Horton Hears a Who! (film)

A person's a person no matter how small.

Horton Hears a Who! also known as Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, is a 2008 American CGI-animated movie based on the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss.

Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino. Written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.

One elephant. One world. One story.

Horton

• A person's a person, no matter how small.
• [in Henry Kissinger's voice] I feel the diplomatic process is beginning to breakdown.
• I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, and an elephant's faithful one-hundred percent. That's my code, my motto.
• Come on guys, we're all mammals!
• HOW ABOUT THIS?! IF I GET UP REAL CLOSE, CAN YOU READ ME?!
• Hold on, Mr. Mayor. I may have to put up a fight! A frightened elephant can be very dangerous! All right, you've called down the thunder, buddy! Are you hungry for trouble? I'm an all-you-can-eat salad bar, take a bite!
• All right, I need to get this speck up to the top of Mount Nool A.S.A.P., whatever that means. Probably "act swiftly awesome pachyderm"! I mean, how hard can that be? [sees a loose rope bridge over a deadly chasm] It's a sheer plummet to certain death.
• I love the smell of bananas in the morning!
• Oh, hi Vlad. [Everyone gasps at this, assuming it to be Vlad Vladikoff the vulture, but it's actually the cute bunny who bakes cookies]
• [Watching the clover about to go into the pot of boiling beezelnut oil] NO!
• And most of all, I want to say thank the Mayor of Whoville who believed in me from the beginning.

Sour Kangaroo

• If you can't see, hear or feel something, it doesn't exist. And believing in "tiny, imaginary people" is just not something we do.[takes her son's clover he was examining after hearing Horton] Or tolerate here in the Jungle of Nool.
• [Horton suggested that he'd be able to get someone to believe him] You could do nothing of the sort, you won’t breathe a word of this lie to anybody else, especially the children, I don’t need you to poison their mind with nonsense. Our community has standards, Horton, if you want to remain a part of it, I recommend you follow them, and have a nice day.
• Horton is a menace, he has those children using their imaginations, it's sick.

Ned McDodd, the Mayor

• Horton is a giant elephant in the sky! [everyone looks up] Don't bother looking. He's invisible. And he's the one risking his life to get Whoville, which by the way is a speck on a clover, TO SAFETY!
• [Speaking to Jojo in the Featured Photos Gallery] You know what's awesome? This is awesome. Just look at the men and women hanging on these walls. You, my boy, are part of a family legacy that spans centuries. You know what? Your grandfather was Mayor of Whoville, mm-hmm. And your great-grandmother, that's right, all the way down to your... [cut to featured photos of his ancestors, including one at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Buffalo, which he calls "not-so-great", with the last one depicting a cave Who] ...Great-great-great-great...not-so-great...great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-greeeaat...grandfather. Someday, I hope to join them, and be one of the greats.
• [after being called a "boob" by the Chairman] He has the nerve to call somebody a boob? I would never call somebody a boob. He's a boob. Look at you. Yuck! Look at your face...and I bet you don't look so good with a stapler in your head! [throws a stapler at a painting of the Chairman, which bounces off and hits him in the face, leaving a staple implanted on his forehead, causing him to scream in pain]

Tommy

It's good.

Jessica

My world is called jessica land. Everyone worship queen jessica because jessica is so beautiful.

Dialogue

---

Horton: There's a tiny person on that speck who needs my help.

Sour Kangaroo: Absurd. There aren't people that small.

Horton: Well, maybe they aren't small, maybe we're big.

Sour Kangaroo: Horton…

Horton: No, really. Think about it. What if there were someone way out there, looking down on our world right now, and to them, we're the specks?

---

Chairman: Who wants the joy and glory and festivity of the Who Cenntenial to proceed as planned?

Whoville Citizens: YEAH!!

Chairman: And who like the Mayor thinks it would be better to spend the Who Cenntenial in an underground storage area?

Obnoxious Who: YEAH!!!

---

Nedː There all better. (Hedy and Hooly hugs)

Heather: Can I please have a Who-phone, Dad? Everybody else in my class has one.

