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The Lorax (film)

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Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
Directed byChris Renaud
Kyle Balda
Screenplay byKen Daurio
Cinco Paul
Produced byChris Meledandri
Janet Healy
StarringDanny DeVito
Zac Efron
Taylor Swift
Ed Helms
Rob Riggle
Betty White
Jenny Slate
Edited byClaire Dodgson
Steven Liu
Ken Schretzmann
Music byJohn Powell[1]
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • March 2, 2012 (2012-03-02)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film USA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$70 million[2]
Box office$17,400,000[2]

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (also known as The Lorax) is a 2012 American computer-animated 3-D musical comedy film based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. It was produced by Illumination Entertainment and was released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, what would have been the 108th birthday of Seuss, who died at age 87 in the year 1991.

The film is the fourth feature film based on a book by Dr. Seuss, the second Dr. Seuss adaptation fully computer-animated after Horton Hears a Who!, and the first to be released in 3-D. The Lorax was Illumination Entertainment's first film presented in IMAX 3D (known as "IMAX Tree-D" in publicity for the film).[3] It was also the third Dr. Seuss feature film released by Universal, after How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat.

Plot

Ted, an idealistic 12-year-old young boy, lives in "Thneed-Ville", a walled city that, aside from the citizens, is completely artificial. He sets out to find the one thing that will win him the affection of Audrey, the girl of his dreams, who wishes to see a real tree. Ted's energetic grandmother suggests he speak with the Once-ler on the matter, and he discovers that their city has been closed off from the outside world, which is a contaminated and empty wasteland. The hermit agrees to tell Ted about the trees if he listens to his story over multiple visits. Ted agrees, even after the mayor of Thneed-Ville, Mr. O'Hare, the greedy proprietor of a bottled air company, confronts the boy and pressures the boy to stay in town.

Over the visits, the Once-ler recounts the story of how he met the Lorax, a grumpy yet charming creature who serves as guardian of the land he arrived in and actively resists his logging until the Once-ler agrees to desist. When the young businessman introduces a revolutionary invention from the native Truffula Tree's tufts, the thneed, it eventually becomes a major success and the Once-ler's family is brought in to participate in the business. Unfortunately, his greedy and lazy relatives convinced him to resume logging as a more efficient harvesting method, and the destruction of the forest spirals into a mass overproduction leading to the complete depletion of the forest over the helpless protests of the Lorax. With that, the Once-ler was left ruined and abandoned by his family and became a recluse with the creation and isolation of Ted's town that comes under Mr. O'Hare's control. Eventually, the Lorax sends the wildlife away before departing himself, leaving a stonecut word, "Unless."

At the end of the story, Ted is inspired by the Once-ler's gift of the last Truffula Seed to plant it to remind his town of the importance of nature. Unfortunately, O'Hare is determined to not have trees undercut his business and takes heavy handed steps such as destroying Audrey's nature paintings and forcibly searching Ted's room for the seed. Ted is undeterred and enlists his family and Audrey to help plant the seed. O'Hare and his employees pursue the dissidents until they manage to elude him and reach the town centre. Unfortunately, their attempt to plant the seed is interrupted by O'Hare who rallies the population to stop them. To convince them otherwise, Ted takes an earthmover and rams down a section of the city wall to reveal the environmental destruction outside. Horrified at the sight and inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd defies O'Hare and the seed is planted.

At the Once-ler's house, the Truffula forest is beginning to recover with the Once-ler's participation and the Lorax returns, pleased that his friend is undoing the harm he caused. The Once-ler, overcome that his friend has returned, embraces him as they walk towards his house.

