Any kid will appreciate what dealing with that can be like. All of which is to say that in spite (or perhaps because) of its sublime simplicity, Seuss’ book lends itself flexibly to all manner of interpretations – something which writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul have taken fully on board for their big-screen adaptation.įor here, Seuss’ story of an open-eared elephant preserving a microcosmos against the small-mindedness of his own community is made to resonate with all manner of contemporary preoccupations: America’s culture wars between faith-based religion and the empirical sciences, the need for democratic participation in a world where ‘moral majorities’ do not always talk sense, even the dangers of global warming (and the greater dangers posed by its naysayers).Īll that, though, is for the parents in the audience – what makes this story of scale appeal so universally to children, apart from the bright colours, bizarre characters and gleefully absurd turns of phrase, is its concern with folk who are small, overlooked and easily ignored, and with authorities who can occasionally act with arbitrariness, irrationality and unfairness. Years afterwards, America’s anti-abortion lobby would appropriate Horton’s famous catch-phrase “A person’s a person, no matter how small” to their own cause, leading an irate Seuss to threaten legal action, and his widow Audrey to actually file suit. Review: When Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr Seuss, first published his children’s book Horton Hears A Who! back in 1954, it was widely regarded as an allegorical critique of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the closed ideology of his House of Un-American Activities Committee. The voice cast includes Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Synopsis: This feature-length children’s film uses state-of-the-art CGI to imagine the mannered worlds of Dr Seuss.

Dr seuss horton hears a who 2008