Horton Hears a Who!/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Jojo in the movie, thanks to his Emo Teen setup.
    • There's also Katie, the weird yellow puffball.
    • Vlad Vladikoff could also qualify.
  • Fridge Horror: After frantically searching for the clover, Horton is described as being "more dead than alive". When you read the book as a kid, you think nothing of it...but when you happen upon it when you're older, you suddenly think "Oh my god, is he about to die from exhaustion?!"
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: In Katie's clover world, everyone is a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies. One episode of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has the Cloudcuckoolander Pinkie Pie attempt to eat a rainbow. However, the show has yet to feature lepidopteran defecation of any sort.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Vlad, who takes extreme pleasure in trying to break Horton by dropping the clover in the giant field of identical clovers.
    • Kangaroo having Horton roped, caged, and essentially tortured, over what she thinks is nothing but a speck.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Vlad the Vulture could definitely qualify.
    • And in the movie: Katie. Seriously, some of the faces she pulled will haunt your dreams.
    • While in the animated special, the Wickersham Brothers singing their song can be seen as eerie.
  • Tear Jerker: Horton finds the clover in the movie, and for a few seconds, no answer. The wail of despair he lets out is just wrenching.
  • The Scrappy: Yes, the Kangaroo's the main antagonist, but it seems like she's going out of her way to be the most unlikeable character, be it the book or the movie. Seriously, inciting a mob to torture Horton just because he won't give you the satisfaction of making you think you're right?
    • Not to mention when Vlad suggests she give him Rudy to eat in exchange for his services, while she decides against it, she still has to think about it for a second.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: Pro-life activists think this book was anti-abortion. In fact, Dr. Seuss was pro-choice. According to his wife, the central allegory is about fascism and corporatism -- "a person's a person, no matter how small" refers to big shot governments and businesses stepping on the common worker.
    • It's also an allegory for how the Japanese were being treated after WWII.
    • It works as an allegory for Isolationist foreign policy too.
  • The Woobie: Rudy, the little baby joey that has to stay in his Jerkass mother's pouch. It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor fella.
    • Jojo, who is so afraid of letting down his dad that he took a vow of silence.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Horton_Hears_a_Who!/YMMV?oldid=1993318"