A Thneed's a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
Over the weekend my family went to see Dr Seuss' The Lorax. We had a lot of very cool picture books when we were younger, and here is a list:
- Planet Was by Amy Boesky
- The Amazing Amos and The Greatest Couch on Earth by Susan Seligson
- The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
- The Wild Swans by Yvonne Gilbert (Hans Christian Anderson adaptation)
- "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas
- Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema
And, of course, a whole hefty bunch of Dr Seuss books. And of all of these very cool books, our favourite was The Lorax.
So. I was expecting the movie to make appeals to the younger audience by turning the Barbaloots into "minions from Despicable Me"-like creatures (and they did, sort of). I wasn't expecting it to be a musical.
Overall I liked it. I do wish they'd done a few things differently, but I'll get to that. Having the story set in Thneedville was an interesting innovation, and the song that goes along with it is perfect. This also gives the whole "we're going to change the ending by making it happier" thing some justification. And then we get O'Hare and bottled air which I really like, if only because I despise bottled water. Seriously. Look it up, it's one of the most immoral industries ever. And that's saying something. Also, I liked the music. Even "How Bad Can I Be?" which starts out as annoying but if you're watching it it quickly turns into hilarious, biting, and depressing satire, and then from that it turns into high octane nightmare fuel. I liked Danny Devito's Lorax. He's supposed to be this little creature that you don't really take seriously until the end (if only because of how easily and how often the Once-ler brushes him off), and that's exactly how he was portrayed. And finally, who am I kidding? I liked the happyish ending. It wasn't a DreamWorks dance party, it wasn't in any way overblown, so I liked it.
But I still had some problems with it. First of all, I'm absolutely fine with films appealing to the youngest in the crowd (although seriously, stop bringing toddlers to movies, they are TOO YOUNG to understand and pay attention to the movie and they are very likely to be traumatized by the very large, loud experience), but this film did it too lazily. I thought the marshmallow thing was stupid. I'm just saying. I think it may have had some sort of deeper significance but I don't care, it was dumb. Also, I feel like they left the satire and the message of the book to the songs, which is fine (I guess you get away with more if there's a catchy tune to distract from your lyrics/images), but Zefron and T.Swift didn't get to say much about the message. I think it would have been better if the two of them had been a bit more fleshed out, since a goodly portion of the movie focused on them. The easiest way to do that would have been having them grow from being little consumers into people with consciences. But hey.
I can anticipate that some people will complain about O'Hare. He's your typical "big bad business man" or "small bad big business man". But we already have the Once-ler, who is also a "big bad business man" except that we sympathize with him both before and after he destroys the world. He's really the protagonist and the villain wrapped into one, so if O'Hare is lacking subtlety it really shouldn't matter. Oncey is all you need.
Also, I've read some of those reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and a bunch of them reference the hypocrisy of the horrible toy industry and how this movie is just a tie-in. Funny, I thought film critics were supposed to critique the film. What Universal chooses to do with the movie has nothing to do with the actual film. Yes, we all wish that they would do the right thing and not try to profit off of more things that people don't need, but we can't really blame the movie for the shortcomings of the industry.
And one last thing. Though I like the happier ending, the more intelligent part of me wishes that they'd kept it haunting. And maybe just given a tiny little glimmer of hope (something like what Wall-E did as it was ending) instead of bringing the Lorax back. They could have just shown the Once-ler catching a fleeting glimpse of him or something. Or they could have gone all-out depressing and just left it at "here's a seed, go plant it or NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO GET BETTER, IT'S NOT. THE END."
But ultimately I still like it. Obviously the better entities are the book, and then the television movie from a while back, which can be easily found on youtube. But still. Dr Seuss' The Lorax wasn't bad, and it was probably the best theatrical Dr Seuss movie ever (I do like The Grinch but still) - give it a shot.
Oh and also Puss in Boots. That was a good movie. I'm so proud of DreamWorks - they've finally found their way in the world. It seems like only yesterday they were making mean-spirited Disney references and stupid zoo-animal stupid movies stupid. (Oh how I HATE Madagascar - oh wait, they're making another one. Sigh.)
