The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is one of my all time favorite childhood books. I was so ecstatic when I discovered last summer that Illumination Studios owned by Universal Studios was releasing a movie on the Lorax. The same studio made Despicable Me and soon Despicable Me 2. The Lorax has similar elements as Despicable Me, but isn’t as successful. It’s still worth watching, the visual is gorgeous and the grandma is adorable.
When I first saw this film, I was a little bit disappointed. The story lacked something special. The movie is a modern version of Dr. Seuss’ Lorax. The high-tech city resembles society today with hidden secrets, more particularly what remains behind the giant walls, destruction of the Truffala Trees. Our society is ignorant on what’s going on around us. We surround our selves with materialistic objects and deny the destruction we are putting on the environment. The film underlying message still holds, sometimes it gets lost with the flash Hollywood qualities.
One part of the movie I did enjoy is how the main character Ted provokes the citizens and the mayor of Thneed-ville to question authority and demand the truth, to take the right actions. Thneed-ville is an artificially city made with plastics and synthetic metals, dirt does not exist within this city. Everything seems so perfect and clean, but is it really all glamorous as it’s disguised to be?
If you are looking for a true representation of Dr. Seuss Lorax, this film is not for you. The film is sapped with modern culture styles with their marketing strategies and appeal. The older version of the Lorax made in 1972 is a film to definitely check out. A full version of the film is available on Google videos (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375). The loveable rhymes of Dr. Suess is present in this film.
By Victoria Gedvillas
Image above from http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/hammerandthump/the-lorax-notes-from-a-seuss-icide/
You, Me, & Biodiversity 
I have to agree with you on this one. In addition, I also did not feel like the movie’s ending was executed well. Since it is animation, the story should extremely important especially since this decade. Overall, I liked the animation performance, but not the overall storyline.