Oh, the places Hollywood will go to trade on the good name of dear 'ol Dr. Seuss.
First came the hideous movie version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas,"
which taught us that the Grinch was mean, not because he was a twisted
freak who lived up in the mountains Unabomber-style, but because he was
bullied at a young age for having a boy-beard.
Next came 2003's "The Cat in the Hat,"
a manic and borderline offensive adaptation that was totally out of
synch with the gentle, subversive humor of the text that inspired it.
(Even Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel, told the Associated Press she hated Mike Myers' take on the sneaky feline.)
And now we have "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!,"
an animated version of the beloved tale about an elephant with
top-notch hearing, coming to a cineplex near you this Friday. I missed
a Washington, D.C. preview screening of "Horton" so I can't say whether
it's good or bad, but the trailer -- featuring, yes, another over-the-top performance by former Grinch Jim Carrey -- is not exactly promising.
But
even if it stinks like week-old green eggs and ham, it won't matter.
"Horton" will still rise to the top of the box office because of all
the marketing dollars invested in making sure every
man-and-woman-with-child is aware of its existence.
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