It’s a classic. It’s animated, smart, funny, and it’s Dr. Seuss. Sure, these are all good reasons why Horton Hears a Who should be a great movie. But they are also the reasons why I was positive I would leave the theater disappointed. {You can imagine it not meeting even your most basic of expectations. Remember that God-awful Alvin and the Chipmunks? Hopefully you were smarter than I am and didn’t think you might like it, read a review that said it was good, and go see it only to realize that it’s one of the worst children’s movies ever made ever in the history of really bad children’s movies}.

Well, Horton Hears a Who is a good movie. In fact, it’s one of the best children’s movies ever. Sure, the colorful characters, suspenseful storyline, and heartfelt moral are capturing. But what really convinced me that this Dr. Seuss adaptation is a movie like no other was when Hayes and I sat staring at the big screen with our heads together. Because it was in that moment that I felt a stray hair tickle my neck. I took the stray between my fingers and pulled. But the hair didn’t detach, and since I felt nothing, I decided it must have been tangled in a knot. So I yanked really hard…and Hayes let out the loudest scream I’ve ever heard in the history of really loud screams. But instead of bursting into tears—which would have been totally justified considering the way I ripped that stray hair clear out of his head—he simply went back to watching the movie as if nothing was going to stop his from enjoying this classic.

Who knew? Horton Hears a Who soothes boo-boos, prevents tantrums and entertains too.