Directed by Ben Washam & Chuck Jones
Voices: Boris Karloff, Thurl Ravenscroft, Hans Conreid, June Foray
Daddy Says:
Yes, I know it's full-on Summer outside (at least here in the United States it is... turns out we've got some readers from all over the world. Hello, everybody!). But that shouldn't stop you from enjoying some good animated short films, especially if you're wanting to keep your movie choices somewhat family-friendly due to the young age of your partner movie reviewer.
The stories should be fairly familiar to most readers. How the Grinch Stole Christmas tells us about the Whos down in Whoville getting ready to celebrate Christmas, and the Grinch far above who can't stand all the happiness and noise, and comes up with the idea to try and steal Christmas to keep it from coming.
Horton Hears a Who may be less familiar, simply because it isn't shown on television every year in December. It's the story of an elephant named Horton who, with his large ears, is able to hear a voice calling for help emanating from a tiny dust speck. Horton talks to the speck and finds out that there are Whos in there with a whole city of their own. Unfortunately, the Moral Majority, I mean, uh, a kangaroo and some gossipy birds conspire to put Horton in a cage and destroy the dust speck, because obviously since they can't hear anything, Horton must be crazy, and he must be stopped before he brings down property values and family values. I'm probably reading too much into a simple Dr. Seuss story, but it really does seem like he's ranting against the group think mentality here, and is strongly in the corner of the individualist.
The animation doesn't really compare to a movie like Pinocchio. These are Chuck Jones films, and if you look at them you'll see how much like Looney Tunes they resemble. Many times a character will look out at the audience and blink a couple of times, with the accompanying sound effect (a violin being plucked, I believe), just like good ole Wyle E. Coyote does in his cartoons.
Many times the backgrounds are loops which repeat as the foreground moves in place in front of it. This is done as a cost-saving measure and it shows, but we're not really watching these for the quality of the animation. We're watching these for the quality of the story and for characters which we can identify with, and enjoy being around for a short amount of time. And on that basis, these succeed wonderfully. On one aspect, I admit to being slightly confused: If the Whos are actually living inside a dust speck in Horton Hears a Who, does that mean that the entire story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas takes place inside a dust speck? That actually kind of makes sense now that I think about it.
Rating for How the Grinch Stole Christmas & Horton Hears a Who: *****.
My Son Says:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a classic, lovable Christmas story. It's nice to just curl up on Christmas Eve and just enjoy a short film. My favorite part was when the x-ray thing that showed his heart inside was broken apart by his heart expanding three sizes that day. My second favorite part was the song that the Whos sing. My third favorite part was when the Grinch is slithering on the floor like a snake. My least favorite part was when Cyndi Lou Who came into the room.
Horton Hears a Who is also a classic, lovable story. My favorite part was when Horton was struggling, holding the clover with the dust speck on it, being caged and pulled on, when the Who was rushing through the town and found the small boy who couldn't decide between a "yip" or a "yapp". My second favorite part was when Horton first heard the Whos. My third favorite part was when everybody else found out there were actually Whos on the dust speck. My least favorite part was when it ended.
Rating for How the Grinch Stole Christmas & Horton Hears a Who: *****.
I love the fact that in BOTH these movies they stick to Dr. Seuss' written word. If you don't have children, you might not have actually READ a Seuss book. Read one. I recommend Sneetches. Dr. Seuss was most definately an individualist and I don't think my husband was reading anything into what Dr. Seuss was trying to say. He was pretty straight forward about his opinions. But his love of the sound of words and his ability to look beyond our language, make reading his books both challenging and fun.
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