For those who read yesterday's post and saw my note at the end indicating which movie would be next to review, please allow me to explain something. I have a three year old daughter. Usually I select the movie, but today being a weekend and one of the few days where she gets to be with daddy all day, I thought it best to indulge her and let her pick the movie. This CGI animated version of the classic Dr. Seuss story is a favourite of my daughter's, and I'm not sure if it's due to the physical comedy, or the wonderful moral. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say both. The voices for the characters were delightfully funny, and the improvised moments by Jim Carrey and Steve Carell added some interesting elements to the film that the animators used to the hilt. Some bits like 'Vlad the Bunny that makes cookies' came from something that Jim Carrey added, and while Steve Carell's line was a simple, "No," the chuckling and guffawing was entirely his own. Oddly enough, that's one of my favourite funny moments in the movie! Which was featured in the trailer that I watched many a time before seeing the movie. Huh. What are the odds of that?
For the first half of the movie, Erini didn't pay much attention to the movie, but she did sit and watch most parts. However, her attention was divided with another three year old we were babysitting, and she has seen the movie before, so she knew what was going on. About halfway through, we had to take a break for lunch, and we didn't get back to the movie until the evening after we had done some sledding.
Side note: The temperature in Edmonton was near 0C today. It would have been disrespectful not to enjoy the outdoors today!
When we picked up the movie in the evening, she cuddled with me for the entire time, and even commented about what was going on. She must have been really tired, because she usually shrieks during scary parts, but it could have also been that I was there with her. Although there are some movies that scare her, she does better when I'm watching with her. Some psychologist could probably bubble over with all sorts of talk about how father figures provide a more stable mindset, but I didn't study the science of the soul. All I know is that she is attentive to details, such as when Horton was sorting through all the clovers to find the one with the Who-ville speck, she commented that he needed to find 'the stripy one' as the correct clover had yellow stripes on the stem. Another part that she talked about was when Rudy, the joey kangaroo, saved the flower from destruction. From the point the flower was taken from Horton, that's all she would talk about.
Did she realize why he grabbed the flower and gave it back to Horton? I'm not sure. She did note that it was an important part, since she talks about things that she finds important. Or funny. And that part wasn't funny so much as poignant.
Although the music is wonderful and uplifting, I myself wouldn't go out and get the soundtrack like I did with Tangled. The main reason is that the cast singing REO Speedwagon was not featured on the soundtrack album. Boo.
While this movie was rated Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes, the widespread critical acclaim was not ebullient with praise for it. Compared to previous Dr. Seuss productions done by Hollywood, it was a breath of fresh air. Compared to other movies, it was okay.
I must say that animation is the better format for Dr. Seuss material, as is evident by the scene where the Mayor stacks a precarious pile of particular pieces to purge a problematic pendulum of peril. If that was done live action, it would have looked like he was piling stuff up in order to remove a chandelier.
I really hope they produce another animated Dr. Seuss movie, but if they don't, I will be more than willing to read the books with my daughter, and insert my own funny voices and improvisations. But I won't read it this fast.
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