Horton Hears A Who

Emperor's New Groove all over again? An animated movie praised by people that has trouble with anachronisms. Almost. Horton Hears a Who does struggle with using too many out of place pop culture references, but the story, characters, and animation are better. But that comparison means nothing, it's like comparing an apple with a worm in it and a banana that punches you.
Horton comes at us right at the tail end of the animation revolution started by Pixar and DreamWorks, now taken up by other companies around town like Sony. These films bank on the grey area between kids and adults, trying to make a film funny for both, but smart enough for adults to relate to. Horton is no different, with enough visual gags for the kids to love, mixed with pop culture references that will make idiots chuckle, and a decent enough story to keep everyone generally entertained. (Except Betsy, who fell asleep.) The story is so easy, it's like a Frank Capra film.
Indeed, it is exactly like a Capra film. At least the story. anyway. A simple man, Horton, with a problem; no one believes him that a speck has a city on it, or in it. Then another man (the speck Mayor) can't convince everyone that their city will be destroyed because they're a speck. What dilemmas! There isn't much they could do with the story, and it's good they didn't change too much, because that's the heart and soul of the Dr. Seuss book it's based on. Not, as sometimes is assumed, squiggly buildings and odd rhyming.
But the animators seem to think that to build a believable Seuss world, all you need are those two things. I found myself annoyed that the speck city of Whoville was like all the other worlds created by unimaginative animators; just our world, but slightly odd looking. I thought they really had a chance to make a great world, with interesting things and places. Something with depth. But instead, it's maybe the most generic Seuss world of any adaptation. Even the jungle, where there isn't much to work with, they had some cool locations, and really fascinating characters. Even the Cat in the Hat movie was more imaginative and exciting. But the weirdness of Whoville comes down to Bert from accounting and the mayor having 96 kids. Is that from the book, or are they trying to be cute?
Oh well, the movie was kind of funny, even with Jim Carrey's over-the-top but still super duper kid friendly voice, and the story was enjoyable, keeping to the original message. But animation shouldn't be merely humdrum; it's the place, one of the few left, where imagination has free reign and we can be truly wowed. Instead, we have a flat world and are given an REO Speedwagon singalong as a climax.

Least Imaginative Animated Worlds
5. Horton Hears a Who - They have a website called whospace.
4. The Emperor's New Groove - Is this ancient Peru? Sounds more like the OC.
3. Bee Movie - It was just jokes, no sense of reality to the Bees' world.
2. Shark Tale - A fire hydrant? Underwater? Is that supposed to be a joke?
1. Cars - I've mentioned this movie way too much before.