Starring Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Danny DeVito
Directed by Chris Renaud
Given that Theodor Geisel's was primarily an environmentally-minded cautionary tale, perhaps it's perfectly reasonable that many elements of this big-screen adaptation feel reused or recycled from superior flicks. Regardless of how appropriate this might be, it makes for pretty meagre entertainment.
Director Chris Renaud (Despicable Me) sets the bar noticeably low with an opening sub-Muppets musical number boasting lazy rhymes, a flimsy melody, and lacklustre humour. All of this serves to familiarize us with the candy-striped dystopia of Thneedville, where everything is plastic and fake. When the girl of his dreams yearns to see a real tree, 'tween Ted (Zac Efron) ventures out into the wasteland that was once the natural world (and resembles a Tim Burton daydream). There, he discovers The Once-ler (Ed Helms), the pariah responsible for the environmental degradation.
As with the original book, The Once-ler tells Ted of his encounter with The Lorax (Danny De Vito), a moustachioed creature who speaks for the trees. Alas, rather than leaving us locked in this flashback as the 45-page text did, Renaud's film requires that Ted periodically return to Thneedville to a) further an undercooked feud with its diminutive oligarch (Rob Riggle) and b) help pad the running time to feature-length. Likewise, the film's other songs rank as bland, inane filler with the notable exception of the utterly insufferable, aptly-titled How Bad Can I Be? (The answer: akin to noise pollution.)
While it's hard to argue with The Lorax's core anti-industrialization message, you have to take issue with its junky new packaging. Curtis Woloschuk