Cast

  • Danny DeVito as the Lorax,[4] a grumpy yet charming miniature orange creature with yellow eyebrows and a mustache and the main protagonist.
  • Zac Efron as Ted,[4] an idealistic 12-year-old boy. He is named after Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss's real name.[5]
  • Taylor Swift as Audrey,[1] Ted's love interest with a fascination for nature. She is named after Audrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss' widow.[5]
  • Ed Helms as the Once-ler, an old man who recounts how his discovery of the Truffula Forest as a younger man led to its depletion.[4] In the film, he is portrayed as a human, while the original book and television special left his species ambiguous and his face hidden.
  • Rob Riggle as O'Hare, the main antagonist, the mayor of Thneed-Ville, and head of the "O'Hare Air" company that supplies fresh air to Thneed-Ville residents.[4]
  • Betty White as Grammy Norma, Ted's grandmother[1]
  • Jenny Slate as Ted's mother[6]

Production

A movie based of the original Lorax had been since July 2009 by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment.[7] In 2010, it was announced that Danny DeVito would be voicing the main title character.[8] The trailer debut in Australia in November 2011.[9]

The film was directed by Chris Renaud, and co-directed by Kyle Balda. It was written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, the duo who also wrote the script for Blue Sky's Horton Hears a Who!. Audrey Geisel, Seuss's wife, was executive producer, and Chris Meledandri, who managed Horton Hears a Who! at Fox Animation, produced the film.[10]

The film was fully fabricated in the French studio "Illumination Mac Guff", which was the animation department of Mac Guff which has been acquired by Illumination Entertainment in Summer 2011.[11]

The Lorax received a PG rating "for brief mild language."[12] It is the third PG-rated Dr. Seuss film, following How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat.

Universal added an environmental message to the film's website after a fourth-grade class in Brookline, Massachusetts launched a successful petition through Change.org.[13]

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism directed towards the film and it marketing as betraying the original message of the book. The film earned a "rotten" rating of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews,[14] and a score of 49 on Metacritic based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]

Mazda used the likeness of the Lorax's setting and characters in an advertisement for their CX-5 SUV.[16] This was seen by some as a perversion of the work's original meaning.[17] The film has also been used to sell Seventh Generation disposable diapers.[18]

New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein on NPR's "All Things Considered" strongly objected to the movie, arguing that the Hollywood animation and writing formulas washed out the spirit of the book.[19] "This kind of studio 3-D feature animation is all wrong for the material," he wrote. Demonstrating the poor way the book's text was used in the movie -- how modern cultural styles were pasted over the text -- in this excerpt from the review Edelstein shows Audrey describing the truffula trees to Ted:

"the touch of their tufts was much softer than silk and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk" -- and [in the movie] Ted says, "Wow, what does that even mean?" and Audrey says, "I know, right?" So one of the only lines that is from the book, that does have Dr. Seuss' sublime whimsy, is basically made fun of, or at least, dragged down to Earth.

Some conservatives have attacked the film for having a strong environmentalist message. Lou Dobbs, the host of Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network, has criticized the film for being "insidious nonsense from Hollywood," and "Hollywood is once again trying to indoctrinate our children."[20]

Conservatives were not alone in criticizing the movie's message. Charlie Jane Anders of science fiction site io9 wrote of the film's environmental message, "I'm pretty darn liberal, and I still wanted this movie to shut up and stop lecturing me." Her review, titled "A Movie Whose Heart Is 9 Sizes Too Small", also recommended the Pixar film WALL-E as the film's ideological predecessor and superior, writing, "People should just rent WALL-E instead. Seriously, If you want a fun animated romp with a message about saving the environment and some anti-corporate satire... rent WALL-E. Everything The Lorax fails to do, WALL-E already pulled off."[21]

Music

Untitled

All tracks are written by John Powell[22]

No.TitleLength
1."Ted, Audrey and the Trees"2:36
2."Granny to the Edge"2:33
3."Wasteland"2:17
4."Truffula Valley Fantasy (featuring The Lorax Humming Fish)"5:00
5."Onceler & Lorax Meet"2:35
6."O’Hare Warns Ted"3:21
7."The River Bed"4:03
8."Houseguests"3:12
9."Valley Exodus"4:54
10."The Last Seed"4:54
11."Thneedville Chase"5:04
12."At the Park"3:12
13."Funeral For a Tree"2:10
Total length:45:51
Untitled

