Dr. Seuss's The Lorax 3D Blu-ray
Updated: Apr 8, 2023
Dr. Seuss's The Lorax is a 2012 animated film based on the book by Dr. Seuss of the same name. The story begins when a 12-year boy (but you'd never tell due to Zac Efron's vocal performance) named Ted seeks to impress his crush Audrey by bringing her the one thing she desperately wants, a real tree. You see, down in the town of Thneedville, run by greedy businessman O'Hare who makes a living selling people fresh air (which in retrospect, might actually be a prophesy), everything is 100% unnatural. But all that begins to change when Ted goes outside of town and seeks the advice of the long-forgotten Once-Ler, who starts to tell Ted the story of what happened to the trees, and why they're all gone. The Once-Ler describes how when he was much younger, he started cutting down trees in the forest, and by doing so, accidentally summoned a creature named The Lorax who constantly warns him about the dangers of doing so.
If you've ever read the book by Dr. Seuss, you're probably looking at the first half of the plot description and saying to yourself, "What?" And well, you're not alone. Now to be fair, adapting a 64 page book (and for even more reference, the pages look like this) into a 90 minute film isn't an easy task. But films like The Polar Express do try to emphasize that however you adapt the book, that you shouldn't lose its essence or its core message. And The Lorax the book does have some elements that, if done right, could play to the big screen really well with its nuanced themes about greed and destruction of nature and its strange, mysterious tone. However, coming from Illumination Entertainment, who is in the business of selling safe, dumb kids flicks, you can already start to tell what kind of movie you're getting. But that being said, the film we did get, at least for me, ended up being pretty entertaining in spite of, or sometimes even because of, its many flaws. And because of that, I've ended up developing somewhat of a soft spot for it that makes it hard for me to really dislike it. Allow me to explain myself.
From my perspective, there's two main ways to look at the film: 1. as an adaption of one of Dr. Seuss's most memorable works went wrong or 2. an average, but amusing, kiddie movie with some elements of the original book. Both of which are neither great options, but I feel one of them offers a slightly better experience than the other. I could spend all day picking apart how The Lorax movie fails as an adaptation of the book; how it oversimplifies its message for the children in the audience, how it downplays some of the more nuanced aspects of the book's intended message, how the added plot elements don't really improve the story all that much, and sometimes come across as a dated attempt to pander to the children of 2012 such as with the casting of people like Taylor Swift and Zac Efron and the inclusion of (sometimes unnecessary) pop songs, and how the commercialism surrounding the movie seems, in a way, pretty hypocritical. But honestly, there isn't much I can say that most others haven't. And sometimes, part of the fun of watching The Lorax is the ability to poke fun of these elements afterwards, or during it if you're watching it at home with friends.
If you choose to take it for what it is, though, The Lorax is still innocent and fun enough. The visuals are bright and vibrant. The songs, while not A-grade material, are still pretty catchy and enjoyable. The interactions between the Once-Ler and the Lorax, while not full of emotional depth, are still amusing to see more often then not, and can at times be genuinely heartfelt. While the new characters introduced into the story are almost pretty much standard kid's movie characters, that doesn't mean they don't entertain every good once in a while. And the story they carry, while isn't necessarily incredible, does play on the premise of the book in some ways that lead to an overall pretty nice climax. I also found the voice acting throughout the film, from people like Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, and Jenny Slate, to be quite amusing
That being said, it still isn't by any means a perfect film. It can get a slightly annoying at times, mainly due to some gags and interactions between characters that try a little too hard to get laughs. And while the characters themselves aren't all bad, they're not very easy to fully invest in either mainly due to the issue mentioned above. Another problem I had with the film was how when the genuinely good scenes did occur, they didn't all feel properly built up because screen time is too often given to the film's lesser elements. For a film that feels like it's already stretching the book as long as it can go, you wouldn't think going longer would be the answer. But due to that issue, it seems like quite the opposite case.
So yeah, The Lorax is quite often seen nowadays seen as just another kids movie, and it's not too hard to see why. However, it's also been known to upset people due to the amount of wasted potential on display considering the book it was based on. Personally though, I find these choices, while don't by any means make the story better, still make for an overall entertaining venture, and a few good ironic laughs. While I don't really know if I can truly call The Lorax an objectively good movie, I can't say I didn't at least have a good time with it. Whether ironically or unironically, it usually had something to give. Overall, I'd say it makes for a guilty pleasure. Do I recommend it to everyone? Probably not, your time would certainly be spent reading the book. But if you have kids and are looking for something to pass the time, or if you're looking for something with plenty of ridiculous filmmaking choices to watch and poke fun of, The Lorax fits the bill either way.
OVERALL FILM RATING: 3.5/5
The Lorax movie came to be in 2012, when the big 3D boom was in full swing. And with this film and Despicable Me, Illumination have proved themselves to be worthy 3D adversaries at the box office. Even at home on 3D Blu-ray over 10 years later, The Lorax's 3D presentation is one that's definitely giving a look at. I don't know if I'd call it another Christmas Carol or How to Train Your Dragon. But even if you're not one for 3D, it'll be hard for you to walk away from The Lorax in 3D having say your money's been wasted.
