Review
‘The Lorax’ rekindles childhood memories for all movie-goers
March 9, 2012
I loved the Dr. Seuss books as a kid. This was probably one of the cutest kid’s movies I have ever seen.
Everybody in the audience must have enjoyed it too, because as the credits rolled, people were applauding. The film had catchy musical numbers, colorful characters, and a good, strong message. Danny DeVito played the Lorax, and I thought that he did a wonderful job.
Perhaps my favorite character though was Grammy Norma, played by the always talented, Betty White. The story takes place in the fictional town of Thneed- Ville, completely artificial, and completely closed off from the rest of the world.
Ted, voiced by Zac Efron, a young 12-year-old boy, sets off to find a real tree for the girl of his dreams, Audrey, voiced by Taylor Swift.
Once outside the city’s wall, he discovers that it is nothing but a dirty wasteland. Ted goes in search for the man named the Once-ler to tell him about the trees. However, there is a catch.
In order to hear the whole story, Ted must return on several occasions.
Ted leaving the city sparks the interest of Mr. O’Hare, the most powerful, greediest man, and mayor of Thneed- Ville.
This causes O’Hare to warn Ted about leaving again. Although, the warning does not scare Ted, and he continues to go visit the Once-ler. The Once-ler tells Ted the story of the Lorax.
The Lorax is a grumpy, yet kind creature and guardian of the land. He speaks for the trees. He tells the young Once-ler to stop cutting down the Truffula trees.
The Once-ler agrees but as his business grows, so does his greed.
He resumes his harvesting of the trees, forcing the animals to leave.
The story of the Lorax inspires Ted to plant the last Truffula seed in a spot where everyone can see it.
Mr. O’Hare tries to stop Ted and his family, and tries to turn the whole town against them.
After Ted shows the town what is outside of Thneed- Ville, they turn against O’Hare and allow Ted to plant the seed. During the course of the film, people break out into song, something I thoroughly enjoyed.
One thing that did disappoint me was the fact that the characters didn’t use a lot of the rhyming from the book.
It would pop in here and there but I feel that the rhyming added charm to Seuss’s books. Other than that, it was rather good.
I felt like a kid again. I was mesmerized by the vibrant colors and the adorable characters.
Maybe another reason I felt like a kid again was because I was surrounded by little kids and their parents. “The Lorax” seemed to have two messages.
One message was about corporate greed, and the other was about not taking the beauty of nature for granted. If you want to see a film with some quirky characters, and a good message, take a trip to visit “The Lorax.”
Samantha Harkness is a journalism major at UW-River Falls. She loves reading, writing and watching movies.