IMDb > Horton Hears a Who! (1970) (TV)

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Horton Hears a Who! (1970) -- Horton The Elephant struggles to protect a microscopic community from his neighbours who refuse to believe it exists.

Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   528 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

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Directors:

Chuck Jones
Ben Washam (co-director)

Writer:

Dr. Seuss (teleplay)

Contact:

View company contact information for Horton Hears a Who! on IMDbPro.

Genre:

Animation | Family | Short more

Plot:

Horton The Elephant struggles to protect a microscopic community from his neighbours who refuse to believe it exists. full summary | add synopsis

User Comments:

A Strange Message Hidden in a Children's Tale more (13 total)


Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Hans Conried ... Narrator / Horton / Dr. H. Hoovey (voice)
June Foray ... Jane Kangaroo / Mother Who / Baby Who / Cindy Lou Who (voice)

Chuck Jones ... Junior Kangaroo / Various Whos / Quizmo McKwoff / JoJo (voice)
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Additional Details

Runtime:

26 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Germany:o.Al.


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

The Grinch makes a brief cameo appearance as one of the Who's in Whoville. more

Quotes:

Mother Who: Is Horton an elephant?
Baby Who: No, ma'am, Horton's a pickle.
Other Baby Who: What's a Horton?
more

Movie Connections:

References How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) (TV) more

Soundtrack:

Horton the Elephant's Going to Be Caged more


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
A Strange Message Hidden in a Children's Tale, 28 December 2008
7/10
Author: Gavin Schmitt (gavin6942@yahoo.com) from Kaukauna, Wisconsin

Horton the Elephant discovers the Whos, a race of people who live entirely on a speck of dust and know nothing of the outside world. His jungle friends don't believe him and turn against Horton, eventually threatening to boil the dust speck in beezlenut oil.

There are at least three layers to this film. On the most superficial level, it's a cartoon featuring an elephant, some little people and a handful of catchy songs that kids and parents will love. This is what you'd get if you weren't following along at all, and you'd still have a good movie.

On the next level, we have the film's core message: a person's a person, no matter how small. This is what most people will walk away with, and the intent is clear: we're all created equally. Whether Suess was focusing on race, gender, physical stature or handicap is unclear... but we get the point -- each of us is human, even if we're different.

The third level is a bit convoluted and I'm not entirely sure I grasp it. The Wickersham brothers accuse Horton of trying to create civil unrest. Here we may see parallels to the events of the 1960s. The Wickersham brothers want to protect "free enterprise" and "compound interest rates" and hope to stop Horton from overthrowing the government. I'm not really sure how that relates to a dust speck... this seems a cheap attempt at attacking extreme right-wingers (such as Joseph McCarthy).

So, you'll like the first and second levels... and the third one just might leave you scratching your head. Or, if you're me, liking it even more. I mean, politics is in no way foreign to Suess -- watch (or read) "The Butter Battle Book" or "The Sneeches" or "The Lorax"...

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