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| The Lorax | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Chris Renaud |
| Screenplay by | Cinco Paul Ken Daurio |
| Based on | The Lorax byDr. Seuss |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | John Powell[1] |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 86 minutes[3] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70 million[4] |
| Box office | $351.4 million[4][5] |
The Lorax (also known asDr. Seuss' The Lorax) is a 2012 American animatedmusicalfantasy comedy film based onthe 1971 children's book byDr. Seuss, being the second screen adaptation of the book following the1972 animated television special. Produced byIllumination Entertainment, the film was directed byChris Renaud and written byCinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It stars the voices ofDanny DeVito,Ed Helms,Zac Efron,Taylor Swift,Rob Riggle,Jenny Slate andBetty White. The film builds on the book by expanding the story of the Lorax and Ted, the previously unnamed boy who visits the Once-ler, and provides an extended ending.
The idea for the film was initiated by Seuss's widowAudrey Geisel, who had an established partnership with producerChris Meledandri from a collaboration onHorton Hears a Who! (2008). Geisel approached Meledandri with the idea when he launchedIllumination. The film was announced in 2009 with the creative team attached, and by 2010, DeVito was cast as the Lorax.John Powell composed the score, and also wrote the film's songs alongside co-writer Paul. The animation was produced in France byIllumination Mac Guff.
The Lorax premiered atUniversal Studios Hollywood on February 19, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 2 byUniversal Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial success, grossing $351 million against a budget of $70M.
Twelve-year-old Ted Wiggins lives in Thneedville, awalled city where all vegetation is artificial. Ted's love interest, Audrey, longs to see a real tree, and Ted undertakes to find her one. His grandmother, Norma, tells him about a reclusive man known as the "Once-ler", who is said to know what happened to the trees. Ted leaves Thneedville and discovers that the land outside of his home town is a barren, contaminated wasteland. He finds the Once-ler, who agrees to tell Ted the story of the trees over multiple visits. The next time he tries to leave town, Ted encounters Thneedville's greedy mayor, Aloysius O'Hare, whose company sells the bottled air that is the town’s only source of fresh oxygen. Explaining that trees and the oxygen they produce pose a threat to his business, O'Hare tries to intimidate Ted into staying in town, but Ted continues to visit the Once-ler.
The Once-ler recounts how, as a young inventor, he arrived in a lush forest of Truffula trees. After chopping down a Truffula to create a knitted garment known as a Thneed, he was confronted by the Lorax, the self-proclaimed "guardian of the forest", who made him promise not to cut down any more trees. The Once-ler harvested the Truffula tufts in a sustainable manner until his unscrupulous relatives arrived to help him with his business and convinced him to resume cutting down trees, which led to large profits, but alsodeforestation andpollution. After the last tree was cut down, the Once-ler's business plummetted, his family abandoned him, all the animals left, and the Lorax vanished into the sky, leaving behind a stone platform etched with the word "Unless".
The Once-ler gives Ted the last Truffula seed and urges him to plant it. Ted returns home, but is spotted by O'Hare's city-wide surveillance system. Enlisting the help of Audrey and his family, Ted takes the seed to the center of town. O'Hare rallies the citizens against Ted, saying trees are dangerous and filthy. Ted uses abulldozer to knock down a section of the city wall, revealing the environmental desolation outside. Inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd turns on O'Hare as his bodyguards, Morty and McGuirk, launch him away on a jet helmet, while the seed is finally planted.
As time passes, the land begins to recover, wildlife begins to return to the area, and the Lorax reunites with the Once-ler.
