The Lorax

Voices of: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate
Directed by: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Comedy
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: To impress a girl, a boy (Zac Efron) tries to find a tree. The only problem is that all the trees in their town have been replaced by metallic ones. His search takes him outside of the city walls and into the realm of the Lorax.

Review:

Tim: I'm really not sure how wise it is to turn Dr. Seuss' books into feature length films. His stories are fairly short and basic, and to turn them into a 90 minute movie requires a lot of filling in the blanks and fleshing the story out. With that in mind, The Lorax is a fairly decent adaptation. There's at least somewhat of enough story here to fill up the 86 minute run time. And yet, there's still a nagging suspicion throughout the whole film that everything was prolonged and drawn out a bit, just to make sure the movie was long enough. It's never a good feeling that the story should have taken less time to tell than it actually did.

The Lorax is interesting because it certainly comes across as very anti-corporate and very pro-environment. Now, protecting the environment is not a bad thing, but it comes across as a little simplistic and naive here. In this film, those who protect the trees are the good guys, and those who build businesses and make money are the bad guys. It feels a little too cut-and-dry, and almost as if the film was pandering to the big movement happening right now. I know that this all comes from Dr. Seuss' book and is faithful in that regard, but I couldn't help but feel a bit concerned about the very simplified approach to the story. Environmentalism is definitely good, but all corporations aren't evil, and if we did away with the corporations, things might not be so great, either. I guess the real world is a bit more complicated, that's all.

The story is pretty basic. We have a boy who's in love with a girl, and is determined to find her a tree. This leads him to the Once-ler, who tells the story of the Lorax. I was a little surprised that the Lorax only showed up in these flashbacks. I actually felt like he took a backseat to most of the characters in the film, which I didn't love. The movie is named after him, after all. The movie does succeed in setting up a David-verses-Goliath fight between the boy and his allies and the big evil corporation, which wants to keep destroying the environment to boost their bottom line. I suppose all that is interesting enough, and it's always fun to root for the little guy.

The voice cast is pretty good. Zac Efron does a nice job in the lead role. Ed Helms was perfect for the Once-ler, and I sincerely hope he does more voice work in the future. He was terrific here. I also love the casting of Danny DeVito as the Lorax. This was an inspired choice, and he does great work. I just wish he had a big more screen time and a little more to actually do. Taylor Swift was fine. I did love Betty White as the grandmother. She has such a recognizable voice, but it was fun to hear her in this role. The cast all worked well together.

While I felt like The Lorax had a good message, it was a little off-putting how that message is crammed down the audience's throat. There was almost no subtlety here, which hurt the movie. The basic story is very interesting, but it feels like it was stretched so much that it lost some of its inherent effectiveness. The search for a tree is admirable and I enjoyed the questing aspect of the film, but it was very disappointing how it was eventually resolved. A character basically just says, "Here is the answer." I felt like this was a huge plot hole. The movie had several moments that just felt all too convenient and realistic. I know this is a children's movie, but lazy writing is lazy writing.

Now, The Lorax is not a bad movie. It does have a good message, regardless of the method of delivery. It features some colorful characters and a decently memorable story. While I didn't love the movie, it did enough right for me to have very little ill will toward it. I think this is a decent effort and a pretty standard movie. It didn't do much to wow me, but I was at least interested throughout. I still think this is a bit of a disappointment, but it's not all bad.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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