Parents Television Council Reviews

PTC reviews aim to provide you with advance information about an entertainment offering so that you can be the final arbiter of what you and your family see.

Based on the classic children’s book by Dr. Seuss, the animated children’s film Horton Hears a Who tells the story of an elephant named Horton who hears voices in a tiny speck. The speck turns out to be a minute world with inhabitants, but Horton’s community does not believe he is telling the truth. Horton, who is “faithful 100%,” must find a safe place for the speck so that it is not destroyed. The mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell) gains his citizens’ support once they realize that their world is in danger, and they all work together to help Horton prove they exist.

Objectionable content in this G-rated film is mild. The “bad guy” in the movie is a kangaroo who doesn’t want Horton’s ideas to influence the children of the community. She asks a character modeled after a mobster to take care of the problem, but he fails. Horton and the mayor are up against angry and confused mobs, and near the end of the film Horton is threatened with torture to make him recant, but he refuses.

The film teaches values such as having faith, working together, never giving up, and making positive decisions. There is a little bit of inappropriate humor but it is mild, and violence is threatened but no violence is actually depicted.

This film is appropriate for children over the age of 5. 

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