# Horton Hears a Who! (film)

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.

## 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 Mira in the Featured Photos Gallery] You know what's awesome? This is awesome. Just look at the badger fox mouse & beaver hanging on these walls. You, my boy, are part of a family legacy that spans centuries. You know what? Mira Riding At Busch Gardens, mm-hmm, and your great-papa, that's right, all the way down to your... [cut to featured photos of his male ancestors, including one at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Buffalo, which he calls "not-so-great", with the last one depicting a queen 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]

## 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!!!
    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
* w:Josh Flitter —Rudy Kangaroo
* Carol Burnett — Jane Kangaroo
* Will Arnett — Vlad Vladikoff
* Seth Rogen — Morton
* Dan Fogler — Councilman, Yummo Wickersham
* Isla Fisher — Dr. LaRue
* Jonah Hill — Tommy
* Laura Ortiz — Jessica. Quilligan
* Colleen O'shaughnessey —Angela
* w:Joey King — Katie
* Jesse McCartney — JoJo McDodd
* Niecy Nash — Miss Yelp
* ˞Amy Poehler — Sally O'Mally-McDodd
* Steve Carell — Mayor Ned McDodd
* Selena Gomez — Helga McDodd
* Narrated by Charles Osgood

## 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