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If you admire and respect the artistry of the late Theodor Geisel, you’ll probably approach the new computer-animated “Horton Hears a Who!” with trepidation. Not to worry. Although Blue Sky Studios, the 20th Century Fox division that conjured up the “Ice Age” series and “Robots,” has created a state-of-the-animated-art “Horton,” with an all-star cast and all the Hollywood trappings, the movie remains essentially Seussical.

Comedy kings Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, along with their good-humor zeitgeisters Seth Rogen, Amy Poehler, Jonah Hill and Will Arnett, provide the voices of the fauna and flora of Nool. Dr. Seuss’ fable, originally published in 1954, unfolds in a fantasy world where Horton the big-hearted elephant rescues the Whos of Who-ville, a universe of little people cast adrift on a speck of dust, because he reasons, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Meanwhile, there’s nothing small about the run-up to the release of “Horton Hears a Who!” From the television talk shows to the commercial tie-ins, it’s been all Horton all the time. Which has the fans down in Fanville worried. Witness this recent post on the imdb.com message boards:

“Don’t these people have enough money yet? One viewing of the (‘Horton’) TV commercial was enough to convince me that not a single shred of authentic Seuss-iness remains. I don’t get why this A-list of creeps would line up to wipe their b---- with the work of a real artist. My mind reels when I try to grasp what might have led the estate to allow this travesty to be made.

Congratulations to everyone involved for making the world a sadder, creepier, crappier place.”
Now there’s somebody who probably saw “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) and “The Cat in the Hat” (2003), those two sorry, live-action Seuss adaptations, and jumped to conclusions. But if you’re willing to ignore the Hollywood gloss and enjoy the cinematic experience, you’ll find a “Horton” that’s faithful, if not 100 percent, to the spirit of the beloved children’s classic. Besides, the radiant colors and vivid detail of the computer-generated images become almost mesmerizing.
To fill out the tale to feature length, Dr. Seuss’ story has been adapted by debut co-directors

Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, along with screenwriters Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (the latter also is responsible for the horrid, just-released “College Road Trip”). CBS News fixture Charles Osgood, who narrates the story, delivers the classic Seussian anapestic tetrameter verse in avuncular style.

For the most part, the filmmakers’ embellishments don’t take “Horton” too far off-course. We get lots of action and slapstick for the kids, with segments that wouldn’t be out of place in a Three Stooges short. Fortunately, Osgood’s calm narration helps to rein in the often fast and furious proceedings.

Plus, there are lots of snarky comments and pop-culture references for the kids’ adult keepers. All the Who youth yak away on their Who phones, while the Who elders are commanded to “keep watching the skies” (in a nod to another ‘50s classic, “The Thing From Another World”). And a Who-ette named Miss Yelp brags about her 15,000 friends on her MySpace-like page.

All of the usual “Horton” suspects are present and accounted for, with the rabble-rousing Kangaroo getting a jolt of old-school adrenaline from comedy veteran Carol Burnett, who smoothly pulls off one-liners like “My kid is pouch-schooled.” Other characters mainly help to pad out the plot. As befitting his “40-Year-Old Virgin”/”The Office” box-office clout, Carell gets co-star status as the Mayor of Who-ville, a harried Don Knotts sort with 96 daughters and one son, Jo-Jo (an effective turn by pop-music star Jesse McCartney). In the book, Jo-Jo is “a very small shirker,” but in a clever twist, he becomes an emo boy, complete with a sullen face, droopy bangs and an overall goth-by-way-of-   “The Lorax” look.

The movie also introduces a new Seussical-style denizen: Horton’s pal, Morton the mouse (Seth Rogen), who looks like Scrat from “Ice Age” and acts like he just wandered in from that series. Some critters go the hammy route, such as the villainous vulture Vlad Vlad-i-koff (Arnett), who comes off like Bela Lugosi in his terminal “Plan 9” phase.

Though he indulges in plenty of shtick, Carrey sounds less like a Gerald McBoing-Boing than might be expected. His Horton’s so likable, you’ll even forgive Carrey for his forays into unlikely impersonations (Henry Kissinger and JFK -- “we’ll have a man on the moon before the end of the decade!”). On the way to the finale, as Horton’s saved from death by beezlenut oil, the filmmakers roll out their heavy sentimental arsenal. If you can get past the climactic rendition of REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” — let’s hope they’re being ironic here — you’ll find your cynical heart growing three sizes larger. Because a Seuss is a Seuss, no matter how loose.
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Laura Emerick, an editor and staff writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, is filling in for Roger Ebert as he recovers from surgery.