Horton and Columbus - Horton Hears a Who - Film Review

Imagine sitting down in a movie theater with your bag of buttered popcorn watching as the lights dim, with your little sister and brother sitting on either side of you talking in very loud whispers to one another. You don't really want to be there but your mother made you bring them to the movies to watch the new Dr. Seuss animated film, "Horton Hears a Who." As your leaving the theater you think for a second, how Dr. Seuss could have thought of such a plot. Maybe he didn't come up with it on his own, maybe he was inspired with something that happened in history? In "Horton Hears a Who" the conflict of the "dust spec" and what should be done of the "whos" live upon it is similar to an event that had been debated so many years ago. When you're sitting in the theater watching the children movie you might not realize the similarity between the movie and the Age of Exploration that happened back in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Age of Exploration was a time where new people, plants, lands, and new cultures where identified that the world had never known before. We see this idea in the movie with the discovery of the "whos". You might not realize the similarity between the characters or the events in the movie. Horton Hears a Who symbolizes the criticism received from the explorers when they first set out on their exploration and it also symbolizes the opinion that if a person is not like them in their physical appearance then they should not be treated the same.

Horton and Columbus both discover something new, even though Columbus may not know it yet, and they are criticized for what they are doing and their plans are endangered by others trying to get in their way. When Columbus first tried to raise money to pay for his expedition he presented his plans to John II, the King of Portugal who refused to pay because he thought that Columbus's plan was too daring and would never work. Columbus must have felt let down and distraught because the expedition was so close to beginning but it was thwarted by just one powerful man. Horton also goes through this when the speck of dust is taken away from him by the eagle, and is thrown into a field, making it nearly impossible to find. The kangaroo represents King John II because she is constantly criticizing Horton, for she cannot fathom the idea that a whole race of people are living on such a tiny s