Movie Review: Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.
                                                                                                                                            -Dr. Seuss

This message which appears at the end of the film sums up this film perfectly.  This is what you'll remember about the film long after you've seen it and it's a great message to start to introduce to young children about the environment and what we can do to help it.

The Lorax is the story of the town of Thneedville where there are no more trees, just plastic ones which inflate with air and have the setting of spring, summer, fall, winter and disco.  The people of Thneedville are also controlled by O'Hare Air since there are no longer any trees to create fresh air.  Most people have even forgotten what a tree looks and feels like.  Except Audrey.

Audrey (voiced by Taylor Swift) paints them in her backyard and longs to see just one again.  Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) wants to impress her and decides he should find out how to get trees back again by speaking to the Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms).  His Grammy (voiced by Betty White) encourages him as she remembers as a young child how it used to be.

At first, the Once-ler doesn't want to talk.  But he opens up on his folly of making Thneeds out the trees that grew all over the valley until every last one was gone.  He was warned by the Lorax (voiced by Danny DeVito), a mythical little creature who spoke for the trees and the rest of animals who lived in the forest but the Once-ler chose not to listen and now here they are, unless there is someone who cares.

Ted does, so does his family and Audrey and eventually they show the people of Thneedville on what they've been missing out on.  The film is sweet and optimistic, filled with happy colors and scenery.   The animation is great and has many comic moments.  This is the same studio that created Despicable Me and they certainly have improved from that film.  The fur and hair of the characters is very well done and especially the cotton candy-like trees that look like they stepped out of the books and world that Dr. Seuss created.  

However, there are many portions where the film lags.  Not every animation needs to be a musical you know.  I feel these days they are just sequences to make the animation more fantastical but it just grew boring.  I did appreciate the message being told in the film and would recommend it for younger kids.  It's about time someone spoke up for the trees.

Directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Kyle Balda; Written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul; Based on the book by Dr. Seuss; Editing by Claire Dodgson, Steven Liu, Ken Schretzmann; Music by John Powell.

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