Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell have been tagged to lend their voices to the CGI-animated Horton Hears a Who, based on the classic 1954 book by Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Carrey will play the role of Horton, the elephant who hears a tiny voice coming from a speck of dust floating in the air, and who then tries to make that voice heard to the "outside" world, where everyone else thinks he's just plain nuts. But Horton knows that a person is a person, no matter how small. It's a great book, with a great lesson for the kiddies.
So you know they're going to muck it up for the big screen.
Carrell will play the mayor of Whoville. I always wondered... was the Whoville in Horton the same Whoville in the Grinch? That would mean that the whole Grinch story took place on a tiny little speck of dust. I remember that blowing my mind as a little girl.
"At the heart of the movies that we make are the characters, and in Horton, Geisel has created a character with an unwavering moral center, a charming innocence, and a selfless willingness to protect others, even at his own expense," said Chris Meledandri, president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation, which will be producing the film. "Geisel had one of the greatest imaginations of the 20th century, and Jim Carrey's extraordinary talents are a wonderful match to Geisel's vision. Steve Carell will not only be bringing his great comedic abilities to the role of the mayor but also his uncanny gift of finding the humanity in every character he plays."
Fox hopes to capitalize on its successful partnership with Blue Sky Studios, in which their most recent collaboration, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, raked in over $650 million worldwide. Combine that business savvy, animating talent, and the universal appeal of Seuss' books, and you've got yourself a bonafide winner.