In terms of depth, The Lorax is chock full of it, stretching far into the screen as far as the eye can see. While I wouldn't say the parallax is quite as strong as some other animated films I've seen (take Despicable Me, for instance) in a few places, it's far from being soft. And with the colorful, vibrant, Seussical backgrounds on display, there's much for the eye to take in. Right from the beginning, we're treated to a wide cityscape over Thneedville with a sign in the foreground and buildings stretching far into the distance. And due to the creative and strange designs of all these structures that resemble that of the designs in Dr. Seuss's book, the movie as a whole is well suited to 3D. In Thneedville, even in the places that would be considered mundane such as neighborhoods, malls, and the insides of homes, not only does the depth remain consistent and strong, but the 3D continues to work extremely well with the film's aesthetic. In fact, I'd say it does so even more here than with The Grinch, which Illumination made later. But that doesn't take away from any of Thneedville's much more interesting shots, which include a giant ski slope, tall buildings and structures, more wide cityscapes, which can be even made more fun when lots of people are in the shot dancing in a musical number, and a long, but tall sewer.
Outside of Thneedville, the depth doesn't let up. We get ample amounts of shots with distant mountains in the background, whether they are or aren't the focus of the scene. When Ted first encounters the outside for the first time, these mountains don't actually have any trees, but that doesn't stop the wide views from looking like they go on forever. And even the fog seems to have some solidity to it, which makes for a few pretty interesting shots, including one in particular, when lightning strikes. And once again, the Seussical designs do wonders for 3D, in or out of nature. When we into a flashback of a time when the trees were all alive and well, the bright colorful forest we're treated to looks excellent in 3D. Not only do hills and valleys retain proper and extensive 3D shape, but the trees add more to the space and make the forest feel more immersive. Not only that, but the Truffula tuft on the top of the trees, with their hair or grass-like texture, retains its look perfectly in the third-dimension.
As you can tell, The Lorax thrives in terms of depth within the screen. But if you worry none of that world ever pops out at you, well fear not. The amount of pop outs we get throughout the film could be its own essay. From the beginning, the title cards waste no time in heading out into negative parallax. And throughout the movie, the film never shies away from poking things out at us, in an often gimmicky-type fashion that works well for this type of movie. We get everything from people popping out of nowhere, a step suddenly coming out of a huge wall, a sequence involving flying marshmallows, water, Truffula tuft, splinters of wood flying when the Once-Ler is chopping down a tree, a bottle of air in a commercial, giant bottles of air, a seed, the many different creatures of the forest, lightning, a series of axes a character almost rides into at one point, a mechanical arm, the Once-Ler's long talking pipe (or the Whisper-ma-Phone, as it's called in the book), the Lorax's arm, smogulous smoke, schloppity schlop, drool, a hammer, countless other things. Heck, during the "How Bad Can I Be" song sequence, the Once-Ler is coming at us every way he can. There's one shot where the Once-Ler is trying to feed the Lorax a marshmallow and it comes out at us in strong parallax. Initially, this is a pretty fun gimmicky shot. But it ends up turning into a light-hearted contrast for when later *SPOILER WARNING* after the Once-Ler finishes chopping down the forest and looks around at the destruction he caused, he tries and feeds a small bear from earlier a marshmallow. But the bear rejects it and moves on with the other animals to somewhere better. However, when the Once-Ler holds the marshmallow, it doesn't protrude the screen like everything else. This, I thought, was a very interesting storytelling use of 3D. *END SPOILERS*
The Lorax was a ton of fun in 3D. I had watched the film at least half a dozen times by now. But watching it in 3D, it was like watching it for the very first time. Does it rival the best of the best in terms of 3D films? I'd say no, but only because other 3D movies, including plenty of animated ones, have set the bar so high. From an objective standpoint, The Lorax gets so many things right that it'd be a shame not to see in the third dimension. If you want to see a 3D flick that is entertaining in every sense of the word, look no further than The Lorax.
3D RATING: GREAT
Other sources that review this movie's 3D:
High-Def Digest's Review: https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/6822/lorax_3d.html
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Lorax is far from a top-notch kids movies. To some, this might be considered offense as the film doesn't come close to replicating the unforgettable impact the book had. But for me, I believe if you look on the bright side of things, The Lorax is fun enough to warrant at least a watch. There are a ton of plot changes as well as a gross simplification of the much more indirect and impactful message the book had. But that doesn't mean there isn't some entertainment to found in pointing out and analyzing those flaws. And even beyond that, there are also some genuinely good things about it that I think often get overshadowed by the ridiculous ones. Does that make The Lorax a good movie overall, I'll let you determine that for yourself. But for those of you who are curious, it gets my recommendation. Now about the 3D version of the film, if you've read the review above, you'll know it's a no-brainer. If you're just planning to check the movie out, do yourself a favor purchase the 3D Blu-ray and see it the way it was intended. The depth on display and the sheer amount of fun the film has with the 3D makes it a feast for the eyes. And if you're a 3D fan, this one deserves a place in your collection. It might not be the most groundbreaking 3D animated film you'll ever see, but it's for sure one of more fun ones. Illumination has done it again, in terms of 3D that is.
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