zaterdag 4 januari 2014

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 5: The Lorax

Director: Chris Renaud, Kyle Balda
Genre: Animation/ Family/ Fantasy
Runtime: 86 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Betty White

Description: In the walled city of Thneed-Ville, where everything is artificial and even the air is a commodity, a boy named Ted (Zac Efron) hopes to win the heart of his dream girl, Audrey. When he learns of her wish to see a real tree, Ted seeks out the Once-ler (Ed Helms), a ruined old businessman outside of town in a stark wasteland. Upon hearing of how the hermit gave into his greed for profits and devastated the land over the protests of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), Ted is inspired to undo the disaster. However, the greedy Mayor of Thneed-Ville, Aloysius O'Hare (Rob Riggle), has made his fortune exploiting the environmental collapse and is determined to stop the boy from undermining his business.

Review: The movie is based on a story by the popular children’s book author Dr. Seuss, so a lot was expected. And one of the directors, Chris Renaud, also made “Despicable Me”.
In the futuristic town Thneed-ville all the green has disappeared, there is not a three left. The richest man in town earns his money to sell fresh air to the people. Young Ted wants to find out why and he goes outside the city walls. He meets the Once-ler and he can tell him everything about it, for instance who the Lorax is.
The original story leads to an unoriginal film. A lot of the material has been seen before. An animated hero with a light form of ADD, singing fishes, slapstick humor and clumbsy and cute animals. Although this isn’t all very original, the makers deliver an inspiring movie though. There are some great jokes, fantastic sing-a-long songs and it all looks very colorful and fanciful. With that “The Lorax” has a good message as well, which is the true essence.
“The Lorax” is easy to watch, but also just as forgettable. It doesn’t live up to the standards of “Despicable Me” and “Horton Hears a Who”.

Rating: 3/ 5

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