The Lorax and The Massive Amount Of Boredom I Had To Face...

Don't get me wrong, the Lorax did have it's moments throughout, but that doesn't take away from the sheer boredom it has to offer alongside it. 


Despite being an ambitious adaptation of Dr. Suess' book, The Lorax delivers on only one standpoint - it's gorgeous. But in this day and age, the audience (I speak for myself when I say this) has had enough of gorgeous! We've seen everything from spectacular film like Finding Nemo and Wall-E to just plain dumb animated features like Mars Needs Moms. 

I don't review movies but this was a
chore to sit through!

To be fair, I won't compare the Lorax to any other animated movie because, like I said before, there are some really good parts in this and most films of this kind tend to be on either one side of the scale or the other. On the other hand, the Lorax had me sitting on the fence. Now, bare in mind that I don't watch movies just to find negative points in them. I start watching with positive thoughts only!

So on account my friend Zain's constant persuasion that I should watch the Lorax if I have time (seeing as how he enjoyed it) I went ahead and watched it - again, with positive thoughts only. It isn't considered fresh on Rotten Tomatoes since only 54% of the audience liked it. But then again, in my years of film-going I've learned to prevent ratings and reviews from clouding my judgement before sitting down and watching a film. Just to add, personally I feel that ratings and reviews are there only to tell you whether a movie is worth your time, or the ticket price. It does not all speak for how good (or bad) the film may be overall. 

So here we go, did I enjoy the Lorax? Uh...yeah. A little. 

Apart from being utterly stunning (as I said before), it is also utterly flawed. At times I wondered who the hell this movie was made for. The character 'Once-ler' being my greatest pet peeve. He says things like, '...undeterred by reality.' < - HELLO! WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THAT MEAN?! - Okay maybe you know what that means, but I highly doubt that a 12 yr old would understand this. The Lorax is full of dialogue like the one above. 

The Lorax (left) and The Once-Ler (right)

I'm pretty sure that after it's release, Dr. Seuss probably turned over in his grave (No offence!) because this movie is drenched in comedy that never delivers - both due to it's corny dialogue and thinly written script, and because the terrible pacing. Now, I've complained about the issues I've had with pacing in movies these days on several occasions - refer to my post on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - but this one surely isn't an exception. I wouldn't have minded if it were made a tad bit longer and add in a little more dialogue for clarity if it meant understand what the heck was going on before the next scene. 

The movie's plot is never really made as prominent as it should be. By prominent I mean, you shouldn't have to think about what to focus on. The Lorax jumps back and forth between two distinct plots. One about a teen trying to impress his crush and the other about an ashamed old man hoping to make things right again. 

Coming to an abrupt conclusion because this is becoming really lengthy - enough to be called a movie 'review' which I'm not capable of writing, I'd just like to add that Dr. Seuss' books are centered around things that you can actually relate to. While this movie does a not-so-average job of delivering that, 'unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot... nothing is going to get better. It's not.' - Dr. Seuss