Movie : The Lorax, or: How will kids protect the environment...if they don't even care?
Link : The Lorax, or: How will kids protect the environment...if they don't even care?
The Lorax, or: How will kids protect the environment...if they don't even care?
The Lorax (2012)
Directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda
Directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda
***SPOILERS***
I’d be breaking one of my own film critiquing rules by discussing how the makers of The Lorax—a Dr. Seuss cinematic recreation about the horrors of mass consumerism and big-budget advertising from powerhouse monopolies—could use their film as a mascot for reasonably priced Kindles and the family friendly, mid-sized Mazda CX-5. And while I could care less why the producers felt the necessity to do so (they'll market anything that appeals to a mass audience), I think it plays right into why The Loraxis an incompetent and unworthy adaptation of a wonderful Seuss tale. You can contradict the book’s central message all you want, but if you can’t even relay the proper message correctly within your own plot-strewn, mind-meddling mess of a film, then A) don’t make the fucking movie, and B) don’t make a movie for fucking KIDS.
Children's movies (particularly animated films) are a lot more complicated than people would like to let on, and The Lorax is living proof of that. There’s a notion that if you hit every major plot point in the outline, incorporate some goofily over-the-top comical characters into those points, and then lay a colorful and multifaceted landscape in the backdrop, then you’ve got yourself a movie for tots. And hey, you’ve incorporated some wry and cleverly disguised raunchy humor into the mix, so you’ve pinned down the parents dragged to the seizure-inducing debacle. But beyond hitting every one of those major components, The Lorax is completely devoid of any consistent substance, convincing character development or cogent plot that would reel in even the simplest of minds (you know, the kids) and drive home Seuss’ central message in an engaging fashion.
I can't see many children leaving The Lorax with an impassioned sense to save the environment. When I left The Muppets, there were kids hooping and hollering, craving more of the magical creatures they’d just experienced for the first time in their short lives. Likewise, I’ll assume The Lorax may be many children’s first cinematic experience regarding the importance for a clean environment and the appreciation of nature. I’d like to think The Muppets was successful in motivating those young moviegoers because it treated them like…well, adults. The building of characters; revealing their flaws; imposing obstacles; allowing treachery to breach the plot without feeling contrived; and finally, achieving your goals. And through it all, never once does Jason Segel’s script feel forced or direct. It’s all part of the Muppets universe, and thus the kids in attendance are incorporated into the universe. The plot is slowly unraveled through several characters and conflicting situations, and thus it is slow pieced together as we reach the emotional climax and conclusion. This is what kids want. This is what engages them. This is what drives home the central message: you can do anything you set your heart to, as long as you keep your friends close and never lose sight of your dreams.
The Lorax? Well, to introduce the town that Ted must save, the film opens with a rambling, nail-scratching, migraine-inducing musical act that attempts to be bombastic over revealing, and colorful over substantial. Worst of all, this is The Lorax’s attempt at relating ALL of its major themes/life lessons in the opening minutes. Children are dipped in water and come out glowing. People are absolutely ecstatic about their glowing electronic trees. They have the freshest air…because it’s pumped through a centralized fan unit. And they love love LOOOOVE Thneed-Ville in a stupefying gleeful manner, just so the filmmakers can insert themselves in the final moments to offer the major life lesson and say, “See? These silly citizens had no idea how great it is to love nature.” It’s this lazy limp-dicked effort that becomes the stale icing on the flaky cake, displaying the filmmakers were more hell bent on hitting every major bullet point of their plot outline instead of incorporating the central message into the characters’ lives.
The argument could be made that this message is driven home by the Once-ler’s (Ed Helms) cautionary tale about the importance of nature, but really it’s just lost in the shuffle. Plots don’t need to be whittled down to their bare essentials for children to follow along, but this sort of apathetic attention to fluent storytelling is what made Puss in Boots an abomination to the Shrek universe and what allows any fucking celebrity on the face of the Earth to write a children’s book. The plot can essentially be split into three parts…but it’s really two parts if you think about it. You have Ted’s (Zac Efron (ow ow!!)) story, and you have the Once-ler’s story. But the Once-ler’s story is wedged between the beginning and ending of Ted’s story, rendering Ted forgettable and a byproduct of the Once-ler’s teachings. Unfortunately, with little to no attempt at building Ted as a character, he goes from trying to impress a girl to absolutely having to repopulate the Thneed-Ville with trees. There’s no build-up or subtle development, but instead a robot-like aspiration to do what the Once-ler tells him to.
Look: kids do respond to these film attributes we perplexedly reserve for adult audiences. As Ted runs to save the citizens of Thneed-Ville from never seeing another tree, we (along with children) only recognizeTed wants to save nature. But without any real sense that Ted actually cares about saving the trees, we’re not left with any real sort of motivation or infatuation, but instead merely drawn to the elongated chase sequence that’s full of baffled onlookers, stunning architecture and zany stunts. It’s this sort of mentality that throwing flashy images and cool gadgets will keep the kids interested, but hey, it’ll also take care of all that other moral shit we’re perpetuating so half-heartedly.
The universe of the Lorax (Danny DeVito) is a charming one, a faithful reimagining of the wonderful 2D universe Dr. Seuss penned so many years ago. And it’s here where the filmmakers almost made everything right…but ended up making it oh so wrong. The rise and fall of the Once-ler is played out quite nicely in dispersed segments, even taking the time to build on the Once-ler’s slow and eventual descent into big-business aspirations that result in chopping down an entire forest. We see the filmmakers with a vision for a story within a story, but the Once-ler’s story isn’t what the kids will remember. It might be full of fluffy, multi-colored trees and cute baby bears and singing fish, but in the end, the kids in attendance need Ted. He’s their connection; he’s their savior. The Once-ler is a reflection of what Ted could become if he continues to place materialistic values over the environment. But that’s just it: the film adheres so strongly in perpetuating the downfalls of mass consumption that it forgets to explain the beauties of nature. What part of the Once-ler’s story invigorates Ted’s newfound passion? And since Ted is the kids’ connection, what is invigorating these children? The Once-ler’s story is well filmed and executed, but it’s rendered completely useless in the grand scheme of things. All it becomes? A collection of colorful and popping visuals flooding with comical characters that you’ll probably forget about in a month or two.
But you know what? I bet those kids won’t be forgetting Kermit the Frog or Walter anytime soon. Their hopes, their dreams, their desire to make the world a better place through their own tiny lives—that’s what makes movies magical. That’s what inspires the audience—even if it’s full of children. The makers of The Lorax, as wholly apparent with their big-business sponsors, have only one goal: make lots and lots of money. If that means spitting out a Dr. Seuss flick every year or two, so be it, since every major company will be looking to use the classic tale to sell their family-friendly product. And who suffers in the end? The children. The parents may be forced to sit through another mind-numbing animated fare, but the joy and utter pleasure that stems from an outing with The Muppets is absent, leaving only impressionable young minds swirling with colors and pretty landscapes…because hey, isn’t that what makes movies so great?
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