Horton (Jim Carey) is an elephant with a enormous imagination who normally spends his days teaching the young animals of the jungle. However, one day he overhears a voice coming from a speck of dust floating through the air. He realizes that there must be people living on the speck and discovers the voice is the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Unfortunately nobody else in the jungle can hear the voice as they don’t have Horton’s huge ears and he soon finds he has to do everything he can to stop Whoville from being destroyed.

Horton Hears a Who! is a children’s story by Dr Suess which I have to admit to having never read. These books completely past me by as a child and I suspect I was subjected to less imaginative fodder instead. Which is a shame as I’m as much of a fan of rhyming verse as the next person. Still, I did recently get dragged along to do some shopping for a baby shower and had a chance to flick through the pages of Horton hears a Who!. It certainly seemed to me that the film stays pretty faithful to the story.

I think what I found most refreshing about this movie is that it took me a while to figure out which characters Jim Carey and Steve Carell were playing. It seriously could have been the other way around and I really like that. It felt like they were actually making an effort to play the characters as opposed to just being a famous voice in an animated cartoon. I find with some of the other animated stories, with a whole host of famous voices, it tends to distract a little bit from the actual story. Here I think the story was first and foremost in the minds of everyone involved.

I suppose it’s easy to be extremely casual about the animation because we’ve seen this kind of quality before but I’m always blown away by the amount of effort it must take. As you’d expect it’s all flawlessly done and is a visually stunning piece of animation. Certainly the feel of the characters seemed to fit perfectly with how they were portrayed in the book. That could have been a big pitfall for any die hard Dr Suess fans out there but I’d be surprised if they didn’t like this movie.

I liked the story. I think it was genuinely funny as well imaginative. Perfect for kids and there’s probably enough there to keep adults entertained as well. It also didn’t try to be a super cool movie with popular references thrown in. The original Dr Suess story was the focus and it served the film superbly well.

There’s definitely a lot to enjoy. A simple story that’s perfect for a family movie session. I can’t think of a more imaginative way to introduce the idea of parallel universes into the mind’s of kids!

I think ‘stoner’ comedies are funny.  I’ve watched the Cheech and Chong movies numerous times (although I probably shouldn’t have seen them at the age I did), and I love Harold and Kumar…but would I love Dale and Saul, the stoner buddies of Pineapple Express? The answer is a resounding YES! Dale and Saul are one of the funniest comedy teams I’ve seen in awhile. 

Dale (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up) is pretty much a loser.  He is a process server, meaning he doesn’t do much of anything.  Mostly he just drives around smoking weed and listening to the radio.  Occasionally he dresses up in costumes to fool people into admitting who they are so he can serve them a subpoena.  After work he hangs out with his 18-year-old, high school girlfriend, and buys weed from Saul (James Franco, Spiderman).  Although Dale doesn’t like Saul at first, he has to be nice to him to get the good weed – like the new blend called the pineapple express.  After buying his weed from Saul, he goes to serve one more client, taking his new blend with him.  While waiting outside he accidentally witnesses a murder by a policewoman (Rosie Perez, White Men Can’t Jump) and the local drug lord (Gary Cole, Office Space).  Stoned and scared he throws his joint out of the car and races to Saul’s.  Paranoia ensues as the two think they will be found.  Turns out that hit men who have been sent by the drug lord really are following them.  For me, this is when the movie really begins.   The audience follows Dale and Saul on their stoned adventure, and it is some funny stuff! 

First I want to give recognition to Danny McBride (The Foot Fist Way).  He plays the middleman between the drug lord and Saul, and he is hilarious!  He takes a shot like a champ, and keeps it going.  I definitely look forward to seeing him in more movies!  Now on to the rest…I am not a James Franco fan.  Normally when I watch him act…well try to act…I just want to smack him, but I actually enjoyed him as Saul.  The only other time I’ve liked Franco was also when he played a stoner, in “Freaks and Geeks.” So I guess that’s the role that works best for him. I already knew that Franco and Rogen would have great chemistry, and it was in full force here.  Rogen plays the loveable loser with ease, and here it is no different.  Surprisingly though, he also shows himself to be a bit of an action star.  This movie had a lot more action than I expected. There were fights, guns, and blood abound.  I was surprised at how much blood was in the movie, not that it was an excessive amount – I just wasn’t expecting it.  Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg dabbled in action with their last effort Superbad, but they really dive right into this movie.   

I’ve heard from some other people who have seen this movie that they think it’s more of a ‘guy’s movie.’ I don’t agree though.  I think it just depends on the person, of course, but if you’re a comedy fan I think you’ll enjoy the Pineapple Express.  I’m going to give this one a B+ and you know what…I think I’ll give James Franco another chance.