The good news about “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” is that it actually looks Seussian, which is more than you can say for the nightmare-inducing, live-action adaptations of “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” that were sprung on a trusting public in 2003 and 2000, respectively.

The characters in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud) are simple, friendly black-and-white line drawings, as uncomplicated as characters in a children’s book.

“Charlie don’t surf!” bellows Robert Duvall in “Apocalypse Now,” but apparently penguins do. At least that’s the concept of the animated “Surf’s Up,” a clever, delightfully rendered summer diversion in which a tiny rockhopper penguin named Cody Maverick aspires to be a champion wave rider.

In “The Simpsons Movie” no good deed goes uncrushed. This merry celebration of mayhem, hostility, carnage, wanton destruction, power lust, dysfunction, nihilism and the proper application of gigantic plastic domes to American cities will certainly satisfy those who’ve seen all 400-odd episodes of the animated TV show twice, as well as those who’ve only glimpsed the Simpsons on a transmigration to more sports programming.

We’ve all seen it on the even-ing news, the outraged anchorman intoning, “See who visits YOUR favorite restaurant after hours.” Then the vague thrill of the grainy video footage: a scurrying of paws, the long wisp of a tail. Rats. The restaurant is infested with rats. (Even writing this, I can’t help but vomit in my mouth a little.)

The big green guy went and got old on us in “Shrek the Third.” The latest installment in the computer-animated, postmodern adventures of Shrek the ogre (voiced once again by Mike Myers with the gentlest of Scottish lilts) suffers from growing pains and leaves a distinct been-there-done-that aftertaste in the mouth.