Review: 'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax'

Film: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
Director: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda
Cast: Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Danny DeVito, Betty White
Rating: ***1/2

From the makers of Despicable Me we get Dr. Seuss The Lorax, an animated film based on the children’s book of the same name written by Theodor Seuss Geisel or, as the world knows him, Dr Seuss.

I entered the theatre, donned my 3D glasses and settled down for, what I thought, would be a repeat of the annoyance that was Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat¸ but I was in for a pleasant surprise.

This semi-musical film starts with a whole town breaking into a peppy song where the audience is introduced to “Thneedville”, a town made entirely of plastic. Here trees and plants are manufactured in factories and run on batteries; it’s a place where fresh air is sold in plastic bottles and dispensed through machines. Everyone is happy because nobody knows any better.

The real action starts when the main character, Ted (voiced by Zac Efron), in order to impress a girl Audrey (voiced by Taylor Swift) decides to try and find a real tree. This pursuit takes him outside of town (a forbidden territory) to see the old Once-ler (Voiced by Danny DeVito), the only one who knows what really happened to the Trufulla trees that used to once grow in place of where Thneedville now stands.  After much persuasion the Once-ler agrees to tell him the tale of how his greed led to the destruction of forest.

Enter a beautiful meadow with trees that look like cotton candy, little ponds, flowing rivers, cute little bears, and goldfish. We see that the once-ler in his youth had set out to make a fortune making “thneeds” (a knitted item with many purposes) for which he needed the trufulla trees. The mythical Lorax, guardian of the forest who speaks for the trees, tries to stop the Once-ler from destroying the forest but one thing leads to another and…

Now I don’t want to give it all away. Watch the film and find out.

Why should you go watch this film? The Lorax is your average animation film, which your kids will instantly fall in love with. The characters are fun and lovable and, I believe for once, the filmmakers have managed to retain the essence of a Dr. Seuss book.

The 1971 original work was an eco-cautionary tale and the adaptation stays true to it, but along with messages about the endangered ecological system, the directors of The Lorax use various metaphors that comment strongly on the evils of Capitalism, industrialism, consumerism, and even touch upon the issue of constant surveillance.

At the end it all comes down to one line penned by Dr Seuss a long time ago, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”

The two things that bothered me about the film though were the music and Zac Efron’s voice for Ted’s character. Efron’s voice seemed a little to mature and out of place for the young Ted. Danny DeVito as Lorax however is hilarious and just right.

The songs and musical numbers in the film are average. One expects much more from the music of productions like these (The music of Tangled comes to mind) but songs like “How bad can I be” and “Let it grow” are quite forgettable.

Despite that Dr. Seuss The Lorax is a damn good watch and an excellent treat for children.