BLU-RAY REVIEW

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who!

Featured In Issue 138, January/February 2009

Picture5
Sound4
WSR Score5
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
2254147
(MPAA Rating):
G
(Rating Reason):
(Retail Price):
$39.98
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
86
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
2007
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
12/09/08
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS HD Lossless 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

A playful pachyderm named Horton (voice of Jim Carrey) becomes a reluctant hero when he discovers the microscopic city of Who-ville on a floating speck of dust, and embarks on a hilarious adventure to save the town from the dangers of the jungle. (Gary Reber)

Special features include audio commentary by Directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino; the
all-new Ice Age short: Surviving Sid (HD 7:59); a sneak peek of Ice Age 3; a picture-in-picture Bonus View™ (watch Horton Hears A Who! with a Who); deleted footage and animation storyboards with optional director's commentary (HD 19:03); animation screen tests (HD 7:42); eight featurettes: Bringing The Characters To Life (HD 5:29), That's One Big Elephant: Animating Horton (8:08), Meet Katie (HD 3:49), Bringing Seuss To Screen (HD 8:14), The Elephant In The Room: Jim Carrey (HD 4:52), A Person Is A Person: A Universal Message (HD 3:42), Our Speck: Where Do We Fit In? (HD 4:01), and Elephant Fun: The Facts (HD 5:28); and the We Are Here game. Disc Two contains a digital copy of the movie.

The 1080p AVC 1.86:1 picture quality is outstanding, with superb color fidelity and hues that are nicely saturated and vibrant. Resolution is excellent, with extremely fine detail, resulting in superb dimensionality. Contrast is excellent, with deep bold blacks and well-delineated shadows. There is no noise artifacts to mar the pristine experience. The picture really shows off the quality achievable on Blu-ray Disc. The movie is sure to please the young ones and educate as well. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is beautifully recorded, with a fabulously recorded symphonic orchestral music score recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy, one of the premiere music mixers. Surround envelopment is nicely rendered and at times very directional and aggressive, but mostly subtle in effect. Bass extension is sometimes deep, below 25 Hz, and the LFE .1 channel occasionally rumbles. Dialogue is well recorded and always articulated with a natural presence, though not particularly well integrated spatially. This is a delightful soundtrack with plenty of wonderful sound effects. (Gary Reber)