweet message here and it worked on me. I didn't think it was bloated like the Grinch film was, nor was it on plague on mankind like Cat in the Hat was.
Plus it is so damn pretty.
You're absolutely right Chachi, I've gone back and fixed my mistake. I still feel the criticism is justified though (when I said DreamWorks, I was still thinking of Ice Age and Robots for some reason).
DreamWorks is the bigger offender, wasting their time on Shark Tale, Madagascar and Over the Hedge in recent years... but do you really feel like Blue Sky comes anywhere near Pixar for quality either? They get the images down better (DreamWorks feels like they're running a couple years behind in this regard) but the stories are all forgettable or in this case taken from an outside source.
When Pixar can get more laughs out of Larry the Cable Guy in their worst film (Cars) than Blue Sky manages out of Carrey, Carrell, Rogen, Hill and even Will Arnett from our beloved "Arrested"... something's wrong dude.
When will someone put Dreamworks out of it's misery...it's like the annoying little sibling who mimics everything you do but terribly. God, I can't take any more from them.
As for this film however, I'm going to agree with Brian in that it is 100% geared toward little tykes (nothing wrong with that) and not really at all to the adults who have to take them to it. Pixar undeniably takes the cake when it comes to making entirely family friendly films.
But I agree with Chachi in that it was certainly endearing and sweet and plays down the big names it's got doing the voices. Hell, Jim and Steve were the only ones I knew who were doing the voices and they had Arnett, Rogen, Hill, Isla Fisher, Amy Poehler and Carol freakin Burnett in the cast! Damn, that's how animated films should be. I miss the days when you had no idea who was doing the voices and could really focus on the story.
So overall, a sweet movie worth a watch if you're staying at home sick and have a hankering for your childhood Dr. Seuss days.
And yes, it certainly IS pretty. (Plus, how hilarious is it that they made JoJo emo?! hahahaha!!)
I agree. Dreamworks produces some bad movies. The graphics are awesome, but the sarcastic, humorous lines just aren't up to par. They're definately not in the same league as Pixar, but you can tell they're trying to stay in competition by having big celebrities cover the voices in compensation for the blah script writing. It's all too commercial and a way to make more money. I agree with Rebecca that it's also better when you don't know who the voices are so you can judge it by the plot.
What has happened to Disney movies anyway? I hate to sound cliche and all...but remember the good old halcyon days when Disney movies were actually GREAT? Now that the picture quality has improved because of awesome technology, where are the memorable characters, catchy songs, and classic morals? I bet we could all easily come up with a top 10 Disney movie list. Top Animation films hasn't been a topic yet, right?
I wouldn't agree with the age range for this movie, I happen to be sixteen years old, and this is my favourite movie, by far! The character Jojo O'Malley Who has been grabbing the hearts of teenage girls ever since it's came out. I think this film was a wonderful, and you know what: Every film production makes a blunder every once in a while. We are all human, why can you not understand that, and stop insulting people? If we didn't make mistakes, we could never exist.
Emo-RoXas
Oh come ON. I'd rate this movie ten stars out of five, off the scale! It's funny and completely awesome! The soundtrack is really great, it always gets me all shivery at the track 'Jojo saves the day' and 'Symphonophone' is so lively and up-beat. Jojo McDodd is apparently the most popular character in the movie (even though he only speaks four times, including once to sing a line of the end song) and my favourite Who, too, which makes the whole movie awesome! It's my favourite movie of all time, and I'm currently working on drawing a graphic novel of the whole thing. THAT IS HOW AWESOME IT IS! (BTW Jojo I love you!)
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