Tuesday Review: The Lorax

Watch The Trailer HERE.

Jelani's Take:
I know, I know, silly Movie Crew, this movie's for kids! But c'mon! After playing the role of Frank in Always Sunny for so long, anything starring even the voice of Danny DeVito is anything but a kid's flick. After our hearty dinner of candy and nothing else, we entered the fantastical world of Dr. Seuss on the big screen. And I must say; it was quite enjoyable! The Lorax was exactly what we had expected: it was a colorful, musical, silly and yet still morally driven PG film which was clever enough to support its own weight under audiences of all ages. The story is simple: a young man who is now only known as the Once-ler leaves his small town with dreams of being super-fucking-rich. Regardless of the ridicule he endures, he travels the world searching for the perfect material to make his extremely stupid product: "The Thneed." He stumbles upon a lush Seussian forest of trees and wildlife and proceeds to destroy it all, as the once-apprehensive masses suddenly turn and desire the fashionable tree-made thneed. The population of the world instantly forgets about the importance of nature and science and allow the world around them to be turned into a dystopian plastic-world where fresh air is bottled and sold. (A big plot device throughout the film is that the entire population is made up of idiotic consumerist whores.) This is where the lorax comes in. He is a nature-elemental or lesser god of sorts who "speaks for the trees" and has the fantastic voice of Danny DeVito. Throughout the film, he tries to make the Once-ler and the masses see the error of their ways and ultimately serves as the misguided fool's conscious. The main story is set in the past, and runs parallel to a story in the dystopian present. It all meshes together for quite an enjoyable story. Though it is ultimately a light-hearted, jocund film, it has that Dr. Seuss feel of deep morals that are seen in all of his books. Being said, this is the perfect adaptation of a Dr. Deuss book, and was great to behold. The characters were lovable, the humor was light, but still rude enough at times to tickle us adults, and the story was  solid. By no means was it a mind-blowingly great film, but it served its purpose as a fun movie-going experience. For a light-hearted romp through the mind of Dr. Seuss, The Lorax gets a very solid 3 stars, as I liked it, but would probably never see it again.