The Lorax (2012)

All reviewers of this movie seem to either love it or hate it, and it's easy to see why.

As has been pointed out to death, the "modernized" Hollywood story added in of a celebrity-voiced kid trying to win a girl and overcome a two- dimensional villain in the process is thoroughly uninteresting, and will make older moviegoers angry at the lack of effort made in expanding the story.

The Once-ler's tale, on the other hand, is the story carried over from the book, one of unchecked ambition and carelessness. The Once-ler is morally gray and this is done very well, as he is likable, yet you're never sure- is he a villain? A misguided hero? Somewhere in between? Sure, it's padded out with cutesy animals, but knowing what becomes of them in the end makes it considerably less innocent. This story is where Seuss's message is, and it still makes it through.

The score by John Powell is epic and the animation and designs are gorgeous, which add great atmosphere in the darker parts of the movie. The environmental message is very un-subtle, and people who dislike that in other movies will dislike it here.

One need only listen to the cut song "Biggering" to see how powerful this story could have gotten. And they just didn't have the guts. But beauty does manage to seep through in places, and this is one movie that I'd highly recommend seeing only parts of.

Fmovies: I was so happy with this movie, I knew I had to see it but I was hesitant. As most reviewers have said this is one of Dr. Suess's best books and how can that possibly translate properly to a movie.

Well as hesitant as I was to watch The Lorax I was curious. I watched this with my 2 1/2 year- old daughter and I loved it and what's more my daughter loved it which is more important than what I think of it anyway. Everyday since we got this on DVD my daughter pulls it off the shelf and says "mommy let's watch the Lorax." But as most parents know already your kids have their favorites and my daughter won't sit through movies that she doesn't like, this seems to become one of those favorites.

To also make it clear my daughter is familiar with the book as well she has me read it almost every night. Both book and movie drive the same message across in slightly different but effective ways.

I loved this and thought it was an excellent artistic interpretation of the wonderfully written Lorax by Dr. Suess. I only hope that after all the books turned to movies recently people can start to understand that the book and movie are separate, but this never seems to be understood.There will always be discrepancies between book and movie. The main thing is that this movie is wonderful despite the differences.

I can't believe (well, yes I can) that people gave this a bad review. I was afraid I was going to be disappointed when I saw the Lorax, based on some reviews, but I wasn't at all. My 11 year old and I both loved the movie, she laughed out loud at many parts (although I have to admit she does do that a lot watching movies) and we left very pleased that we saw it.

Background: I grew up on Dr. Seuss, my six kids grew up with Dr. Seuss. We love Dr. Seuss even as adults. We've read the book, we've seen the original movie. I have two vegetarian older daughters, we are environmentally conscious. Also, we like musicals and my father was a music teacher - so finding out it was a musical was not a disappointment. There was definitely NOT a lot of musical numbers. If you hate musicals, I think the songs are infrequent enough that you can groan through it and let your kid enjoy the movie. That said, despite all the reviews on bad music, we thought the songs were lively and fun and cute. You're not gonna go out and buy a record for it, but it fit the movie for the kids it was targeted to.

Like another reviewer said: THIS IS A MOVIE FOR KIDS!! As with any movie, it's geared toward a certain age group. People who take two-year olds to the theater must be crazy, taking them to see this movie is no exception. Granted, there's cute fuzzy bears, but there's a story being told and a lesson - definitely geared toward elementary/pre-teens, not the yo gabba gabba crowd. Your toddler or active pre-schooler will not sit through this.

My opinion is also based on the fact that we do not watch a lot of movies or TV, (I'm a firm believer that kids should be outside playing), and we are certainly not film or animation connoisseurs. I can see how someone used to intense-graphics and action-packed films would get bored with this. It is a story. If you like kid stories, you will like this. We did not find it boring, I thought it was well told, and it held our interest all the way through.

Is it like the original? There's a lot different, a little similar. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that was like the book. Book is always better. Contrary to what another reviewer said about no rhyming, there are rhymes and some book quotes in the movie.

