Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

I am well prepared to be called closed-minded, hateful toward Christians, and it might even be said that by writing this, that I am attacking Christians, but I am actually physically sick to my stomach after watching this movie.

I just finished watching Horton Hears a Who with Sebastian, and I went into it thinking it would be like the 72-page book, that the story would be the same.
Dr. Seuss gave us several themes or messages in Horton Hears a Who.
One was that we are all the same, all people, and we must take care of those of us who need to be cared for, more vulnerable than ourselves, to protect them from prejudice and harm.
That if we make a promise, we must keep it, that no matter how small each of us is, that we are important, that there comes a time one must do something to help oneself, and finally, every citizen in a community is important for the town's well-being.
And this story also touched on how big our universe really is, that we may not be the only planet with life, that we are just a speck in the universe, we are so so small, when we look out there in the deep space field, there are millions of universes, we might not be the only ones with life.
The speck on Horton's clover represents that.

The film follows the original story very closely, but it's how they fleshed out the story to fit a full length movie that is truly disturbing.
It was a 72-page book, it could maybe have been done as an animated short like some of Pixar's other animated shorts, but they wanted to make it a full lentgh film, so they fleshed out a whole bunch of new stuff that was just downright scary.
The movie tells us that the kangaroo is the leader, what she says goes, and in the original story, she does not come anywhere near saying all of the things she does in the movie.      
 Almost as soon as Kangaroo started ranting about it just being a speck with no life on it, can't hear it, see it, feel it, destroy it, I felt sick.

Kangaroo is a very unpleasant characterization of atheists, she rages on in the movie, something else she does not do at all in the book.
Kangaroo believes that Horton is a menace, a sick influence on the children, that he must be stopped for his belief that life exists in a speck on the clover.
Horton is not telling anyone that they have to believe, he isn't teaching the children anything, he is simply trying to keep his promise to the Mayor to take them to a safe place.
They turned this loving and warm story about taking care of each other and doing our part, being a part of our huge universe full of all kinds of life, into a right-wing anti-atheist attack with some heavy religious tones.

The dimwitted Mayor was the only one who could hear Horton, he tried to explain that Horton was the giant elephant in the sky, he's so big, that none of the Whos could see him or hear him, but he's there!
The mayor swears it to all of the Whos of Who-ville!
Trust him, trust in Horton!
And not only is he there, but he's the only one who can save them!!
No one will listen to him though, they don't believe him when he says that Horton can and will save them, only the Mayor knows of their impending doom or safety, and he's repeatedly called a "boob" for his beliefs.
In Who-ville, the city council refuses to listen to the Mayor and his warnings that their world is in serious trouble, that they could all die.
They scoff at him, tell him he's finished, that no one believes him and no one will support him.
 None of that is even hinted at in the original story!
The city council doesn't believe in the voice in the sky, and they also want to punish the Mayor for his beliefs.
The annual event will go on as planned, and they literally kick him out of the council meeting.
 No one at all in Who-ville believes in a single word the Mayor has said about Horton, the big voice in the sky, everything will go on as planned, everything is just fine.
Even as Horton shows the Mayor that he is really there by sticking the clover in and out of the shade, the Mayor is the only one who notices it, everyone else just goes on as if nothing is happening.

Horton is the only one who believes in the Whos, he's the only one who can hear them, and everyone else in the jungle thinks he's crazy, so they, under the leadership of the very angry atheist kangaroo, set out to hunt him down, tie him up, and persecute him for his beliefs.
The kangaroo is portrayed as an evil atheist, wanting to destroy the clover and it's possible inhabitants because she can't see them, hear them, feel them, because she has no proof that they exist, it's just a speck, and therefore it must be destroyed and Horton must be punished for his beliefs.
What if others start believing it too?
What if others start hearing the voices too?!
The clover must be destroyed to stop that!

Atheists are often accused of wanting to destroy religion, of persecuting Christianity and Christians.
What's funny is that atheists are the most hated and mistrusted group in the entire world.
 Atheists are more despised than gays and Muslims.
I feel like that by me saying any of this makes me sound just like the kangaroo, that I'm an evil atheist making an absurd claim about this movie, but I have always loved the writings of Dr. Seuss, I read all of his wonderful and ambiguous stories to my kids hundreds of times when they were young.
The books were well loved by millions of people around the world and interpreted by those same millions to fit what they want to see, (Antiabortionists, for instance, love that "a person is a person, no matter how small" line.) but this adaptation really does flesh out a whole lot more than what Seuss could ever have possibly imagined it would.
It clearly shows that believers are persecuted by evil atheists all of the time, that atheists are out to destroy religion, and punish those that believe in it.
 
Atheists are not out to persecute anyone, we don't want to destroy religion, and we certainly do not want to imprison and punish believers in any way.
I personally do not want to see any religion destroyed, but I would like to see more peace, the very thing most religions are based upon.
The god(s) taught love, peace, and understanding, and my wish is that more believers would practice what they preach instead of being so intolerant to anyone who does not believe and live their lives exactly as they do.
That goes for all of the various religions, each one claims that their god is the right god, that their rules are the right rules, and most religions teach peace, love, understanding, and to love your fellow man, yet it so very rarely happens.
Instead we fight, we yell, we call each other names, we choose to punish those who do not live exactly as we do.
I feel that religion has it's place in our world, it always has, and it often does so much good for so many, but it also has caused more wars and deaths than for any other reason.
People can say it's a war for oil and for freedom and democracy, but we wouldn't be in it if one group didn't feel that we are infidels, and if we didn't feel that our god looks over us and blesses only our nation.
 
It is a shame that the director and producers chose to go this route with Horton, the film itself is gorgeous to look at, the animation is simply beautiful, but the very deep hatred and attack on atheists is glaring and ugly.