Recently one of our viewers wrote in to complain that Jeffrey and I had failed to mention certain things in our review of “Horton Hears A Who!” He took his pre-school kids to see it, and was alarmed that the kangaroo fomented mob mentality and chased after Horton who is insisting that another world exists inside the speck on his flower. This viewer left the theatre with his children as he didn’t want them privy to a bigot.
First of all, I apologize that Jeffrey and I did not address Carol Burnett’s Kangaroo in detail. Time does not allow us to talk about every aspect of each film we review.
Secondly, I would like to defend 20th Century Fox’s decision to portray a bigot on screen in an animated children’s film. The politics of witch-hunting may be above the comprehension of young children, but basic concepts of good and evil are not. Every Disney animated film since “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” has had a vivid, and terrifying character of evil incarnate; wicked witches, puppy purveyors, cat-nappers, villainous octopi. I was scared stiff by the evil queen who poisons Snow White, but did it scar me for life? No. If all our films were only about goodly, kind characters, it would be a sorry and boring bunch indeed.
In fact, I found “Horton” to be a perfect blend of kiddie and adult humor with some juicy existential themes thrown in for anyone who wanted to delve into the subtext of Dr. Seuss. When the mayor of Whoville hears that celestial voice and asks the residents of Whoville to trust him and believe, isn’t that a metaphor for believing in an invisible higher power? And when Horton realizes that our world is perhaps not the only world in existence, isn’t that analogous to scientists insisting on other worlds in galaxies outside our own? And the kangaroo’s attack on Horton for his ‘heretical’ ideas, reminded me of the catholic church’s damnation and arrest of Galileo who had the audacity to suggest that the earth was not the centre of the universe.
I applaud 20th Century Fox for making a film that can entertain on several levels and welcome the dialogue that such a film could provoke with inquisitive children.
Secondly, I would like to defend 20th Century Fox’s decision to portray a bigot on screen in an animated children’s film. The politics of witch-hunting may be above the comprehension of young children, but basic concepts of good and evil are not. Every Disney animated film since “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” has had a vivid, and terrifying character of evil incarnate; wicked witches, puppy purveyors, cat-nappers, villainous octopi. I was scared stiff by the evil queen who poisons Snow White, but did it scar me for life? No. If all our films were only about goodly, kind characters, it would be a sorry and boring bunch indeed. 
In fact, I found “Horton” to be a perfect blend of kiddie and adult humor with some juicy existential themes thrown in for anyone who wanted to delve into the subtext of Dr. Seuss. When the mayor of Whoville hears that celestial voice and asks the residents of Whoville to trust him and believe, isn’t that a metaphor for believing in an invisible higher power? And when Horton realizes that our world is perhaps not the only world in existence, isn’t that analogous to scientists insisting on other worlds in galaxies outside our own? And the kangaroo’s attack on Horton for his ‘heretical’ ideas, reminded me of the catholic church’s damnation and arrest of Galileo who had the audacity to suggest that the earth was not the centre of the universe. 