Since 2000 three Dr. Seuss books have made their way to the big screen: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, “The Cat in the Hat”, and “Horton Hears a Who!”. When you think of other classic Seuss books “The Lorax” doesn’t immediately come to mind. So it’s a bit surprising that this story was chosen to be the newest Seuss film. But the theme of the movie – protecting the environment – is certainly a hot topic right now.
Unfortunately “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” is just too simple to have an impact on anyone who sees it – kids or adults.
Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) lives in Thneedville where everything is fake and made of plastic and the people like it that way. There are no trees so everyone has to buy clean air. In order to impress a girl he has a crush on named Audrey (singer Taylor Swift), Ted needs to find a real living tree. His Gramma (voiced by Betty White – how predictable) tells him to go to the mysterious Once-ler, who lives outside of town.
The Once-ler (Ed Helms) tells Ted the story of The Lorax (voiced by comedian Danny DeVito). He is a short, orange creature who “speaks for the trees” and tries to protect them so he and his animal friends can live and thrive. When the Once-ler was younger, he came to the animal’s beautiful home and chopped down all the trees so he could make a product out of them to sell to and make a lot of money – something he later regretted doing. The Once-ler decides to help Ted to try to undo his big mistake.
The movie begins promisingly with a musical number during the opening credits. Something pretty rare – and it works. And the first half of the film is o.k. There are touches of Seuss (including some rhyming dialogue) and the animation is bright and cheery.
But then “The Lorax” begins to go downhill – fast. It’s almost as if the filmmakers forgot that this is a Dr. Seuss story. There’s no wit, no charm. The movie becomes just another average CGI animated film. Which is shocking considering that it’s made by many of the same people behind 2010’s “Despicable Me”, which is one of the most original movies of the past decade. “The Lorax” is filled with stereotypes and dull characters, such as a villain who’s the shortest person in town and a fat bear who is the slowest and goofiest of all the animals.
One thing the movie’s not filled with is laughs. There are hardly any funny lines. Most of the “jokes” are either overdone or incredibly predictable. An obvious attempt to duplicate “Despicable Me”‘s hilarious minions with a group of goldfish fails miserably.
And, after the opening musical number, the rest of the songs are corny and unnecessary. It seems like they were added simply to get the very thin story to fill 90 minutes.
The animation is colorful, the voice cast is solid, and the Lorax and Once-ler characters do have a little depth to them. But it’s very difficult for “The Lorax” to keep your interest when you know exactly what’s coming.
It’s rated PG for brief mild language. Young ones may like the colors and the characters, but will likely get restless halfway through. Anyone older than 8 or 9 will have a hard time caring about the story or the very basic environmental message.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” gets a C+. This isn’t one of Seuss’ classic stories and so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that this is not even close to being a classic animated film.