Last movie I saw as The Lorax on Netflix. Now, my thoughts on it...
The original Lorax (I'm speaking not just of the book, but the short animation that was based on it in the 70's) with its faceless character, simpler story, and message... was kind of scarier and resonated more to me in communicating its message. (Even if it bashed you with it over the head with an anvil) In effectiveness of communicating its message, I would say this is what I prefer.
HOWEVER! The new Lorax definitely has its own merits and stands on its own. Its storytelling is superior, as it has more time to give a story than to preach to you. I found the motivation of Ted Wiggins to be amusing, his motivation in learning how to get the trees back in Thneedville. All that just to get a girl to like him? It was silly and didn't make a lot of sense, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. A nice little modern addition. The Once-ler's character was also expanded upon and made far more interesting and entertaining, as well as more ambiguous. I loved him. Not for his pretty boy looks, but for his personality. He was so flamboyant, such a good boy at first... driven to darkness. This sort of gray in the story is a welcome addition. He wasn't just a random greedy business douchewaffle, but a guy who gets caught up in it all.
Oh and Ted's grandma is also awesome. I love her.
We get awesome performances out of the cast as well. I'll have to tip my hat to Danny DeVito as the Lorax. What a great choice! The voice fit him so well, and made this little guy's message seem more powerful. And Ed Helms of Office fame comes to show us his singing chops. He plays not only a flamboyant character who comes to life, but also makes his villain song, How Bad Can Be, sound glorious with his skills. (Even better is Biggering, which is a song that was sadly cut out of the film)
Some of the new concepts presented as well fascinate me. Like Thneedville's need for artificial air, and just its entire existence in general. A perfect plastic world? It's kind of creepy. I like though how it's not a COMPLETE utopia. People still act mostly normal.
With all these benefits though, there are a few things that make it not so perfect. The villain is as one-dimensional and uninteresting as cardboard. I understand that O'Hare was added to likely give the story more tension, but he fails poorly. (Though I admit, I do like how he rose to power from an off-hand comment about selling air and used to work as a guy who cleaned up all the crap left over from Once-ler's factory) Also, Once-ler pretty much steals the entire show from Ted, who is kind of an uninteresting generic character. (As is the girl of his dreams, Audrey, being your stereotypical hippie artist) And it makes use of a lot of cliches in general. To be expected from a children's movie, but still.
I also found it kind of weird that Once-ler befriends the Lorax, to be honest. It's not a concept I could get into myself, being so used to the old story, I must admit.
Overall, I'd say that The Lorax is a
good movie, but definitely not great. I don't see it as anything special that stands out, but I would watch it again if I were bored.
7/10.
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