The fast and furious pace of this 3-D computer-animated comedy bears little resemblance to the easier pleasures of the original book, although that is not to say that the film itself is lacking in pleasure. It is funny and at times gleefully weird, and even has a few meaningful things to say about the nature of greed, the inanity of faded celebrity, and the dangers inherent in trying to fit in. The film’s real treat, though, is its outrageous visual design, which detours deep into the surreal and also plays as an amusing parody of Roland Emmerich-style disaster movies. (Starplex 16, Waco, TX)