For one thing, “Horton” is animated, and its fur-tufted trees and whimsical constructions remain as true to the loopy simplicity of the original book as a computer-generated 3-D rendering can. Yes, the movie burdens its tender, wide-eyed elephant Horton — humanitarian, do-gooder, Who messiah — with the voice of Jim Carrey, but it doesn’t let the actor devour the character from within like a flesh-eating parasite.

And surprisingly, the movie retains much of the gentleness and sincerity of the book, if only at intermittent intervals.

The rest of the time, it tries too hard to act cool around the other animated movies, which, for some reason, still swear by the sardonic, pop culture-laden, celebrity-voiced, sitcom-cadenced corporate-speak that keeps trying to pass as humor. When in this mode, “Horton Hears a Who!” compulsively undermines its own message of dedication, respect and perseverance. “An elephant’s faithful 100 percent,” Horton says at one point. Then he lowers his eyelids wearily, puts on a funny voice and drawls, “That’s my co-o-de. My mot-to. ...” So much for sincerity.

The moral, or one of them, of “Horton Hears a Who!” is that every voice counts. But what about a voice that compulsively undermines itself with a sarcasm so aimless and generalized that it serves no purpose but to ensure that nothing is taken seriously?

“Horton” is the story of a gentle, jungle-dwelling elephant who one day discovers an entire world on a speck of dust. The speck has become dislodged from its base on a daisy and is careening toward certain destruction when it floats past Horton, who hears its inhabitants’ cries for help.

Determined to protect the tiny world from harm (“A person’s a person no matter how small,” he declares), Horton carefully nestles the speck in a clover and sets out to find a safe place for the Whos to dwell. On his way, he confronts ridicule, contempt and attempted sabotage by the other animals of the jungle.

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