The Show
A tale of open-minded determination with an always-relevant lesson about respect and tolerance, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! is an enjoyable TV classic for young and old. Without the bombast and embellishment of the recent feature film, this 1970 adaptation of the popular book by children's author Dr. Seuss (nee Theodore Geisel) is a sweet little story about a well-meaning elephant who comes into possession of an entire city floating inside a speck of dust. All the other denizens of the jungle deem him insane and intend to destroy the speck, unless he can somehow convince them that there are indeed people within. And, after all, a person's a person, no matter how small.
The unique Seussian style is captured beautifully by director Chuck Jones, working with designer Maurice Noble, with the irresistible rhymes intact and quite a bit of music added. My kids love it, and I can plainly see why.
The Picture
This was produced for television about four decades ago, so this is not the most sophisticated animation you'll ever see, but thanks to a high-definition remaster it is sharp and true. What might be dismissed as noise is actually the faint shifts in color and texture from frame to frame of the hand-painted cels. Most telling is the organic integrity of the ink outlines. For a gander at how much poorer the quality could have been, we need only check out the bonus programs in the special features section. The only real "flaw" in this lovely presentation is a very faint twitch detectable on long static shots of solid-colored backgrounds.
The Sound
Encoded as old-school Dolby Digital 2.0, the mix is all in the front of course, clean and always easy to understand. But not even the songs are in any way sonically outstanding, all 26 minutes are at more or less the same level. There's of course an irony in the acceptably mundane audio for a story that's ultimately about being heard.
The Extras
Two more Dr. Seuss animated adaptations are included: "Dr. Seuss Butter Battle Book" from 1989, produced by Ralph Bakshi, and "Daisy-Head Mayzie," each 24 minutes, technically in HD but looking like upconverted SD, with serious stair-stepping. "In Search of Dr. Seuss" (also HD) is the 90-minute made-for-TV dramatized/comedicized biography of Theodore Geisel, with skits and clips from some of his most famous works. Despite an impressive cast--Robin Williams! Patrick Stewart! Christopher Lloyd!--this one is more for the kids. The HD music video sing-along "You Can Hear Horton, Horton Can Hear You!" runs three minutes.
Disc Two is a DVD with all of the above content plus the ten-minute Merrie Melodies "Horton Hatches the Egg" cartoon, in standard definition. A Digital Copy for Windows Media only can also be found here.
Final Thoughts
Bringing a beloved children's story to three different media in one well-produced package, this new Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Blu-ray edition is just too grand to ignore.
Product Details
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