Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (***)

Directed by: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda

Starring (Voices): Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Betty White, Jenny Slate, Stephen Tobolowsky, Nasim Pedrad, Danny Cooksey

Seen: March 26^th 2012

*** Out of ****

In the vein of one of my favourite earlier animation movies ‘Horton Hears a Who’, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax entertains and amuses in equal part while also carrying a valuable lesson along with the creative story. The animation is similar to that used in Horton, with the same vivid attention to colour and other small details. One thing that to me was a slight detraction from fully enjoying it was the somewhat out of place musical numbers in the movie – they’re not persistently present, and they feel forced – only the musical sequence at the start of the movie was funny and a natural start for the movie.

In Thneedville life is completely, utterly artificial, the trees are inflatables, and instead of water containers being delivered, it’s containers of fresh air, courtesy O’Hare Air, dropped off at peoples’ front doors. Ted Wiggins (Efron) is a little boy with dreams no bigger than getting as much face time as he can with the girl next door, Audrey (Swift). He even buys a model airplane just so he can crash it in her back-yard for an entry point with her. Audrey enjoys Ted too, and when they go to retrieve the model she shows him her artwork in her back-yard – paintings of trees, something Ted has never seen in his life. When Audrey tells Ted that she’d marry the guy who brings her a real, live tree, he becomes single-mindedly bent on finding that tree. While his mother (Slate) is dismissive when he asks about tree, his grandma (White) tells him of someone who might be able to help, someone who lives far outside of the high walls of Thneedville, called the Once-ler (Helms).

Ted finds his way out of Thneedville through some treacherous and dusky terrain marred with nothing but tree stumps to the front door of the Once-ler who, after some coaxing, starts telling Ted the story of the Truffula trees and their depletion at his hands. The Once-ler was once a young and ambitious man searching for the approval of his family. His big business idea was to create Thneeds (see the movie for more information), a product manufactured from the tufts of Truffula trees. When he chopped down the first tree, the Once-ler was confronted by the Lorax (DeVito), an amiable and slightly annoying (from the movie, not to me) orange tufted creature who represents the trees. The Once-ler and the Lorax reach a short-lived cease-fire after a promise not to cut down more trees, but the Once-ler’s greed overrides all of this and together with his family they eviscerate the forest. The Once-ler does have one final trick up his sleeve though, and it comes down on Ted to try and ensure a resurrection of sorts, but he won’t get to do it without a fight.

The Lorax is a very entertaining and funny movie with many very sweet and cute moments. The movie makes no secret of its stance on the fight between the corporate world and those who would love to protect the environment – the ridiculous nature of some big business endeavours being made fun of in a big way. I enjoyed The Lorax thoroughly, and if you enjoyed Horton Hears a Who, you will enjoy this one too (this maybe not quite as much).