All tracks are written by John Powell and Cinco Paul[23]

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Let It Grow (Celebrate the World)"Ester Dean3:39
2."Thneedville"Fletcher Sheridan, Antonio Sol, Beth Anderson, Oliver Powell, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Missi Hale, and Rob Riggle2:44
3."This is the Place"Ed Helms2:24
4."Everybody Needs a Thneed"Ed Helms, Randy Crenshaw, Fletcher Sheridan, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Monique Donnelly, Ty Taylor and The 881:31
5."How Bad Can I Be?"Ed Helms, Kool Kojak2:52
6."Let It Grow"Fletcher Sheridan, Dan Navarro, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Jenny Slate, Claira Titman, Betty White, Rob Riggle & Ed Helms3:17
7."Let It Grow Gospel Ending (Original Demo)"Jenny Slate0:52
8."Thneedville (Original Demo)"Fletcher Sheridan3:58
9."The Once-ler's Traveling Madness (Original Demo)"Ed Helms1:35
10."I Love Nature (Original Demo)"Randy Crenshaw2:43
11."You Need a Thneed"Keith Slettedahl & The 88 featuring Antonio Sol, Fletcher Sheridan & Taylor Graves1:32
12."Nobody Needs a Thneed (Original Demo)"Fletcher Sheridan and Randy Crenshaw1:52
13."Biggering (Original Demo)"Gabriel Mann, Randy Crenshaw and The 885:01
Total length:34:00

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Goldberg, Matt (March 17, 2011). "Taylor Swift Joins Voice Cast of THE LORAX; New Image Released". Collider. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database.
  3. ^ "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: An IMAX 3D Experience". IMAX. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d Breznican, Anthony (2010-10-25). "First look: Danny DeVito will stump for trees in 3-D 'Lorax'". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  5. ^ a b Radish, Christina (January 30, 2012). "10 Things to Know About DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX From Our Editing Room Visit; Plus an Interview with Producer Chris Meledandri". Collider.com. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  6. ^ Sytsma, Alan (October 29, 2010). "Jenny Slate Throws Epic Engagement Parties, Starts Every Morning With Coffee in Bed". New York Magazine. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  7. ^ Tabouring, Franck (July 28, 2009). "Dr. Seuss' 'The Lorax' to hit the big screen". Screeninglog.com. Retrieved March 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ^ Puchko, Kristy (October 25, 2010). "Danny DeVito Will Speak For the Trees as The Lorax". The Film Stage. Retrieved March 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax Debuts Australian Trailer". comingsoon.com. November 9, 2011. Retrieved March 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ Fleming, Mike (July 28, 2009). "LORAX JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED FOR UNI". Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  11. ^ "ILLUMINATION MAC GUFF". Societe. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  12. ^ "MPAA Ratings Updates".
  13. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (February 5, 2012). "After Recess: Change the World". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  14. ^ "The Lorax". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  15. ^ "The Lorax". Metacritic. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  16. ^ "Mazda C5-X and Dr Seuss' The Lorax". YouTube. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  17. ^ "Are You Shitting Me?: The Lorax Used to Sell SUVs". Badass Digest. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  18. ^ "A Bad Marketing The Lorax and Disposable Diapers Really??". DirtyDiaperLaundry. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  19. ^ Edelstein, David. "'The Lorax': A Campy And Whimsical Seussical". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  20. ^ Bond, Paul (February 22, 2012). "'Secret World of Arrietty,' 'The Lorax' Are Further Examples of Left-Wing Propaganda, Says Lou Dobbs (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  21. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (March 2, 2012). "The Lorax: A Movie Whose Heart is 9 Sizes Too Small". io9. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  22. ^ "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax". Varèse Sarabande. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  23. ^ "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax". iTunes. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
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