Despite some predictions to the contrary, the 1954 children's tale Horton Hearsa Who!, penned by Theodore Geisel's alter-ego Dr. Seuss, has more than enough grist to survive ninety minutes on-screen. In fact, it's one of the most delightful surprises at the megaplex in some time - the plot of an elephant who discovers a micro-civilisation called Whoville living on a speck of floating dust shows off surprisingly long and swift cinematic legs from start to finish. Live-action Seuss adaptations such as The Grinch have mired their stories in a sort of literalist aimlessness, but the animated aesthetic of Horton represents the first pitch-perfect feature-length translation of the Doctor's sensibility. It works not just because the world of the book has been furnished with great voice-work and bouncy energy, but also because it has expertly plumbed the existential depths beneath Seuss's spare rhyme scheme, meaning adults will be as enchanted as tots once the story swings into gear.

The elephant Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey), proves a loveable and galumphing hero as he attempts to navigate the precious speck that harbours Whoville through the dangerous jungle of Nool, driven by the notion that "a person's a person no matter how small." Horton is comically played off against all sorts of jungle flora and fauna who intend to thwart his progress, and even an imperious kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who thinks anything that can't be seen mustn't exist. Steve Carell provides the pipes for the ineffectual Mayor of Whoville, charged with communicating to Horton, setting up a range of zinging verbal volleys between the two comics that don't fail to enthrall. The digital scalpels at Blue Sky Studios have managed to invoke a hand-made feeling in their gorgeous animation here, making for absorbing textures and an almost impossibly ornate Whoville. Ultimately though, it's a sweet, strange soulfulness that makes Horton an out-and-out winner.