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'The Lorax': A Campy And Whimsical Seussical

David Edelstein

The Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms) and the Lorax (Danny DeVito) are surrounded by bar-ba-loots in Truffula Valley in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax . Universal Pictures hide caption

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Director: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda
Genre: Family, Fantasy
Running Time: 94 minute

Rated PG for brief mild language

With: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift

Watch Clips

'Visiting the Once-ler'

Credit: Universal Pictures

'The Truffula Forest'

'House Guests'

At the far end of town Where the Grickle-grass grows And the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows And no birds ever sing excepting old crows ... Is the Street of the Lifted Lorax.

It's such a joy to read Dr. Seuss aloud, with those serpentine, nonsense words flying out of your mouth as if on their own current. It's a shame there's no narration in the animated feature, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax , and little in the way of verse. Early on, a character not in the book, Audrey, voiced by Taylor Swift, tells lovelorn 12-year-old Ted, voiced by Zac Efron, that once, nearby their now paved-over town, there were truffula trees: "The touch of their tufts was much softer than silk, and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk" — and Ted says, "Wow, what does that even mean ?" and Audrey says, "I know , right?" So one of the only lines that is from the book, that does have Dr. Seuss' sublime whimsy, is basically made fun of, or at least dragged down to Earth.

The directors and writers made the delightful Despicable Me, and some of them made the last and much better Seuss feature, Horton Hears a Who , but this time they don't seem to trust their material. And maybe they have reason. The book The Lorax tells the story, in flashback, of a young, energetic entrepreneur known as the Once-ler who grows rich by indiscriminately hacking down truffula trees and inadvertently wipes out an entire ecosystem. It's an environmentalist classic, a walloping argument against unchecked growth. But it's nowhere near Seuss' top tier: It doesn't have that thrilling mixture of anarchism and elegance.

It's pure agitprop, with no surprises and a title character — a mysterious creature who "speaks for the trees" — that even Theodore Geisel seems to find a pain, describing him as "shortish. And oldish. And brownish. And mossy," who speaks "with a voice that [is] sharpish and bossy." Fortunately, the Lorax doesn't appear in the book very much and you don't actually have to hear his voice. As opposed to the movie, with its long and loud serenades in the unmellifluous New Jersey tones of Danny DeVito.

Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) tries to impress Audrey (Taylor Swift) by running into the wasteland to talk to the Once-ler. Universal Pictures hide caption

I don't blame DeVito: It's not as if he was hired for his subtlety. He's a good, pushy sitcom actor with expert timing. But given nonstop, crass one-liners, he comes to embody the spirit of the movie in ways I don't think the filmmakers intended.

The movie is broad and raucous and rather campy, and the songs, among them an ironic celebration of capitalism, barely pass muster. There are too many whack-a-mole sight gags featuring adorable bar-ba-loots (bears to you) and three warbling fish. The screenwriters add a stock villain to the framing story, a pint-sized mogul who pollutes by design, since unbreathable air drives up sales of his canned air. He and his goons chase after 12-year-old Ted when the boy ventures into the denuded wasteland to talk to the aged, reclusive Once-ler — not because the kid cares about the environment but to impress the teenage Audrey. I guess that makes him easier to relate to than if he were just, you know, curious about why there are no animals and the landscape looks like the moon.

Don't worry, this one isn't as eyeball-searing as the live-action The Cat in the Hat . The diaphanous texture of the truffula blooms is lovely, and the movie gets more compelling in the last 20 minutes, when the cute animals — not to mention the Lorax — take a hike. For a brief spell, it has the book's sense of loss, its droopy melancholy. You can still discern the stark parable beneath the movie's jokey, facetious tone, but this kind of studio 3-D feature animation is all wrong for the material. The Lorax speaks for the trees, but I must speak for The Lorax .

Plaid Line + PRIZM

‘the lorax’ movie analysis.

By: Ellie Mulvaney and Irene Cohen

Many children’s movies are made with themes that are much less superficial than the frivolous, kid-friendly plots that house them. Often, messages and lessons are disguised in how the characters interact and the way conflict is resolved in order to teach life skills in an intertwining way. ’The Lorax’, originally written by Dr. Seuss, and directed by Chris Renaud, is no exception.

The story follows one Ted Wiggins, a teenage boy living in a seemingly perfect town, though one that is almost entirely artificial. In his quest to find a real tree for the girl he likes, he travels outside the gates of town, against the wishes of the mayor, and antagonist, Mr. O’Hare. He finds a barren and dead landscape, and a man by the name of The Oncler, who retells the story of how his business ruined the surrounding land, resulting in the fake city with no real plants that Ted lives in.

In this, the viewer sees the once thriving ecosystem that once existed, and the Lorax, a creature who protected it. As The Oncler went against the Lorax’s demands to leave the trees alone, we can see the depleting resources for the animals who live there, and the further destruction as the company becomes more large scale. By creating these animal characters, that children come to befriend during the former half of the film, it builds their empathy for when these same animals eventually have to leave what was once their home due to the pollution.

The film even includes a famous Dr. Seuss quote spoken by The Oncler; “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” By teaching children the importance of their actions and their own effect on the world they live in, ‘The Lorax’ film effectively helps raise an awareness of oneself in the future generations, and an understanding of the human footprint on our planet.

