The Lorax (2012)

The Lorax (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax) is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. The second adaptation of the book (following the 1972 animated television special), the film builds on the book by expanding the story of the Lorax and Ted, the previously unnamed boy who visits the Once-ler. The cast includes Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Ed Helms as the Once-ler and Zac Efron as Ted. New characters introduced in the film are Audrey, Ted's love interest (voiced by Taylor Swift), Aloysius O'Hare, an evil air baron (voiced by Rob Riggle), Mrs. Wiggins, Ted's mother (voiced by Jenny Slate), and Grammy Norma, Ted's grandmother (voiced by Betty White). The film was released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, on Universal Pictures' 100th Anniversary; as well as what would have been Seuss's 108th birthday.

Plot
Twelve-year-old Ted (Zac Efron) lives in a place virtually devoid of nature; no flowers or trees grow in the town of Thneedville. Ted would very much like to win the heart of Audrey (Taylor Swift), the girl of his dreams, but to do this, he must find that which she most desires: a Truffula tree. To get it, Ted delves into the story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), once the gruff guardian of the forest, and the Once-Ler (Ed Helms), who let greed overtake his respect for nature.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The main problem with this movie is that goes against the original book by turning the story into a light-hearted familiar film with comedy elements instead of a dark and interesting tale with a good message like the original book and Friz Freleng special.
 * 2) Pointless subplot involving between with Ted and his attempt to impress Audrey which hard to take since the Once-Ler's flashbacks that take up a good chunk of the film.
 * 3) Aloysius O'Hare is a weak and overly cartoonish villain. On top of this, none of the stuff involving him was necessary and only exists so the writers could find an excuse to make the book into a film.
 * 4) *On that topic, his character design looks pretty uncanny and rip off of Edna Mode from The Incredibles, but without glasses; and on top of that follows the lame stereotype of the big bad guy who happens to be short height.
 * 5) Incorrect casting choices: Both Zac Efron and Taylor Swift (out of all people) are miscast as Ted and Audrey as they sound way too old for their ages.
 * 6) Mixed message: The film has messages about how greed is bad and how protecting the environment is good yet the film has many advertising materials attached to it including polluting cars and disposable diapers.
 * 7) All of the forest animals are made into obnoxious Minions-like comic reliefs, which once again goes against what the book was trying to convey.
 * 8) *On that topic, there is even an unnecessary cameo of one of the Minions in a scene of this film where Ted trying to find them.
 * 9) Similar to Illumination films, the characters are bland and cliched; Ted is a generic boy who falls for a girl and tries to impress her and Audrey is as stale as a bread love interest.
 * 10) This film's infamous portrayal of the Once-Ler. Here, he is just an obnoxious, pretty loud boy which once again goes against the original tone of the book as well as 1972 animated television special since the Once-Ler was meant to be mysterious and foreboding. On top of that, it's very difficult to sympathize with him because by the middle of the story he technically becomes a villain by being responsible for the destruction of the entire forest, the air-pollution in Thneedville, and the departure of the animals by ignoring the Lorax's warnings.
 * 11) The Once-Ler's family are much more unlikable, as they didn't care about the Once-Ler until he became rich, then later in the film when his company went bankrupt, they abandoned the Once-Ler and took his money and were never seen again in the film after that. That could have been a good idea, but the execution is bad, with the family being cartoonish and annoying.
 * 12) Most of the songs are unnecessary and annoying, like the song in the opening.
 * 13) *Speaking of the song in the opening, there's even a scene where a boy becomes green, which makes no sense whatsoever, although it is possible that the water was polluted with chemicals.
 * 14) This infamous commercial. Like stated in BQ #5, the movie's message is to show that protecting the environment is good, however in this commercial, it's the polar opposite; saying it's good to do air-pollution in the said car commercial.
 * 15) The biggest missed opportunity of the film being a musical is that the film casted two legitimate singers, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, and yet they voice the only two characters in the film who don't get a song, as most of them either go to the Once-Ler and Cy the O'Hare delivery guy.
 * 16) The Lorax is an absolute downgrade from his normal self in this movie, as he's made into a pointless comic relief character like the other animals, despite his attempts to save the forest.
 * 17) Unnecessary pop culture references like how the Once-Ler mentioned Donkey Kong.
 * 18) This film had the chance to be timeless with an ambiguous ending but instead decided to go with the happy ending. The scene that should have been the end is pinpointed here: After the Once-Ler gives Ted the seed and says his lines, Ted drives off, leaving the ending a mystery.
 * 19) Plot hole: If the Once-Ler still has the last truffula seed, couldn't he just plant it in himself? (Yes, this was in the original book and 1972 animated television special too, but still.)

