Dr. Seuss' The Lorax Review

What's up, funfans? It's Fowler here again with another adult/parent's perspective on a big-budget wide-release kid's movie. This time around it's Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, which is based on the beloved, yet politically controversial, book from 1971 about a curious kid who visits a hermit at the edge of town to find out why there are no longer any trees in the realm. I found myself feeling the same about The Lorax as I did Fox's animated Horton Hears a Who! - which is that the original message and sentiment of Seuss' text sweetly resonates while the rest of the overwrought window dressing that's required to take a short story with a focused message and expand it out into an exciting adventure film only serves to dilute and bore.

Yes, for the most part, The Lorax is boring. It's impressively pretty and the colorful palate certainly pops, but it's not funny. Kids will certainly enjoy this movie, but they might exit a bit confused about the messaging, as the structure, where half the movie consists of flashbacks that involve mostly-separate characters from the present-day setting, works to only jumble up the works. But anyone who's not a kid and is familiar with the book will probably be curious to see how they extend this simple tale out to an hour and forty minutes. Of course, once those people figure out that the all of the add-ons are tedious and consist of chase sequences and a sassy granny played by Betty White, all initial interest will die.

That said, The Lorax isn't a bad movie. It's fine. It rests plainly in the middle of kid's fare that's "just okay." It's certainly not painful to watch, but it's not all that fun either. Zac Efron (animated to look a bit McLovin'-esque) voices Ted, a 12-year-old who wants to find out how to get a tree to impress the tree-obsessed Audrey (Taylor Swift, done up to look fairly Jewel Staite-ish). So Ted, at the advice of his chutzpah-having gram gram, heads out of his plastic, polluted corporate town to find the "Once-ler" (Ed Helms) and hear his tale about the missing trees. The decision was made, for the sake of plumping up the story, to turn the Once-ler into a full-blown character (in the book you never see his face) so that he and The Lorax (Danny DeVito), the guardian of the forest who speaks for the trees, could have actual scenes -- and musical numbers -- together. I understand the need for this, but that doesn't stop the extended flashback story between the Once-ler and the Lorax from feeling flat. In the book, the Once-ler represents faceless vandalism and corruption, but once you actually flesh him out and try to make him a real character, the believability of his motivations crumble.

Again, kids won't care about what parts of this story work and which don't. They won't notice that Seuss made the Lorax a helpless pacifist who really only tried to use the power of words to sway the Once-ler, and that actually having the movie's Lorax try to physically remove the Once-ler from the land undercuts that. Also, they might not make the connection between the lack of trees and the sterile-yet-infested corporate environment of Thneed-Ville, where the money-hungry mayor, O'Hare (Rob Riggle's voice, dwarven Fred Armisen looks), dirties the air just so he can sell people clean air in a bottle. In fact, by having Ted really only want to find a tree to impress Audrey, even he doesn't fully know why he's planting the last-remaining Truffula Tree seed by the end.

The Lorax's Super Bowl Spot

The power of Seuss' story doesn't really hit you until the third act, when the Once-ler explains the meaning behind the Lorax's departing message: "UNLESS." At its very best, this movie can be a conversation starter with children about some of the issues that plague us in the modern age. Sadly, in our fragmented political times, this film will also spark conversations that go both ways and the ideas might run the risk of being twisted or maligned. And perhaps behind that is the fact that the film itself has unwittingly complicated a simple truth; that it's usually only in regret that we see things clearly. And that, as humans, we just might be doomed to be perpetually too late.

One can feel that the makers of this film treat the subject and source material seriously, but as a "children's movie" The Lorax's heavy subject matter probably doomed it from the outset to either be a trudge or criticized for trying to sugarcoat a serious issue. It also prevents the movie from having the great comedic elements of something like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which was able to address both excess and ambition while still making you laugh.

Watch IGN's The Weekly 'Wood with Jessica Chobot for all your movies, TV and comics news.

Matt Fowler is an Editor of IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @MattIGN.

• More Movies Reviews
• Latest Movies News, Reviews, and Videos