Film Review: The Lorax
Jim Carrey’s The Grinch and Mike Myers’ The Cat in the Hat featured central performances so irritatingly mannered that the movies were nigh on unwatchable, the off-beat charm of the books completely lost.
The Lorax doesn’t suffer from quite the same ailments (Danny De Vito is reasonably pleasant, if underused, in the title role), but the film as a whole is an unremittingly bland and forgettable affair, a sanitised, Day-Glo eco-fable without a shred of heart or conviction.
Zac Efron provides the voice of Ted Wiggins, a tousled youth who is determined to win the affections of his (equally tousled) neighbour Audrey.
The pair live in Thneedville, a hellish plastic-fantastic city in which all plant-life has been replaced by synthetic substitutes, with fresh air sold by a diminutive mogul named O’Hare.
Venturing into the pollution-ravaged wasteland beyond the city walls, Wiggins sets about finding the last remaining tree for the sake of his lady-love.
On the one hand, it’s nice that contemporary Hollywood movies can display their environmental credentials so openly (although even something as inoffensive as this kids’ picture has already attracted censure from conservative critics), and it’s good to see non-franchise digimations retaining a place in the distribution lists.
On the other, there is something rather dispiriting in the flimsiness of the film’s environmental argument.
This might be because the “environment” in question is so impossibly alien-looking; rivers are populated with anthropomorphic fish, forest bears are two feet high with human eyes, and trees blossom into Technicolor candy-floss foliage.
Worse still, the eponymous Lorax (so called guardian of the forest) does little to protect his patch beyond the occasional disapproving stare. If the children watching think such tactics will save the environment, they’ll be in for a nasty shock.
Technically, it’s difficult to fault The Lorax.
The voice-acting and animation are both done well, and the design of Seuss’ fictional world is vibrant and appealing.
It’s just a shame that, in all other respects, this is a monochrome production; the unique life and colour of the storybook has been all but erased.
The Lorax (U)
Review rating: **