Good Qualities

 * 1) The songs can be good at times. "Let it Grow", for example, is admittedly catchy.
 * 2) *"How Bad Can I Be?" is also pretty great as well, despite being a depiction.
 * 3) *"Thneedville", despite it being about an artificial and environmentally harmful city, is admittedly funny and catchy.
 * 4) The art style is pretty faithful to the book, especially the buildings and some of the character designs.
 * 5) The animation is well-made compared to the rest of the Illumination films.
 * 6) Despite Ted and Audrey being miscast, the voice acting is at least decent, for example, Ed Helms does a great voice work as the Once-Ler especially in the songs. Danny DeVito was also a great choice to voice the Lorax himself.
 * 7) Some likable characters such as Granny, Pipsqueak, The O’Hare’s guards, Cy the O’Hare delivery guy, and the Lorax himself.
 * 8) Most of the character designs are very good, except the Once-Ler.
 * 9) There are some good funny moments here and there, such as Ted getting hit in the rear from a boot contraction when at the Once-Ler's house, Cy the O'Hare delivery guy falling into a manhole when he’s singing in the "Thneedville" musical scene.
 * 10) Some hilarious quotes in the film, most notably "You greedy dirtbag!" and "Let it die, let it die, let it shrivel up and... come on, who's with me? Eh?"
 * 11) When the film has a dark tone (particularly when Ted is driving outside Thneedville), it is a nice touch.
 * 12) John Powell's score is decent.
 * 13) The ending is heartwarming, despite not being in the original book.

Critical response
The Lorax received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who praised its animation, musical score, and voice acting but criticized its characters and marketing for betraying the original message of the book while the faithfulness to the source material and songs received polarizing reactions. The film earned a rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 157 reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10, with the critical consensus saying, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is cute and funny enough but the moral simplicity of the book gets lost with the zany Hollywood production values.". It also has a score of 46 on Metacritic based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office
The Lorax has grossed $214 million in North America, and $134.8 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $348.8 million.

The Lorax topped the North American box office with $17.5 million on its opening day (Friday, March 2, 2012). During the weekend, it grossed $70.2 million, easily beating the other new nationwide release, Project X ($21 million), and all other films. This was the biggest opening for an Illumination Entertainment film, and for a feature film adaptation of a book by Dr. Seuss, as well as the second-largest for an environmentalist film.

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Trivia

 * This was the first film to use the current Universal Pictures logo (although trailers, posters and TV spots for it had the 1997 - 2012 logo).
 * The song, "Biggering" was planned to replace the song, "How Bad Can I Be?". However, Illumination thought it was too "dark" and is not included in the final version, although the offical soundtrack includes Biggering for some reason.
 * The song, "Let it Grow" became an Internet meme in December 2016.
 * In fact, the songs of this film all became memes.
 * This marks the first film to distributed by Universal Pictures, since The Cat in the Hat in 2003.
 * The characters of Ted and Audrey are named after Dr. Seuss (whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel) and his second wife Audrey Geisel.
 * In Despicable Me (2010), Margo wore a Lorax shirt as a possible teaser to this film. A similar thing occurred in Despicable Me 3 (2017) where she wore a Grinch shirt as a teaser to another Dr. Seuss film from Illumation, The Grinch (2018).
 * O Hare uses the phrase "damn it" after Ted, Audrey, and Grammy get into the elevator. That's the reason why the movie is rated PG.
 * This is the first Illumination film to feature Universal Pictures logo with "A Comcast Company".
 * Blockdot created a mobile puzzle game based on the film, titled Truffula Shuffula. The game was released on February 1, 2012, for iOS and Android platforms.