The Lorax (2012)

Japan, United States of America

Animation, Family

Universal Pictures, Illumination, dentsu, Comcast, Hell

Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Rob Riggle, Taylor Swift, Jenny Slate

Chris Renaud

Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul

Taglines: Meet the original force of nature.

aftermath, tree, musical, family business , money, tragic villain, consumerism, air, based on children's book, animal killing, walled city, reforestation, tree cutting, mad family, clothes factory, meme, social, abused child, singing animals, fish trio, biggering, unless

A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

Reviews:

Author: Kamurai
Good watch, will probably watch again, and can recommend. Despite the "Despicable Me" / "Minions" franchise, Illumination seems to do good work, and they really brought the zaney world of Dr. Seuss to life here, regardless of how much sense it may or may not make at the time. It's been a while since I read "The Lorax", but I'm pretty sure the motivation to plant a tree wasn't to get a girl. For all I remember the Onceler's story was the original storybook with a couple of catchy musical numbers thrown in. That aside, there is a lot of fun in this movie with a (ultimately) positive message about environmental conservation, thought it's not as strong as it would like to be, but as palatable as necessary. While I won't bored you with the details necessary to convey my view on environmental education, there is an odd bit to the "conducting business" scene series where there almost seems to be a subtle message for capitalistic business during the moments we're being told this is bad, or maybe that was the point: there is a struggle and balance necessary. I just thought it was funny. At least the put message out there for us not to underestimate the elderly. The world / character creation is very well done, and I'm humming one of the songs as I write this, but there is one problem I have with the writing: that the Onceler breaks the story up across multiple days. Once he has his audience (oh, play with in a play: a Shakespearean device), and the movie has its audience, just tell your story through. I'm not a fan of break up a story into multiple stories if it's not necessary (if you've ever binged a tv show, you know what I'm talking about). At least he didn't flip it all around and tell it out of order (see "Pulp Fiction"). While the Lorax itself is an underwhelming, if subtle, character itself, I can imagine most people will enjoy it.