The Lorax

Well, March has rolled around once again. And what has come, was the 108th birthday of the late-great Ted Giesel, or has he's been known forever as Dr. Seuss. Yes, everyone's known his books, and everyone has had their share of reading at least one. But whether you like them or hate them, you know the books that have been a strong part of Seuss's work. Some were lucky enough to even get their own tv special back in the 60's and 70's. However, when it came to feature films, they've never gotten kindness out of critics. Granted, "Horton Hears a Who" was done well, since it was...well, ANIMATED. But with "The Grinch" and "Cat in the Hat", it just goes to show, that live action stuff to a Seuss books doesn't work! Though...I will admit, that "The Grinch" was a bit of a guilty pleasure to me, since I found some funny jokes in it.

Now, we tackle another film based on another of Dr. Seuss' work, "The Lorax". Now keep in mind, I'm going to be making points comparing this film to the book and tv special.

"The Lorax" tells the story of a boy named Ted, who lives in the town of Thneedville, a town that is almost completely artificail, and is run by O'Hare Air Inc, where air is sold to the town. He has a thing for a girl named Audrey, who's long-life dream is to see living tree. So Ted, being the naive love-crazed kid he is, goes out of town to find out what happened to the trees, after learning from his grandma, about someone called, the Once-ler. When he finds him, Ted is told the story about what happend to the trees, and how it was because of him that everything's gone downhill. Now, it's up to Ted to find a way to fix things, all while trying to deal with O'Hare on his tail. Now, you might think I'm spoiling events in the story, but that's what the trailers have shown. Plus, just about a good majority of the people know the story of "The Lorax", so it's not really that much.

Let me talk about the bad stuff first. First off, it's going to be the Once-ler, played by Ed Helms. This is a complaint that everyone has had with the film, and I'm no exception. In the book and special, the Once-ler was shown as a different species and his face was never shown. In the film, he's a human being, who's hidden away from the world, because of the wrongs he's done. But then again, I guess it would work for it, being like many others, guilty of being corrupted by his own greed for it to happen. Another problem I had with the film, was the songs in it. I was really bored by these songs, and they were REALLY forgettable. However, there WAS one song that I enjoyed, and that was "How Bad Could I Be", where the Once-ler's singing about how cutting down trees could be so bad, and gets way over his head and cuts down more than needed. That, I thought, was at least very faithful to the book and special. The third problem I had with this movie, was the chemistry between Ted and Audrey, played by Zac Efron and Taylor Swift. For it being only a 1 1/2 hour movie, I really felt that they could have added a little more time for Ted and Audrey's character development between each other could have been a little more. My biggest complaint with this movie would have to be O'Hare's company selling air. Think about this: plants are used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, so people can breath, and O'Hare is selling it, since there are no plants left. Now let me ask...WHERE and HOW is he getting all this oxygen from? And also, how are the people able to breath, if they have their air bottled up? That makes no sense!

Aside from that, let's talk about the good stuff in this movie, because there is a lot in it. First up, is the Lorax himself. By golly, Danny DeVito is just hilarious as the Lorax. This was the main reason I saw this movie. Over the years, DeVito has proven to make even the cheesiest of jokes funny, like what he said at the end of the trailer. That was excellent timing and it really does sell it for the character. Plus, the things that he attempts to do to get rid of the Once-ler, only to have something get in the way, is simply fantastic! Rob Riggle as O'Hare, isn't much, but he does show passion for what it's worth. Though, I could have seen them do more with a character like this. Zac Efron does a good job as playing Ted, to a point where I didn't even recognize his voice for a second. Unlike most people, I DO think Efron can act, when he's not doing a "High School Musical" movie. I thought he was great in "Hairspray" as Link, and I thought he was brilliant in "Me and Orson Welles". Same goes for Taylor Swift as Audrey, but...surprisingly, she's not in it that much. She's in it for a good portion of it, like the beginning and third act, but other than that, not much. Ed Helms is good too as the Once-ler, even if he's not done as accurate, but he's enjoyable. We do sympathize with him, when he realizes that he's had nothing to begin with, and even when he's at the top of his game, he's still doesn't. He's been pushed around by his family so much, because he wanted to prove that his idea for the Thneed WOULD work.

Now the main thing I want to talk about is the animation. Since I saw this in 3D, and IMAX 3D no less, or XD-3D as it was called in the theater I went to, I can definitely say, the animation and 3D is BREATHTAKING. This is some of the best computer animation I've seen in a long time. The film was co-directed by Chris Renaud, who you may know as the co-director of "Despicable Me" back in 2010. That film was the start of the new Universal animation studio, Illumination Entertainment. What Renaud did with this film, in terms of animation, was great! My favorite parts about the movie, were the POV shots. Since it was in 3D, it really made those scenes more effective. It was really amazing, and it might even be...dare I say it, BETTER than "Despicable Me"? But anyway I see it, this animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Granted, it's not Pixar quality, since they have better told stories and fluent animation and if it's 3D, it isn't in your face all the time, but I digress.

Overall, "The Lorax" is not only the best animated film I've seen so far this year, but also the best adaption of a Dr. Seuss book I've ever seen. It's got great voice work, a decent story, and BRILLIANT animation and 3D. I highly recommend this movie, to anyone who wants to see a great animated movie...at least until "The Pirates In an Adventure with Scientists" comes out.

Rating: 4/5 stars

8/10