An 11-ish minute book adapted to a 22 minute animation special and eventually, unfortunately, to 90 plus minutes of film. Yet somehow only retaining two rhymes? So far, we're not doing too great. Where to begin but randomly in the middle. The core of the moral, the part of the story that shows how industrialization affects the environment.
The animated special, technically more fleshed out than the book and by Dr. Seuss no less, has the scenes showing what happens to the Truffula forest, the Hummingfish, the Swomee Swans, and the Bar-ba-loots, suits and all, last about 16 out of the 22 minute running time. That's roughly 60 percent. (ref. Lindsay Ellis for the math)
The movie? LESS THAN LITERALLY 4 PERCENT!! They shove all of that into the same moment, but why? To make room for the coming HILARITY, of course! Not to mention pop song after pop song!
The Once'ler...oh, you poor character. The faceless villain that exists in The Lorax, the one that is not supposed to be defined but ambiguous, representing the larger faceless corporations? Oh, he's just a congenial, face-having, guitar playing, goofy kinda guy! Weird, sounds a lot like Ed Helms, I mean, it just seems so close. Think about it, Helms also has a face...
Of course he played the Once'ler, but why do animated characters, when played by a known celebrity now, half the time reflect the exact personality of that celebrity?!
Also, there's a “real” villain too. So over-the-top and unrelatable that no lesson can be derived from him! HE SINGS THE SONG “LET IT DIE”!! HOW MANY VILLAINS ARE EVIL.....JUST BECAUSE!!? Why, only the best written ones, of course!
Why would anyone want to learn about a character who perhaps had good intentions once but made the wrong choices? Or someone who maybe wasn't a horrible person but through various influences, or even being purposefully misguided, ends up on the wrong side? Through this we could possibly have some small amount of sympathy for them.
But, who would want the audience to FEEL something??
There is clearly no point to well-developed characters that create emotional connections with the viewer, making them memorable in the slightest! I want simple, two-dimensional characters, ON THE OFF-CHANCE A MORE COMPLEX ONE MAKES ME THINK FOR A MOMENT, BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE THINKY-PAIN!!
*exhales slowly*
The rest of the film is a fucking bromance for DeVito and Helms, and I admit, some parts are funny BUT THE LORAX IS NOT A FUCKING COMEDY! Though Seuss' books/animations had obvious humor and wit, that was not the entire point.
As Lindsay Ellis pointed out; They already made The Lorax, and it was called Wall-E. Only among many problems The Lorax has, it's climax may be the worst. They have to rush to get to the center of the town to plant the last seed because...Trees are cool? There are no stakes, nothing is on the line.
Do the townsfolk despise having to buy air? Not really. Is there any immediate danger from continuing to not have trees? Nope. IS ANYTHING ON THE LINE?? Oh, yeah. Zac Efron's under-developed character wants to impress Taylor Swift's equally under-developed character. Got me on the edge of my seat there, movie.
But, in the end of Wall-E they have to rush to get back to Earth. Why? Are the humans in danger on their Space Liner? No. Is the Earth in immediate danger from not having viable plant life? Certainly not. But our hero, Wall-E, is dying and the only means to repair him exists on Earth. This keeps you invested because you care for that little robot, not just because Taylor Swift and Zac Efron like trees!