The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Horton Hears a Who!
Animation · Comedy · Family · 2008
An imaginative elephant named Horton hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Horton suspects there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community, who thinks he has lost his mind, he is determined to save the tiny particle.
Movie details
Horton Hears a Who!
“Horton hears more than anyone believes.”
2008 Animation · Comedy · Family 1h 26m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.8 / 10
157.8K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
79 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
71 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
An imaginative elephant named Horton hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Horton suspects there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community, who thinks he has lost his mind, he is determined to save the tiny particle.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Horton Hears a Who!?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Star
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A small but brave donkey and his animal friends become the unsung heroes of the greatest story ever told: the first Christmas.
Animal Crackers
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A family must use a magical box of Animal Crackers to save a rundown circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P. Huntington.
Wonder Park
Comedy · 2019
A young girl named June with a big imagination makes an incredible discovery -- the amusement park of her dreams has come to life. Filled with the world's wildest rides operated by fun-loving animals, the excitement never ends. But when trouble hits, June and her misfit team of furry friends begin an unforgettable journey to save the park.
Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!
Animation · 1964
Following a misunderstanding about Yogi Bear’s whereabouts, Cindy Bear ends up in captivity at a Missouri circus. It’s now up to Yogi and his friend, Boo-Boo, to save her.
Hitpig!
Animation · 2024
A porcine bounty hunter accepts his next hit: Pickles, a naive, ebullient elephant. Though he initially sets out to capture the perky pachyderm, the unlikely pair find themselves crisscrossing the globe on an adventure that brings out the best in both of them.
The Magician's Elephant
Animation · 2023
Peter is searching for his long-lost sister when he crosses paths with a fortune teller in the market square. His only question is: is his sister still alive? The answer, that he must find a mysterious elephant and the magician who will conjure it, sets Peter off on a journey to complete three seemingly impossible tasks that will change the face of his town forever.
Rio 2
Animation · 2014
It's a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids after they're hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, and meets the most fearsome adversary of all: his father-in-law.
Open Season: Scared Silly
Animation · 2015
The humans and animals believe a werewolf is on the loose, and former hunter Shaw uses the opportunity to re-open the season. Boog, Elliot, and Mr. Weenie have to face their fears and find the werewolf to get the season closed permanently.
Open Season
Animation · 2006
Boog, a domesticated 900lb. Grizzly bear finds himself stranded in the woods 3 days before Open Season. Forced to rely on Elliot, a fast-talking mule deer, the two form an unlikely friendship and must quickly rally other forest animals if they are to form a rag-tag army against the hunters.
Plankton: The Movie
Family · 2025
Plankton's tangled love story with his sentient computer wife goes sideways when she takes a stand — and decides to destroy the world without him.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jimmy Hayward · Steve Martino
Written by
Ken Daurio · Cinco Paul
Jim Carrey
Horton (voice)
Steve Carell
Mayor (voice)
Carol Burnett
Kangaroo (voice)
Will Arnett
Vlad (voice)
Seth Rogen
Morton (voice)
Dan Fogler
Councilman / Yummo Wickersham (voice)
Isla Fisher
Dr. Mary Lou Larue (voice)
Court is in session
Put Horton Hears a Who! on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.