A film that truly captures the World of Dr. Seuss.
“The Lorax” is the fourth feature length film adapted from a Dr. Seuss book. This animated feature film features the voice talents of Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, and Danny DeVito. The film follows a boy named Ted, who is in love with this girl. The girl basically tells Ted that she loves flowers and really adores this one certain type of flower that she has never gotten before. Hoping to impress the girl of his dreams, Ted goes on a mission to find this really special flower. As he begins his search, he meets the Once-ler, who then begins to tell him the story of The Lorax and how the world of the Lorax was destroyed by greedy corporations, who are now running the town in which Ted is from.
When reading over that plot description, you are probably thinking to yourself, “wow is this really a kids movie?” The answer is yes, because it is extremely light hearted and fun, but at the same time really does provide the audience with a strong message against corporate greed and being able to just appreciate the simple things in life like nature and the forests. This movie feels as if it was created by a guy, who had a really big stance on the environment, but I truly believe it captures the message that Dr. Seuss was trying to convey in the original book.
While the story seems rather deep at times, it is still full of lovable and childish characters to really capture the attention of the children in the audience. The movie has a whole bunch of cute animal creatures that are both colorful and funny, but at the same time are extremely childish for those adults watching. I can’t complain though because this is based on a children’s book that as a child I loved and adored. The characters felt like they were directly from the Dr. Seuss books and captured how cooky I would imagine Dr. Seuss to be.
There is so much about this film that I absolutely loved. I simply adored the fact that the film was a musical, because I personally adore upbeat musical numbers. The songs really fit the tone of the film and even provided some good chuckles here and there. While the soundtrack isn’t as amazing as say “The Muppets,” I still found all sounds to be fun and upbeat. I personally loved the closing number of the film. The odd thing with the music, however, is that Taylor Swift who voices the female lead in the movie never sings so I feel that was talent that went unnoticed. I am a huge Swift fan and the idea of putting her in a musical film and not using her vocal talents made no sense at all to me.
When you think about casting “The Lorax,” I do immediately think about Danny DeVito, who without a doubt owned this film. He not only has the perfect look as an actor for the character, but his voice matched the Lorax almost perfectly. It’s rare that I see an actor picked to voice an animated character that fits as well as DeVito does in this film. The other voice casting was also solid even though Zac Efron was a bit too old to play the voice of Ted. I think Ed Helms as the Once-ler was a wonderful choice as well and I am glad they showcased his vocal talents; I just wish they did the same with Swift.
I very rarely point out about the animation in most computer animated films but I have to say that this film looked amazing. The film was really bright and colorful and really felt as if they took the book and really tried to make the film be as colorful as the book. I also had to admit that the tone of the film really matched the animation. When the film was dark and depressing, the look was dead on. I appreciate when animators pay attention to detail to things like that. This is one of those elements that usually make Pixar films stand out from the bunch.
When all is said in done, I really enjoyed “The Lorax” a whole lot more then I was initially expecting. I wasn’t expecting to hate it so don’t think that, but I wasn’t expecting to really like it as much as I did. While I have some small minor complains about how preachy the film is at times, the absence of Taylor Swift’s singing, and the weak opening, I really can’t say that I was really bothered by anything really serious in this film. It was a fun, uplifting film that had a solid message and plenty of adult humor and social commentary mixed in to appeal to the adults. This film feels very much like a Pixar film in both animation and story. It’s a really solid flick and I will be happy to revisit “The Lorax” again once he hits the Blu Ray shelves in a few months. If you are a fan of Dr. Seuss, I definitely suggest you drop everything and go see “The Lorax.”
MovieManMenzel’s final rating for “The Lorax” is a 7.5 out of 10. This is a great adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book that I have loved ever since I was a little child.
