Review Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

filmfan95

Member: Rank 3
Probably my favorite theatrical movie adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book. Interesting history with me on this one. The book was one of my favorites as a kid, and I was looking forward to the movie coming out. But then, my whole family was sick with the flu during the week that our theatre was playing the movie (our theatre is behind the times and can only play one movie a week). So we weren't able to go to it, and I was so sad. I could only hope for one thing. Our movie theatre would do free matinees of previously released movies during the Summer, and I was hoping that they would play Horton Hears a Who for one of them. It turns out, they did. The schedule came for the Summer, and it was the very last one that they did for that Summer. I was so excited.

But then, something terrible happened. My Dad was working at a campground in another city that year, and he needed to take us along with him because he was the only person in the family with a job at the time. So, instead of being able to see the movie I had waited so long to see, I instead had to be camping. And while I enjoy camping, it was just so hard for me to concentrate on it knowing that I was missing the movie I had waited so long for. But Mom said to me that see would buy it for me when it came out on DVD.

Now THAT was something to look forward to. The only problem was, when WAS it going to released on DVD? It had been out of theatres for months, and during that time there had been other movies that had been released to theatres, had ended their theatrical run, and been released on DVD, well after the end of this movie's theatrical run. When was it going to be released? I kept fearing that it would be one of those movies that just doesn't get released on DVD for some reason. Every time I went to Walmart, I insisted on going to every section of the store where they had advertisement posters for upcoming DVDs. My parents got tired of the routine, but I really wanted to find out when the dang movie was ever going to be released for home viewing.

Finally, just when I was beginning to lose hope, the DVD was released in early December. The producers had deliberately waited to release it in December to insure that it sold during the Christmas season. I kept saying, everytime I entered to store, "That's what Inwant for Christmas right there." My parents kept saying it was too expensive. My response to that was that they had told me that they would buy it for me once it came out. Their response to that was that they meant that they would buy it once it got to a lower price, as they hadn't promised to buy it right away. But I had waited too long. I was getting impatient. I needed to see the movie. I was desperate. I looked everywhere for a place to watch it. I looked on TV, being too young to realize that it takes a few years for new movies to be broadcast on TV. I checked the public library, but they didn't have it either. I even went so far as to stand in front of one of the TV sets that were on display at Walmart in order to watch the movie, which they happened to be playing on it, and which I happened to come across right when the movie was starting. But my parents said it rediculous to stand in front of a TV in a store for an hour and a half just to watch a movie a haven't seen yet, so I only got to see the first twenty minutes or so. I began to fear that I would never see the movie in its entirety.

But then, on Christmas morning, I opened my presents, and there it was! My parents had decided to buy it after all. I put it the DVD player immediately and watched the whole thing, and it was even better than I expected. I ended up watching it all the time after that, to the point where I memorized every line, every music que, and every visual. I could probably still quote the entire film to this day.

Ironically, as soon as I finally had the movie, that's when our local public library finally got it. And that Summer, the theatre actually did the movie as a free matinee AGAIN, and I actually went to it that time (to this day, it's still the only movie they've done as free Summer matinee twice). Isn't that just the way life works though? Now that I think about it, I don't know why I didn't just ask my parents to rent the movie. There was a rental store in town, and it would have been much cheaper than buying it. But I was younger at the time, and couldn't think of those things. And now that I've seen it, I'm glad to have in my collection of movies.

Still my favorite film from Blu Sky studios, and probably one of my favorite children's films.
 

duzit

Member: Rank 6
@filmfan95 ,
Thank you for sharing your story, I enjoyed reading it. When we are young sometimes it seems like we will never get the things we want because most of the time the things have to come from our parents. If we were lucky, like you were, they listened and surprised us with a BD or Xmas gift of that most perfect "thing" we thought we couldn't live without...:emoji_purple_heart:
 
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