The Lorax Movie Review

To date, there has not been one Dr. Seuss story adaptation that I liked that wasn't animated and The Lorax is no exception. I think it's safe to say the movie makers need to stop adapting Dr. Seuss books. It's not working.

Dr. Seuss is a timeless author with over 60 timeless books under his belt. I get the need to want to capitalize on that timeless success, but after Mike Myer's The Cat in the Hat, Jim Carry's How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Carry's and Steve Carell's Horton Hears a Who, you would think they would have learned their lesson. But because each of those movies had some mild success (even though those adaptations were also pretty bad), movie makers just keep on going. I'm afraid to see which Dr. Seuss book is next.

Taking the line from the Once-ler's musical number (yes, there are musical numbers in the movie): How Bad Can I Be? Well, here's a small list:

1. The primary focus. They changed the primary focus of the book from the Lorax to the trees. Yes, the trees play a main role in the book, but the whole point of the story was to find out why the Lorax was "lifted and taken somewhere."
2. The primary bad-guy. The primary bad guy in the book was the Once-ler and while he does come off as the materialistic I-only-care-about-making-money guy, he's not our villain. In fact, he even has a soft spot that shows early on and not just in the end. Our villain is the grubby Mr. O'Hare.
3. Musical numbers. All I have to say is why? Is there a Dr. Seuss movie that doesn't include random musical numbers.  I'd like to see that movie.