The Lorax, the review

I think The Lorax is one of the few Dr. Seuss stories, that I have actually never read, but when the commercials came out to watch The Lorax on the big screen, I was excited as it looked clever, and fun.

But of course, my husband was not interested so I decided to wait until it came out on DVD. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to get a complimentary review copy, and yesterday, I watched "The Lorax" for the very first time.

In this feature film, a young boy named Ted lives in a small town named Thneed-Ville; a town created out of artificial trees, grass, buildings, and even air. Ted has a crush on a girl named Audrey, who would like nothing more but to have a real tree.

Believing that obtaining a real tree would cause Audrey to fall in love with him, Ted decides to leave Thneed-Ville in search of one, but has no idea where to even begin... until his grandma tells him about a man called, "The Once-ler".

When Ted leaves Thneed-Ville, he discovers a dark, barren land void of all life and barely even notices it, as he's too busy trying to get The Once-ler to tell him how to go about finding his coveted tree.

When The Once-ler requires Ted to return a second day to find out the rest of the story, a business man named Mr. O'Hare forbids him from ever leaving the city again. But Ted finds a way out of the city and back to The Once-ler where he's told the story of how a greedy young man destroys a forest full of trees, and contaminates the air and the water supply, in order to become rich and famous and how once all the trees were gone, so was his fortune.

Then, he's asked to take the very last seedling and plant it in the middle of Thneed-Ville in hopes of sparking a revolution that would save the planet. But when he returns to plant the seedling, Mr. O'Hare does everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

In the end, Ted manages to plant the seed, and show the residents of Thneed-Ville just how naïve they've been and how important it is to save the environment, one tree at a time.

Personally, I loved the animation. It was spectacular on a visual level, but I would've loved to see the storyline go just a little deeper in terms of explaining the need to protect our planet as the message seemed to be skipped over for two-thirds of the film as Ted focuses on giving Audrey her gift of a tree. And, I would've liked to have seen Ted pause and reflect upon just how much damage was done to the environment before he set out to plant that seedling.

Still, the storyline seems perfect for young children. And my 17 year old daughter loved it. She thought it was cute and funny and really got a kick out of the animals in the forest, and the grandma, whom she believes made the entire show!

Disclosure: Reviewer was given a complimentary copy to review.

You can order The Lorax on Amazon.com, today!





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