Ned: Really? Everybody? [The girl shows Ned her class picture, which shows all her classmates sans her talking on a Who-phone] Oh… I'll think about it.

---

Ned: [after Horton asked if there was someone else there] Those are my wife and my children.

Horton: You have a family. [in amazement, and maybe a little envy]

Ned : I do indeed. [opens his wallet to show all his family] A beautiful wife, ninety-six daughters... [tons of photos unfurl, ending on the ground in JoJo's picture] ...And one son. [he sounds a little down when he says "And one son"]

Horton: [laughing] Busy guy.

---

Morton: [informs Horton about bad news, but is not facing towards him] Horton! Don't... [turns around] There you are. We got trouble. Wait. Stay. Wait. [stutters] Do you hear that? No, I'm here. Okay, listen. No! Go! Kangaroo has gone nuts, bananas. She's telling everyone that you should be kicked out of Nool.

Horton: She said that? I thought we were friends.

Morton: Word is, she's gone to Vlad!

Horton: Vlad. Vlad. I know two Vlads. Is it the bad Vlad or the bunny Vlad that makes the cookies?

Morton: [sarcastic] Yeah, Horton. She's sending you a bunny with cookies. I think we can assume it's the bad Vlad!

Horton: Yeah, that's good call.

---

Vlad: [chased Horton to the edge of a tree] Chess mate, it’s time for me to take the clover and crush all the people on it. [Meanwhile, everything on Whoville is shifting in the direction of Horton]

Horton: [realizes he's a few feet from the ground] Sorry, this is where we get off. [lets go of the tree, sending it smack into Vlad, who is sent flying]

Vlad: [Hits a cliff] OW! Right in the beak! [falls down]

Horton: [Recomposed] Cool line, usually I can't think of those things until later.

---

Sour Kangaroo: [emerges into a clearing where several animals are milling around, including Horton's students] What is happening to the Jungle of Nool!? There once was a time when people were people and specks were specks. [A Zatz-it nods in agreement] Well, I say if you can't see it, hear it, or feel it, it doesn't exist. Our way of life is under attack, and who's leading that attack? HORTON!! [Everyone gasps]

Morton: [runs into the clearing] Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! This is Horton we're talking about. You all know about him. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Except for that fly city he sat on, but he didn't do that on purpose. [For a moment, it seems the animals have reconsidered]

Sour Kangaroo: [With an angry glare] Shut up, mouse.

Morton: [laughs uneasily] Oh, Yeah. That's weird. I.. My brownies are burning. I gotta go. [rushes off to warn Horton]

Sour Kangaroo: Are we going to let troublemakers like Horton poison the minds of our children? [holds up Rudy and shakes him]

Yummo: Not the children! [Then all the Wickershams enter the clearing which is now filled with animals]

Sour Kangaroo: When Horton tells our children about worlds beyond the jungle, he makes them question authority. Which leads to defiance! Which leads to ANARCHY!!!

Yummo: Yeah! Horton must pay!

Glummox Mom: It's that speck!

Willie Bear: We have to do something!

Mrs. Quilligan: For the children!

Yummo: For the children!

Sour Kangaroo: [Has everyone on a roll, while one of Horton's students hide from view, not liking what she hears at all, but is too scared and powerless to stop it] Are we going to let him get away with this?

Animals: NOOOOO!! [They then rush off in the direction Horton is] Let’s get him!

---

Horton: [right below Mount Nool, with only a wide valley separating him from it and the end of his journey. Suddenly, he hears rumbling, then sees Morton running towards him, over the lip of the chasm.] Morton, I told you 100%!

Morton: Horton.

Horton: Morton, pick up your feet. Jeez.

Morton: [running as fast as he can] It's not me!

Horton: [Then Horton sees the animals of Nool come over the lip.] Oh, I see. It's an angry mob. Sorry, Morton. I thought it was you, it's making all the.. but it's... Oh, darn! [realizes what he's saying]

Morton: [Morton jumps into the air.] Run, Horton! [He then gets run over by the mob]

One of the Whickershams: There he is!

