The works of Dr. Seuss are a staple of childhood. Almost everyone grew up reading at least one of the author’s outrageously creative stories and wishing they could live in a world with flying fish and star-bellied sneetches.
For the past decade, Hollywood has attempted to cash in on that sense of nostalgia while also introducing a new generation of kids to Seuss’ absurdist creations. Sometimes it fails miserably, such as in 2003’s terrifying live-action “The Cat in the Hat.” Other times, the results turn out to be quite enjoyable, such as with the new animated film, “The Lorax.”
Much like the original tale, published in 1971, “The Lorax” plays out like an extended flashback, with the guilt-stricken Once-Ler (Ed Helms) telling a tale of how his greed ruined a beautiful forest of colorful Truffula trees.
The Lorax (Danny DeVito), a small orange creature that looks like a bean with limbs and a bushy yellow mustache, serves as spokesman for the trees, as well as the adorable bears, birds and fish that inhabit the forest.
The big deviation from Seuss’ original story comes in the form of a frame story in which a young boy named Ted (Zac Efron) hopes to woo his pretty neighbor (Taylor Swift) by finding a real tree, an object made extinct in his plastic walled-in city.
Despite that one large difference, it’s pleasant to see how much the film respects the essence of Seuss’ book. The animation not only looks beautiful but also retains the original’s curvy, surreal imagery. Buildings are collections of rounded boxes piled in abstract formations, and the trees’ colorful tufts look like cyclones of pure cotton candy. It’s a sumptuous world that really brings the viewer in, even without 3D.
“The Lorax” also features a couple of song sequences intermixed in the story. They don’t add a great deal, save from a couple of clever lyrics in the opening number, but it stays true to the original 1972 TV cartoon.
The film comes from Illumination Entertainment, the animation studio behind the surprisingly fun “Despicable Me.” They struck a gold mine in their last film with the minion characters and continue that streak in “The Lorax” with their supporting animal characters. A trio of singing fish makes several hilarious appearances, and an obese bear steals a number of scenes.
While Dr. Seuss is the story’s inspiration, the humor seems pulled from a Looney Tunes cartoon. Much like those classic shorts, the jokes are at their best when they’re visually based. It’s all in the little details. An overweight bear stuck in a refrigerator is worth a mild chuckle, but that same bear slowly sliding a whole stick of butter in his mouth as though he’s trying to taste every single molecule is priceless.
Unfortunately, the audience may wish the same clever details were used in the film’s script. Many of the written interactions, especially the ones that take place in Ted’s synthetic utopia, rely on lazy jokes and references. A witty line about a fake tree’s various seasonal settings starts with promise but leads to a tired disco punch line.
The film’s message would also benefit from a bit more nuance. The original Seuss story was obviously an environmental cautionary tale, and this new rendition doesn’t tone down that aspect. In fact, it adds an entire subplot featuring a nature-hating businessman who made a fortune selling air to people in jugs and plastic bottles.
The Once-Ler’s tragic deforestation tale and the walled-in artificial city plots both work on their own, but crowded in the same film, the amount of environmental and anti-consumerist preaching becomes overwhelming.
Luckily, the bright visuals and humor help to cover up some of the story and dialogue’s shortcomings. One river rapids sequence near the middle of the film, for instance, is pure filler with almost no importance. Since it features some very entertaining visual jokes, however, the scene’s uselessness is easier to swallow.
“The Lorax” is an peppy, high-spirited film. At some points, that zany energy is a disadvantage, but for the most part, it captures the kind of creative energy that has kept Dr. Seuss’ work alive for generations.