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Personally, I liked The Grinch. Granted, it didn't have the same whimsical innocence of the Chuck Jones cartoon, but I thought it was enjoyable enough. On the other hand, I avoided The Cat In The Hat because everything I saw and heard about that film suggested I'd be better off getting a root canal. So, I think that Hollywood's attempts at bringing the world of Dr. Seuss to the big screen have been near-hit or miss-by-a-mile so far. Horton Hears A Who!, however, feels like the book springing to life right before your eyes, and it's a joy to behold. Plus, it gives me hope that perhaps Hollywood has finally figured out how to make Dr. Seuss' voice heard clearly on film.

It's never easy to take a short children's book written in rhyme and turn it into a full length feature (again, I refer to The Cat In The Hat for an example of what not to do), but Horton Hears A Who! pulls of the magical feat of making the entire film feel like it came straight from the book. Where the film adds and pads, it does so in such a way as to seamlessly blend the extra material with the core story of the book. Plus, when you have a talented cast that's pitch-perfect in the deliver of their characters' lines, it only adds to the immersive experience of seeing a Seussian story come to life. Best of all, this film avoids the common trap of incessant pop-culture references in order to get a laugh from the adults inevitably attending with their tykes. This film is genuinely funny, not because of the in-jokes, but because it captures some of that Looney Tunes-esque humor that knows no age limit.

There's all kinds of subtexts that you can read into this story of Horton and the Whos, but the one that immediately sprang to mind was the evolution/intelligent design/creation debate about how we got here. The upcoming film Expelled puts evolutionists on notice by suggesting they aren't the only ones with a scientific theory about how we got here. Horton Hears A Who! simplifies the debate by suggesting we should never presume to know what's possible and what's not. Evolutionists remind me a great deal of the bossy kangaroo who constantly bullies Horton for his ridiculous notion that little people could be living on speck on a clover. Who are we to say what's possible or probable? Why is the possibility of a loving God creating the world any more of stretch than thinking we randomly evolved from goo? Horton's good-natured optimism is a reminder to us all that we should never think we know it all. If there's one thing science has shown it that we have a lot to learn. If there's one thing the Bible has shown, it's that God can help us in that learning process by showing us where to start, showing us where to finish, and then showing us where to go in between.

Regardless of what sort of moral you may see in Horton Hears A Who!, one thing that's plain is that a lot of care went into this film. After two previous flubs, this was probably Hollywood's last chance with Dr. Seuss; and fortunately they hit it out of the park. From solid writing to rich visuals which look as though they came straight from the pages of the book, Horton Hears A Who! is a treat for the entire family and for any one who was raised with the whimsical, innocent rhymes of Dr. Seuss.