February 14th, 2012 
Marquee Mama 
Cleverly disguised as a visually entertaining and high-voltage kid flick, “Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax” is actually an animated movie with a message and a conscience.
The Lorax Movie Poster
The story closely follows the book, originally published in 1971, if you start watching in the middle. Generous artistic license foreshadows the reason Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) goes in search of a real tree, boldly leaving his plastic town’s (no, really, everything is made of plastic) borders. Of course, it’s all in pursuit of love. The object of his affection? The slightly older and nature-loving Audrey (Taylor Swift). As the classic story goes, the ambitious Once-Ler (Ed Helms) massacres the Truffula Trees, strips them of their tufts to create his Thneeds, the thing that everyone needs! But in this version, Ted has an ulterior motive for resurrecting real trees. Audrey has proclaimed she would marry anyone who brought her a living tree. Nonetheless, it’s all good.
The Lorax © 2012 Universal Pictures, All Rights Reserved
The tale is re-told with accompanying vibrant colors and a cool rock & roll soundtrack. You’ll find yourself enjoying the music, but don’t listen for Zac or Taylor’s voices. If they are singing at all, it isn’t detectable. I wondered throughout the movie why these two popular vocalists would be limited to doing voice-overs in a movie with so much music. A decision best left to the experts, I guess. Or music managers.
Any Efron fan will also miss the opportunity to appreciate his dreamy blue eyes while listening to his voice. Ted’s eyes are brown! Alas, those experts again.
The Lorax © 2012 Universal Pictures, All Rights Reserved
Back to the messaging I mentioned earlier. The movie is rife with them. Killing trees is bad. Polluting the earth is wrong. Greed is not good. Need something more direct? Look for a scene with a sign saying “Too Big to Fail”. It’ll arouse an amusing, if sad, memory of the (current) Great Recession. But my very favorite message from this movie came as words of wisdom from the Lorax himself (Danny Devito): “A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”
The Lorax © 2012 Universal Pictures, All Rights Reserved
On the subject of favorites, here are a few more of mine from the film: the granny’s snowboarding scene (voiced by the omnipresent and always adorable Betty White); seeing Ted always riding with a helmet; the remote-controlled disco light tree; harmonizing Humming-Fish to rival any barber shop quartet (listen for a blip of the Mission Impossible theme).
This movie works on a diverse audience for several reasons. Young kids will be entranced by the fun, vivid animation while the older kids will be treated to frequent and surprising 3D high-impact stunts (watch for the skydiving aerial chase, the ride through the rapids, and – ick – the very realistic drooling bear). Especially awesome is how crisp and dramatic the 3D technology is. Lots of 3D flicks, even of late, allow some double vision to sneak through. I’m not up on 3D techno-talk, but I do know when it looks good vs. bad, and this one’s quite good! In an inexplicable, throwback age of overused 3D, The Lorax gives good reason to don the glasses for 94 minutes.
The Lorax © 2012 Universal Pictures, All Rights Reserved
As a mom for the past dozen years, I’ve endured my share of animated movies and few of them earn my approval across the board: good for my young daughter, my pre-teen son and the accompanying grown-up(s).
But for the life of me, I can’t understand the reason for the PG rating. I’ve seen G-rated movies that drop harsher language than this little gem.
“Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax” is Rated PG
In theaters March 2, 2012
Posted in 
Could you give an example of the “worst” language you remember hearing? I am considering taking my kindergarten class to see the film, but I need to be sure that it doesn’t have any profanity or other inappropriate comments. Thanks!
Hi, I’m not trying to hassle you, just wanted to check again to see if you could remember any bad language you may have heard. I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find it, so I’m hoping you can let me know.
Thanks!
steph! forgive the delay in replying to your question about this film’s appropriateness for your kindergarten class. i give my wholehearted thumbs up for a class of 5 year olds. i saw no reason for a PG rating, language included. i can’t think of a single inappropriate line from this film; it really deserved a G rating, imho. i’m hoping you see this before next friday’s opening. thanks for checking back. MM
was looking around the net today for an honest review of Lorax and glad I found one here, will be taking the kids to see it this weekend, though was interested in that Secret World movie too that looked fun, any thought on that?
My review of Disney’s “The Secret World of Arrietty” will be posted tonight! Please return to check it out. And thanks for the comment. MM
Funny you mention the PG rating! My son was just asking me the other day if I would take him to this movie, even if it was PG. This is good news that it was hard to find the reason why! Thank you for letting my know my pre teen will enjoy it too!! I look forward to your next movie review!!
Great review Marquee Mama!
I wanted to see it, but now I REALLY want to see it!
Thanks!
WOW, this review is really tempting me to see the movie! As an adult, I’m not into 3D or animated movies, but this portrayal has me thinking I’ll pick-up my grandsons and use them for an excuse to see it!