When they redid Cat in the Hat, I didn't like it, didn't like what they did with the Cat character at all, but my kids did. I liked The Lorax, and my daughter did. (The others are in college and haven't seen it yet...but they will I'm sure.) I'm somewhat sensitive to violence and scariness in movies (but not overly so), and I feel this is safe to take your kids to if they get scared easy. There's occasional moments when I had to roll my eyes up and think "did X really have to punch X at that moment" - but it's not violent or scary at all. Your kid won't go home with nightmares or shooting people. Maybe they'll even plant a tree.

If you have elementary/pre-teen kids I highly recommend this movie for you and your kids.

The Lorax fmovies. If someone walked up to you in the street with a rock that had THE MORAL written on it in capital letters, and them proceeded to beat you about the head with it, it would be more subtle than this movie.

It was trite, preachy, and more full of flagrant cliché than any movie I have ever seen.

The thing I loved most about Seuss was his ability to nestle a moral gently and concisely under layers of symbolism. Yes, his stories were sometimes over the top and hyperbolic, in an endearing way, but they made their point and moved on.

As I am now.

If you love Seuss, and do not want to risk ruining everything that his genius taught you, do not watch this movie.

It's hard for Hollywood to make an adaptation of a book by Dr. Seuss. Especially if it's something like The Lorax. The Lorax is one of Dr. Seuss' darkest tales with a serious sentiment. This film adaptation keeps the story but it focuses too much to its fun characters and gimmickry of the 3D than the environmental message. It leaves the message as the background of the film. As a whole, it's colorful and fun but it feels very different.

The film adds a lot of new things to stretch this small story. Like the Once-ler reveals his face and the kid from from the beginning has a different motive why he went to the Once-ler. It's strange and clever. This is from the creators of Despicable Me and the studio's trademark is to add some cute comic relief characters. The Humming Fish, Swomee Swans, and The Barbaloots are cute enough.

It's easy to say that Danny DeVito is perfect as the Lorax and Ed Helms is a bit charming as the Once-ler. Everything in this film fun. The songs are pretty good although it's not quite memorable. What disappoints here is the execution of the story. Yes, the message is there but it feels like it's just the background of the film. More goes to the fun. There's nothing wrong with that but it's too light for this dark story.

The film has the heart and soul to show Dr. Seuss' illustration but the storytelling feels too different. The message is there but it's not as compelling as the book. It's pretty hard to say it's a bad film because it's entertaining and fun. It's hard to say it's great because it lacks eagerness to the message. It seems like Horton Hears A Who will remain as the best Dr. Seuss adaptation so far.

...in this case, changes from the book/original TV short. A lot of people have been lamenting the "frame story" this movie adds in, as well as the idea of making the Once-ler a human character. As far as the frame goes, it's done pretty well. It's a bit flat but perfectly enjoyable for younger kids. Making the Once-ler human, though? BRILLIANT. Hear me out. The original Once-ler was a faceless force of destruction, a shadowy embodiment of greed. This Once-ler is just a stupid kid with a dream, a guy who wants to change the world. He's not evil, but he lets his success get to his head, and that brings about his own downfall and the destruction of the forest. That's FANTASTIC, and here's why: that's how the world really is! Companies don't sit around all day cackling about how much smog they're pumping into the atmosphere; it's a process, and something that happened gradually. Obliviousness is just as dangerous as maliciousness, and that's a really powerful lesson. This can happen to YOU if you're not careful; anybody can hurt the planet if they don't pay attention. That's a rare lesson, and one I'm really pleased to see in this movie.

So, is it silly and stupid sometimes? Yes, of course. But it's colorful and exuberant, and in a lot of ways I think it really captured the "Seuss-ness" that similar remakes have missed. There's nothing offensive about it (besides the miserable marketing) and my little brother enjoyed it as a fun movie. I enjoyed it for giving us a deeper--and in my opinion, very powerful--character type: the accidental villain, the everydude who makes a horrible mistake that the environment suffers for. So take that as you will...but overall, I found myself liking this a lot more than I expected. Definitely worth a watch.