We saw Horton Hears a Who at the drive-in last night (Sunset in SLO, CA). It’s a sweet G-rated story with lush CGI visuals of fantastic plants and animals, modeled on Dr. Suess’ artwork as envisioned by the creators of the Ice Age series. For art and animation fans, the flashbacks in Dr. Suess’ line-drawn style are a bonus.

There is no eco-message, unless you are a Who who is trapped on a speck on a clover that looks like a tiny Truffula Tree. (Truffula Trees are from Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax” – another famous fable accused of being a dangerous eco-message.)

Well OK, the mayor of Who has 97 children and only one bathroom, so maybe there’s a lesson about overpopulation. But the central theme seems to be the end of the speck on the clover that is the Who’s entire world. This should satisfy anyone who looks forward to armageddon.

Spoiler alert.

Horton is the elephant who discovers the Whos, who live in the speck on the clover. Nobody believes Horton, who is the only one who can hear the Who (because he has big ears). A self-righteous kangaroo insists that Horton destroy the speck because she believes Horton is wrong when he says, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Horton’s journey to get the speck to a safe place is fraught with danger, causing fearful disturbances in the happy Who society such as quakes and angry gray skies. Horton must run when the kangaroo sends a Russian vulture (beautifully animated) after our hero, then whips up an angry mob of monkeys, who finally wrest the clover and the precious speck out of Horton’s outstretched trunk. Horton is caged and the clover is dangled over a pot of boiling oil. Suddenly, at the very last possible moment, the Who make a noise that everyone hears. The crowd is struck with wonder, and then the kangaroo’s son (whom she’d stuffed in her pouch many times to prevent his hearing such hearsay as Horton hearing Whos), snatches the clover and saves all the Whos from a hellish end. Mother kangaroo, perfectly voiced by Carol Burnette, commands her son to drop the clover in the boiling oil. The young kangaroo turns and says “No, mom,” then hands Horton the Who. The kangaroo turns away in shame, but Horton offers her a cookie, which she gratefully accepts. Presumably they all live happily every after. That’s my hope anyway.

I don’t think the reviewers are as worried about the eco-message as they are about the other messages one could also infer from this famous fable – thinking for oneself, loyalty to values of kindness and compassion, the dangers of fascist kangaroos…