GAC Review - Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Deluxe Edition DVD

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who: Deluxe Edition

DVD Review by Jon Cooke

Own it now on DVD

Over the years there have been many attempts to translate the whimsy of Dr. Seuss onto the screen, but I don't think anybody was as successful as Chuck Jones was. The two worked together on the Private Snafu shorts made for the United States Army during World War II and, more famously, the classic 1966 TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 1970's animated Horton Hears a Who! is no exception. The special, made during Jones' tenure at MGM, is charming, nicely animated and has catchy songs and a great voice cast (including June Foray and Hans Conried). A dust speck lands on the nose of Horton, a kindly elephant, and he desperately tries to alert his fellow animals of how there are people --- the city of Whoville, in fact --- living on the speck. With the help of Old Doc Hoovey (a possible caricature of Jones himself?), the two are able to convince everyone that "a person's a person, no matter how small".

Just in time to cash-in on the upcoming CGI version starring the voice of Jim Carrey, Warner Home Video has released a "deluxe edition" DVD of the Horton special. To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much from this release. After all, Horton has been paired up with the Grinch special on DVD releases through the years. Everyone who already owns the Grinch owns this special, too.

The first thing I noticed about this release was the attractive packaging. Coming in a shiny slipcover case and having some nice artwork, I am sure this DVD will stand out on the shelf. The big question is... did WB make it worth re-buying? It all depends on how many Dr. Seuss DVDs you have in your collection already. In addition to the Horton cartoon, the disc adds on "3 More Adventures!" which were previously released on the DVD The Best of Dr. Seuss in 2003 -- The Butter Battle Book made by animator Ralph Bakshi in 1989, Hanna-Barbera's Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995) based on an unfinished Seuss story, and Bob Clampett's classic 1942 Merry Melody, "Horton Hatches the Egg". The Clampett cartoon is a must-see for any WB cartoon buff. The short is brilliantly restored (and unedited). It's a shame it hasn't been released on one of the Looney Tunes collections yet!

Among the extras are a sing-along feature (all the songs from the special strung together with lyrics on the bottom of the screen) and the full-length documentary In Search of Dr. Seuss which was made in 1994 for the TNT cable network. It features Kathy Najimy as a reporter being guided through the life of Dr. Seuss by celebrities portraying his characters (including Matt Frewer, Christopher Lloyd, Patrick Stewart and others). It's somewhat interesting but a bit overlong and sometimes very corny. However, clocking in at about 1 hour and 30 minutes, it definitely gives this DVD more bang for the buck. This special was also available on a stand-alone DVD released in 2003, so you are pretty much getting the contents of both the 2003 Warner/Seuss discs for less than what they cost originally.

In the end, if you have thought about picking up the previous Seuss discs, buying this "deluxe edition" of Horton will be a bargain. For everyone else, you may just want to stick with watching the elephant's tale on your Grinch disc. No matter what you decide, I have a feeling re-watching Jones' version will be a lot more fun than watching the upcoming CGI version.

Images from restored "Horton Hatches the Egg" (1942):

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