Review – The Lorax (2012) directed by Chris Renaud.

Rewatched on January 19th, 2023
Rating: 1.5/5 Stars

If kids can walk away from this with the messages and having learned about corporate greed, protecting the environment, and standing up for what’s right, then sure, this movie’s fine and it’s harmless, and does exactly what it needs to.

But I’m worried it might not, and that’s because I feel like this movie’s message and important themes are ultimately muddled by Illumination’s attempt to make this a fun and digestible kids movie. I’m not saying every kids movie has to take the Pixar method and cater to all audiences, but I truly think not only would this movie have been miles better if they took it even just a bit more seriously, but it could’ve reached adults better rather than just coming off as a bad movie. The jokes don’t really land, the main character only cares about the environment because of a girl (and he never has a scene to change his mind or realize it actually is important), and I really feel like this movie glosses over it’s main messages. Hell, even The Lorax’s big quote is thrown randomly into the middle of the movie and doesn’t have the big impact it deserves. Also, while “How Bad Can I Be” is kind of a banger and lyrically it’s exactly what this movie should be about, in a way it almost hurts this movie that it’s biggest messages and commentary are thrown into a song. Kids might completely miss the message because they’re caught up in this fun catchy song with a cool montage on screen. That’s the thing with this movie: the messages, themes, and commentary that is the point of the source material is in this movie if you look close enough. And there’s actually some really powerful imagery that does strike a chord with you about the impact we have on our environment. But all that power feels lost in this film’s presentation and execution. Maybe that’s just me being cynical but this movie would’ve benefited from being a bit more heavy handed with what it’s actually supposed to be about rather than cushioning it. Sure, I think this is my perspective as a young adult coming in, and for kids this movie is fine. But it really didn’t sit well with me on rewatch, not as well as I wanted to nor as well as I remembered as a kid.

Also, it’s a musical, and they casted Taylor Swift (who had never been in a movie before), and Zac Efron (who was coming right off High School Musical) and neither of them sing??? Who’s idea was that???

Also, in a way the fact that this movie was made the way it was, marketed that way, and used for car commercials (yeah that’s right I’m not joking) feels like the complete opposite of what the Lorax stands for. Feels like whoever made this movie didn’t care about the message and just wanted to make money on popular IP. Ironic. Read the book or watch the old cartoon instead.

Check out the original review posted on Letterboxd here.