- Planet Was by Amy Boesky
- The Amazing Amos and The Greatest Couch on Earth by Susan Seligson
- The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
- The Wild Swans by Yvonne Gilbert (Hans Christian Anderson adaptation)
- "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas
- Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema
And, of course, a whole hefty bunch of Dr Seuss books. And of all of these very cool books, our favourite was The Lorax.
So. I was expecting the movie to make appeals to the younger audience by turning the Barbaloots into "minions from Despicable Me"-like creatures (and they did, sort of). I wasn't expecting it to be a musical.
Overall I liked it. I do wish they'd done a few things differently, but I'll get to that. Having the story set in Thneedville was an interesting innovation, and the song that goes along with it is perfect. This also gives the whole "we're going to change the ending by making it happier" thing some justification. And then we get O'Hare and bottled air which I really like, if only because I despise bottled water. Seriously. Look it up, it's one of the most immoral industries ever. And that's saying something. Also, I liked the music. Even "How Bad Can I Be?" which starts out as annoying but if you're watching it it quickly turns into hilarious, biting, and depressing satire, and then from that it turns into high octane nightmare fuel. I liked Danny Devito's Lorax. He's supposed to be this little creature that you don't really take seriously until the end (if only because of how easily and how often the Once-ler brushes him off), and that's exactly how he was portrayed. And finally, who am I kidding? I liked the happyish ending. It wasn't a DreamWorks dance party, it wasn't in any way overblown, so I liked it.
But I still had some problems with it. First of all, I'm absolutely fine with films appealing to the youngest in the crowd (although seriously, stop bringing toddlers to movies, they are TOO YOUNG to understand and pay attention to the movie and they are very likely to be traumatized by the very large, loud experience), but this film did it too lazily. I thought the marshmallow thing was stupid. I'm just saying. I think it may have had some sort of deeper significance but I don't care, it was dumb. Also, I feel like they left the satire and the message of the book to the songs, which is fine (I guess you get away with more if there's a catchy tune to distract from your lyrics/images), but Zefron and T.Swift didn't get to say much about the message. I think it would have been better if the two of them had been a bit more fleshed out, since a goodly portion of the movie focused on them. The easiest way to do that would have been having them grow from being little consumers into people with consciences. But hey.
I can anticipate that some people will complain about O'Hare. He's your typical "big bad business man" or "small bad big business man". But we already have the Once-ler, who is also a "big bad business man" except that we sympathize with him both before and after he destroys the world. He's really the protagonist and the villain wrapped into one, so if O'Hare is lacking subtlety it really shouldn't matter. Oncey is all you need.
Also, I've read some of those reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and a bunch of them reference the hypocrisy of the horrible toy industry and how this movie is just a tie-in. Funny, I thought film critics were supposed to critique the film. What Universal chooses to do with the movie has nothing to do with the actual film. Yes, we all wish that they would do the right thing and not try to profit off of more things that people don't need, but we can't really blame the movie for the shortcomings of the industry.
And one last thing. Though I like the happier ending, the more intelligent part of me wishes that they'd kept it haunting. And maybe just given a tiny little glimmer of hope (something like what Wall-E did as it was ending) instead of bringing the Lorax back. They could have just shown the Once-ler catching a fleeting glimpse of him or something. Or they could have gone all-out depressing and just left it at "here's a seed, go plant it or NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO GET BETTER, IT'S NOT. THE END."
But ultimately I still like it. Obviously the better entities are the book, and then the television movie from a while back, which can be easily found on youtube. But still. Dr Seuss' The Lorax wasn't bad, and it was probably the best theatrical Dr Seuss movie ever (I do like The Grinch but still) - give it a shot.
Oh and also Puss in Boots. That was a good movie. I'm so proud of DreamWorks - they've finally found their way in the world. It seems like only yesterday they were making mean-spirited Disney references and stupid zoo-animal stupid movies stupid. (Oh how I HATE Madagascar - oh wait, they're making another one. Sigh.)