Screen version buries ‘Lorax’s’ message beneath the fluff

“THE LORAX.” Tackles greed and environmental destruction.

“THE LORAX” isn’t the cheeriest tale in the Dr. Seuss canon—but, since it’s all about the effects of greed and environmental destruction, you can guess why. It’s far from grim, though; it can’t be, not with all those whimsical illustrations of tufty-headed Truffula trees and Seuss’ deliciously playful, lilting language (“At the far end of town/where the Grickle-grass grows/and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows/and no birds ever sing excepting old crows…/is the Street of the Lifted Lorax”).

Seuss being slightly more serious than usual is something that some people don’t quite know how to handle, however—particularly, it seems, those behind “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” the book’s new 3D animated movie version from Universal Pictures.

Elements

Directed by Kyle Balda and Chris Renaud, the film takes more than a few elements from the book, but it also leaves out a lot. This is somewhat surprising, considering that the book is a slim volume that you can read in five minutes, and the movie is around 90 minutes long—but, there you go.

The filmmakers are too busy trying to convince their audience that they’re not too serious that they cram in a great deal of cuteness and gimmickry and forget the main reasons why Dr. Seuss’ works have resonated through the decades—they are simple, elegant, and they have those loopy illustrations and clever rhymes. Clever, not cute.

It’s understandable that the writers and directors would want to build on the story; one can’t begrudge them that, since a movie is a different creation from a book—but, there’s a lot of difference between enriching a tale and just padding it.

The story frame they have constructed around the original one is charming enough—young boy living in a plastic town ventures beyond its borders for the sake of love (or a huge crush, anyway), realizes what kind of a world he really lives in, and resolves to change it for the better. But, there are so many unnecessary side characters, chase scenes and sight gags that the true tale and its message is buried beneath all the fluff.

Musical numbers

This isn’t to say that the movie doesn’t have its charms: It’s certainly colorful enough to catch the eye of anyone from the ages of 5 to 95, the musical numbers are generally appealing, as is the voice work—but, it’s hard to get over the feeling that something crucial is missing, despite the fact that there are so many things going on—and in 3D, too.

Perhaps, if the folks behind this movie hadn’t been so leery of the core sobriety of the original material, they would have realized that without it, the tale has no heart. It’s harmless entertainment as it is—but, it could have been so much more. But, then again, maybe the kids won’t mind, and if you want to educate them gently about the importance of being good stewards of the world we live in, you can always watch “Wall-E” again.