‘Dr Seuss’ The Lorax’ – Such controversy for an innocent kids film
A lovely kids film with delighting simplicity
Adapted from Dr. Seuss’s children book and screenplay written by Ken Daurio, ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’, is about a 12-year-old boy who searches the mysterious story of The Lorax, the soul of the trees, in order to impress the girl of his dreams by finding a real tree. “The Lorax” was shown on TV in 1972, unluckily pointing out the fact that the environmental problems have been the same and not solved in that 40 years.
Directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda, ‘ Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’ is one of the most colorful films I have seen lately. With the fairytale -istic style of Disney, and realistic animation of Pixar, it is a great film mostly targeted at young adults and their imagination. Like Dr. Seuss’s other film “The Cat in the Hat”, this film is also taking its audience to a colorful journey.
The story starts with the image of “ Thneedville” a land that relies on plastic for their daily needs. In this mysterious adventure tale of Dr. Seuss, Ted (voice of Zac Efron) is the protagonist. Ted likes a girl named Audrey (voice of Taylor Swift) who wants to see a real, live Truffula Tree which existed couple of years ago according to Ted’s grandma Norma (voice of Betty White). Later in the second act, The Once-ler (voice of Ed Helms) is introduced. He opens a factory in Thneedville, and chops down all the trees to produce his invention, thneed and that is how the climax begins.
The first act starts with a musical, which is a strong communication method for kids with its rhyming feature. In “Thneedville” even the air is not for free, there is nothing alive except human in the town. Throughout the film, the color orange plays the main role. It reminds us of the fall, the sun and other natural elements which also serves to the main theme of the film; nature. I’m saying “the main” because I believe that film carries other political messages like being rebellious and succeeding in making a change.
One of the most magical moments of the film is when Truffula Trees are presented to us. They are all in different colors, really appealing. Another element is of course Danny DeVito’s (voice of Lorax) catching and fascinating voice. His storytelling is so successful.
By the second act the film changes its mood a little and steps in to adulthood with the Once-ler moving into “The land of trees” and builds a factory right in the middle of the land. At this point the Randian principles of big-business against environment comes to mind with the song of The Once-ler “How Bad Can I Be?”. As he grows his business and earning more money, he forgets all his friends and doesn’t listen to The Lorax anymore.
It’s the third act where Ted decides to take individual responsibility and do something to help the environment even if it brings lots of trouble for him. Yet the film has a good ending, as it would be a bit harsh to let the kids down.
There are lots of reviews about the film that suggest that it’s political and trying to impose communism. When writing the tale, Dr. Seuss intended the story to bring environmental awareness not politic ideologies. In addition, The Once-ler is not shown as the antagonist for building the factory as later on he makes up for his mistakes. This makes it clear that ‘The Lorax”s main theme is environmentalist. The film is also suggesting the idea to kids that if we keep on relying on plastic and not eco-friendly material, soon we are going to lose even the real trees.
As a sum up, visually “The Lorax” is a colorful and entertaining 3D film. It’s also really educating and spectacular for kids and family if you want your kids to plant trees and be a responsible person for their environment.
