REEL CRITICS:

The late Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is one of the world’s most beloved authors of children’s books. Particularly productive during the childhood of baby boomers, Geisel created memorable characters and stories that were presented in large-format books using his clever rhymes and whimsical artwork.

Geisel’s books are short and contain narrative intended to be read by children 4 to 8 years old. Consequently, despite their enormous popularity, Geisel never allowed his books to be made into feature films during his lifetime. His stories seemed more adaptable to the small screen and some were produced using animation with Geisel’s consent and cooperation. Some of these half-hour adaptations have become classics, including “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (1966) and “Horton Hears a Who” (1970), both produced by the legendary animator Chuck Jones.

After his death in 1991, Geisel’s heirs apparently could not resist the millions offered by the movie studios for the rights to his books. This unfortunate bargain produced two major live-action motion pictures, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in 2000 and “The Cat in the Hat” in 2003. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch, was simply forgettable. However, “The Cat in the Hat” starring Mike Myers, was truly abominable, completely devoid of the charm of the book, and worse yet, simply unfunny. This latter film was such a disaster that Geisel’s widow promised there would never be another live-action Seuss film.

Now for the first time, a feature-length animated motion picture has been released based on a work by Dr. Seuss. “Horton Hears a Who,” featuring the voice of Jim Carrey as Horton, is now in theaters. Released by Twentieth Century Fox Animation, which also produced the “Ice Age” franchise and “Robots,” and running a fairly brisk 88 minutes, “Horton” can lay claim to being the best film based on a Dr. Seuss book thus far — perhaps a dubious distinction.

By now most of us know the story. Horton is an imaginative elephant living in the jungle of Nool, who one day hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet; home to a city called “Whoville” and inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos.

As the story goes, the mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) asks Horton (who, though he cannot see him, is able to hear him quite well, thanks to his big ears) to protect the Whos from harm. Horton happily obliges, proclaiming “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”

However, the other inhabitants of the jungle, particularly the sour kangaroo (Carol Burnett), think he has lost his mind and set out to silence him.

One thing that can be said of this film is it does look “Seussian.” Directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, who have both worked mainly as art directors and animators, have created a fantastical world with amazing detail. Both the jungle of Nool and Whoville are ornately detailed and visually interesting. The characters, and there are many, all have that “wow” factor even though we are all now accustomed to computer animation.

“Horton” follows in the well-crafted fashion of “Ice Age” and “Robots,” first-rate productions that are surpassed only by Pixar offerings.

The central challenge in adapting a Dr. Seuss book to the big screen is the inescapable need to provide “filler.” As written by Geisel in 1954, “Horton Hears a Who” is 72 pages and contains more illustrations than narrative. Accordingly, writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul had to invent approximately an hour of original content that maintains the tone of the much-beloved book.

In some ways it is unfortunate this comparison needs to be made, since “Horton” is quite entertaining when considered as a stand-alone project. The writers have done a good job in adding depth to an iconic children’s literary figure, though this Horton actually takes us farther away from the source material.

Overall, “Horton Hears a Who” is first-rate family entertainment. Small children will love it and the rest of us who fondly remember this story will be entertained by a visually stunning and raucously humorous film.

VAN NOVACK is the assistant vice president of institutional research and assessment at Cal State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife, Elizabeth.