The Lorax is the fourth feature film based on a book byDr. Seuss, the second fully computer-animated adaptation (the first one beingHorton Hears a Who! in 2008), and the first to be released in 3D. The film is the second screen adaptation ofDr. Seuss' 1971 children's bookThe Lorax following the1972 animated television special.The Lorax was alsoIllumination Entertainment's first film presented inIMAX 3D (known as "IMAX Tree-D" in publicity for the film).[13] The idea for the film was initiated byAudrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss's widow, who had an established partnership with producerChris Meledandri from a collaboration onHorton Hears a Who!. Geisel approached Meledandri when he launched Illumination, saying "This is the one I want to do next".[14] The film was officially announced in July 2009, with Meledandri attached as the producer and Geisel as the executive producer.Chris Renaud andKyle Balda were announced as the director and co-director of the film, whileCinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the duo who wrote the script forHorton Hears a Who! and Illumination's previous films, were set to write the screenplay.[15] In 2010,Danny DeVito was cast as the voice of the Lorax.[16]
The film was fully produced at the French studioIllumination Mac Guff, which was the animation department ofMac Guff, acquired by Illumination Entertainment in the summer of 2011.[17] DeVito reprised his role in five different languages, including the original English audio, and also for theRussian,German,Italian,Catalan/Valencian,Castillan Spanish and Latin Spanish dub editions, learning his lines phonetically.[18] Universal added an environmental message to the film's website after a fourth-grade class inBrookline, Massachusetts, launched a successful petition throughChange.org.[19]
The film was released on March 2, 2012, in theUnited States andCanada, and later on July 27, in theUnited Kingdom. It was also the first film to feature the currentUniversal Pictures logo, with a rearranged version of the fanfare, originally composed byJerry Goldsmith and composed and arranged byBrian Tyler, as part of the studio's 100th anniversary.[20]
Despitethe originalLorax being made as acritique of capitalism and pollution,[21][22][23]Mazda used the likeness ofThe Lorax's setting and characters in an advertisement for theirCX-5 SUV.[24] This was seen by some as the complete opposite of the work's original message.[25] In response,Stephanie Sperber, president of Universal partnerships and licensing, said Universal chose to partner with the Mazda CX-5 because it is "a really good choice for consumers to make who may not have the luxury or the money to buy electric or buy hybrid. It's a way to take the better environmental choice to everyone."[26]
The film has also been used to sellSeventh Generation disposable diapers.[27] In total, Illumination Entertainment struck more than 70 different product integration deals for the film,[28] includingIHOP,Whole Foods and theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency.[29]
The film was released onDVD,Blu-ray 3D andBlu-ray on August 7, 2012. Three mini-movies were released on the Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack:Serenade,Wagon Ho! andForces of Nature;[30] InSerenade, Lou wants to impress a female Barbaloot, but he has some competition. InWagon Ho!, two Barbaloots Pipsqueak and Lou take the Once-ler's wagon without asking his permission for a joyride. And inForces of Nature, the Lorax makes Pipsqueak an "Honorary Lorax" and they team up to try to scare the Once-ler.
Blockdot created a mobile puzzle game based on the film, titledTruffula Shuffula. The game was released on February 1, 2012, foriOS andAndroid platforms.[31]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,The Lorax holds an approval rating of 53% based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is cute and funny enough but the moral simplicity of the book gets lost with the zany Hollywood production values."[32] OnMetacritic, the film achieved a score of 46 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[34]
New York magazine film criticDavid Edelstein onNPR'sAll Things Considered strongly objected to the film, arguing that the Hollywood animation and writing formulas washed out the spirit of the book.[35] He wrote that this kind of animated feature was wrong for the source material. Demonstrating how the book's text was used in the film in this excerpt from the review, Edelstein discusses Audrey describing the truffula trees to Ted:
The touch of their tufts was much softer than silk and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk – and [in the movie] Ted says, "Wow, what does that even mean?" and Audrey says, "I know, right?" So one of the only lines that is from the book, that does have Dr. Seuss' sublime whimsy, is basically made fun of, or at least, dragged down to Earth.
The film also garnered some positive reviews from critics such asRichard Roeper, who called it a "solid piece of family entertainment".[36] Roger Moore of thePittsburgh Tribune called the film "a feast of bright, Seuss colors, and wonderful Seuss design", and supported its environmentalist message.[37]
The film grossed $214.5 million inNorth America, and $136.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $351.4 million.[4][5]
The film topped the North American box office with $17.5 million on its opening day (Friday, March 2, 2012).[38] During the weekend, it grossed $70.2 million, easily beating the other new nationwide release,Project X ($21 million), and all other films.[39] This was the biggest opening for an Illumination Entertainment film,[40] and for a feature film adaptation of a book by Dr. Seuss,[41] as well as the second-largest for an environmentalist film.[42] It also scored the third-best debut for a film opening in March,[43] and the eighth-best of all time for an animated film.[44]The Lorax stayed at No. 1 the following weekend, dropping 45% to $38.8 million and beating all new nationwide releases, includingDisney'sJohn Carter (second place).[45]
On April 11, 2012, it became the first animated film in nearly a year to gross more than $200 million in North America, sinceWalt Disney Animation Studios'Tangled.[46][47]
The film has garnered popularity online as the basis forInternet memes, with scenes such as the Lorax's departure gaining popularity onTikTok.[48] In particular, the film's version of the Once-ler developed a notablefandom onTumblr, with many users creatingfan art,fan fiction,cosplay, and even alternative versions of the character toship with each other.[49] This fandom lead to the character being labeled as the first instance of a "Tumblr sexyman", a term for fictional characters with massive popularity assex symbols on Tumblr.[50]
The soundtrack for the film was composed byJohn Powell, who had previously composed the score forHorton Hears a Who! (2008), and the songs were written byCinco Paul.[51] There were two soundtrack albums released for the film, the first being Powell's film score and the other being the original songs written by Powell and Paul performed by various artists. Original songs written for the film include "Thneedville", "This is the Place", "Everybody Needs a Thneed", "How Bad Can I Be?", and "Let It Grow".
In the 3D-CG version of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, we focus on Ted Wiggins, a 12-year-old boy in search of a living tree for the girl he adores.