Whickersham: Get that speck!

Yummo Whickersham: Let's ROPE him!

Whickersham: Let's cage him!!!

---

Sour Kangaroo: [has Horton surrounded] Stop! [everyone stops]

Horton: [trying to lighten his situation] Hey fellas. Good to see you, all at once. You look really great, as a horde.

Sour Kangaroo: Horton, Horton, Horton. Look at the mess you've created for yourself. All this hullabaloo over a silly little flower.

Horton: [defensively] It's a speck.

Sour Kangaroo: Right. I mean, it's silly, really... all this talk of roping you and caging you... [in a dark tone] ...And well, we won't need to get into the details. The point is this angry mob, all the trouble you're in, it can all go away. [everyone looks confused at this]

Horton: [Surprised] Really?

Sour Kangaroo: Of course! All you have to do is admit, to everyone that THERE ARE NO LITTLE PEOPLE LIVING ON THAT SPECK! [points accusingly] That you were wrong and I was right. You do that and things can go right back to the way they were, but if you don't, you're going to have to pay the price. [The Wickershams then bring up a huge cage, which Horton winces at]

Horton: So, I just have to say it isn't true. [Sour Kangaroo smiles darkly. Horton pauses for a moment, then a look of determination comes over him] Go ahead. Rope me. Cage me. Do whatever you want, but there are people on this speck and they have a mayor, who has 96 daughters and 1 son named JoJo, who all share a bathroom, whatever that is. And even though you can't hear or see them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small. [Raises the clover, while the animals stop their angry bickering, and have looks of happiness, and hope now in their eyes. A Wickersham even stops himself from eating a bug he just picked up]

Sour Kangaroo: [For a moment, she looks touched] That was beautiful, Horton. [The anger springs back to her eyes] ROPE HIM! CAGE HIM! AND BURN THAT SPECK IN A POT OF BOILING BEEZLENUT OIL! [The Wickersham shrugs, and eats the bug]

---

[while the people of Whoville make noise to be heard]

Ned: Can they hear us now?

Horton: [while being roped and put in a cage] Listen please, it's the most beautiful thing.

Yummo: I don't hear nothing.

Horton: I don't think so, but keep trying, I'll never give in. [begins to strain against the ropes, and it take several seconds for the Wickershams to continue their pulling] Are you sure of every Who down in Whoville is trying?

About Horton Hears a Who! (film)

• On the design of the movie, I really felt that Dr. Seuss was our production designer. I got to travel to Audrey Geisel’s (Dr. Seuss’s [Theodor Seuss Geisel] wife) home where Dr. Seuss penned many of his later works. She gave us a wonderful tour and I saw a lot of his artwork on the walls. I saw a couple of sculptures he had done from characters he had drawn. They almost looked like mounted trophies on the wall.

• • Steve Martino, "Directing "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who": Steve Martino", Christian Cinema, December 1, 2008.

Cast

• Jim Carrey — Horton
• Steve Carell — Mayor Ned McDodd
• Carol Burnett — Kangaroo
• Will Arnett — Vlad Vladikoff
• Seth Rogen — Morton
• Dan Fogler — Chairman, Yummo Wickersham
• Isla Fisher — Dr. LaRue
• Jonah Hill — Tommy
• Jaime Pressly — Mrs. Quilligan
• Amy Poehler — Sally McDodd
• Charles Osgood — The Narrator
• Jesse McCartney — JoJo McDodd
• Joshua Alexander Flitter — Rudy
• Niecy Nash — Miss Yelp
• Laura Ortiz — Jessica Quilligan
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey — Angela
• Joey Lynn King — Katie
• Selena Gomez — Helga McDodd

External links

• Horton Hears a Who! quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Horton Hears a Who! at Rotten Tomatoes
• Horton Hears a Who! at Metacritic
• Trailer at Apple.com
• Trailer at THX.com

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