Much like in the real world, the depletion of these natural resources, the Truffula trees, and resulting pollution is not the goal, it is a mere side effect of the Onceler’s greed. The Onceler doesn’t care about anything other than his objective of being as wealthy as he can possibly be, no matter the consequences.

In the beginning of the movie, the Onceler is not respected by his relatives because of his lack of his success, but as the plot progresses, and he makes more and more profit off of the Thneeds he produces, he begins to gain their respect. This criticizes our society’s standard of success, because even though his production of these Thneeds is devastating the environment, it doesn’t matter as long as it is “helping the economy.”

In the song “How Bad Can I Be?” it is explicitly stated by the Onceler what he thinks is important in life. It says:

The people with the money (people with the money) Make this ever-loving world go ’round So I’m biggering my company, I’m biggering my factory, I’m biggering my corporate size.

Everybody out there, take care of yours and me? I’ll take care. of. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.

This is an excerpt from the song. We see that the Onceler knows that the people in power are the people with the money, so he will continue to expand his company at the cost of decimating entire forests of Truffula trees and polluting the ecosystem. He believes he should be able to continue this pollution in the name of his company without anyone criticizing him so he can continue generating profit.

All of this ravaging of the ecosystem results in the extinction of Truffula trees, which were the main source of oxygen for the people of the town. Since this natural resource is now scarce, Mr. O’Hare takes advantage of this and commodifies oxygen, a basic right. He begins to sell bottled oxygen to the citizens of his town, something that was once free and natural is now just another commercialized item.

‘The Lorax’ movie cautions its viewers of what capitalist greed could ultimately lead to. When those in power are those who control the economy, society will not progress. To be in control of the economy, you first have to let go of human decency in order to exploit and ruin the lives of others. Basic human rights should never be commodified or considered a luxury.

Review of The Movie "The Lorax"

The movie called “The Lorax” had a great significance not only on me but I fell like on most of my class members, the movie connects to a lot of things happening in this world right now, for example, the climax change, the environment, weather, carrying capacity, the bush fires not only in Australia but in New Zealand and New Caledonia. I don’t only think that the change in the environment has a great significance but the word used at the end of the movie “unless”. I do want to include that the Lorax is a perfect example of people who don’t take other people’s needs and wants for granted. The world of the Lorax is very similar to the real world. Like our world, people in the Lorax were needy, selfish, and expectant of others.

I first want to start talking about how the movie the Lorax connects to our environment now, for example, facing major environmental problems like pollution, global warming, littering, deforestation, and loss of animal habitats. The major motivation to the Lorax leaving was the cutting of all the trees. I feel like If we do not collectively take responsibility for the stewardship of the environment, then our own world will soon be like the one that the Lorax left behind. I feel like in both the movie and the real world we should take care of our environment because it can cause a lot of changes, for example, change in climax (weather), deforestation and loss of animal habitat.

I do also want to talk about the way their world compared to the real one is that some people were selfish. Not everyone, but some people in the world are very selfish. All they think about is how to benefit themselves, doing what they do not realize that they could be making other things (species) suffer. The movie portrays this when the once- ler are overproducing the thneeds and clearing all the truffula trees. The Once-ler did not think about all the homes he was taking away from the animals. This is a big problem in today’s world as well. Environmental harm is growing because of human wants and they are not thinking about the needs of others, a lot of people in this world are selfish.

Now I will like to talk about the significance the word “Unless” (“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”) in my opinion unless is when you care enough to seek out the passage that can make your dreams come true, you will forever be stuck thinking and complaining about what could be – rather than completing your dream and experiencing it.

In conclusion, the world of the Lorax portrayed many characteristics of the real world. Even though the real world does not always breakout in song and dance, it teaches some of the same important lessons; lessons that are going to matter in the future. If everyone learned their lesson the world would be a better place; however, we are all human and tend to make the same mistakes. The important thing is to take the three points of concern or lessons and try to make them better. Then the Lorax’s world and the real world would be better places all together.

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"Review of The Movie "The Lorax"," supremestudy.com , 14-Jul-2021. [Online]. Available: https://supremestudy.com/review-of-the-movie-the-lorax/ . [Accessed: 27-Sep-2024]

supremestudy.com. (2021). Review of The Movie "The Lorax" . [Online]. Available at: https://supremestudy.com/review-of-the-movie-the-lorax/ [Accessed: 27-Sep-2024]

Review of The Movie "The Lorax". (2021, Jul 14). Retrieved September 27, 2024 , from https://supremestudy.com/review-of-the-movie-the-lorax/

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Home / Essay Samples / Entertainment / Lorax / Environmental Conservation and Corporate Greed: the Film Lorax

Environmental Conservation and Corporate Greed: the Film Lorax

Category: Entertainment
Topic: Lorax , Movie Review

Pages: 1 (619 words)

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Works Cited

Seuss,Dr. ‘’The Lorax’’, Directed by Chris Renaud, Universal Pictures, 02 Mar. 2012. Amazon Prime, www.Amazon.com/The-Lorax/dp/B001E6V6HO

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