The Lorax

Review: For Arbor Day, I chose to speak for the trees. First, I want to say that I am a huge fan of Dr. Seuss. I’ve loved him since I was a kid and still appreciate his work and genius today. ‘The Lorax’ does what many of the films based on Seuss’s works do and take a fairly short story and build a 90-minute film. I can appreciate the extra world building and characters brought in for the story. The voice cast of Ed Helms, Danny DeVito, Rob Riggle, Betty White, & Jenny Slate are all well-used and the animation is pretty decent. While I think the humans and animals look a little off at times, the scenery, landscapes, and cityscape are all very Seuss-y. There were a couple of one liners that really got me. The Lorax asking ‘that’s a woman?!?!’ and Ted offering that they do ‘have a little time’ both got good chuckles out of me. While the writing was definitely geared towards kids and is by no means ‘deep,’ I think it’s fairly well done. Also I have a question, why does the Lorax grab his butt when he gets raptured?

High: The songs are all pretty catchy, especially ‘How Bad Can I Be?,’ I also think having the transition of the Once-ler take place entirely in this song is bold.

Low: The fact they got Zac Efron & Taylor Swift as part of your lead cast and not having them included in any of the songs is just like so incredibly odd.

Rating: 6.5/10