Some children’s movies have more substance than others, and some have more propaganda.  Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a movie that certainly entertains children, and adults, yet it also undeniably functions as environmental propaganda.  So did the book.  This is not a condemnation, as propaganda in and of itself has no inherent goodness or badness; propaganda is simply the spreading of a particular viewpoint through indirect means.  The Lorax, both in book and cinematic form, argues for the preservation of nature against the greed of business and commercialism.  Dr. Seuss’ position is that nature is defenseless against the onslaught of commercialism, and many people, including myself, agree with that.  It’s just a little odd to see such anti-business rhetoric being proclaimed so obviously in a children’s movie.

The film is “opened up” from the story, with actual human characters instead of the nameless little boy and the barely-seen “Once-ler” who populate Dr. Seuss’ book. This provides the movie with a narrative the book lacks, and makes its arguments even more persuasive.  The movie is as brightly colored and designed as the book, with all sorts of cool-looking houses, buildings, cars, cycles, tools and even people. The movie fills in the backstory that the book sped through, and gives the animals displaced by all the tree-cutting a great deal more attention.  Despite having the title of “The Lorax,” however, that fuzzy-mustached creature (voiced by Danny DeVito) is the main character of neither the book nor the movie.  That role is filled by The Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms).

It is The Once-ler who tells young Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) how the area outside of Thneedville came to be so desolate.  He relates his own story with humor and barely disguised regret, accepting full responsibility for turning a nice little village into a plastic beacon of artificial happiness.  To be sure, it isn’t all his fault; the mantle of mass-marketing has been assumed by Mr. O’Hare (voiced by Rob Riggle), who has even less of a conscience.  The movie, co-directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda, astutely depicts how people will buy or sell anything if they are persuaded to, even if it destroys the world around them.

Is this too much to read into a kid’s movie?  No, not if you’ve taken a look at Dr. Seuss’ original story (which I did this morning).  The “save the environment” message is there, ending hopefully as The Once-ler drops the last remaining Truffula Tree seed to the small boy.  The movie merely heightens the emotional impact of the story and entertains as well as it can along the journey to understanding.  Such strident lecturing might bother me if I didn’t agree with its viewpoint, or if the movie wasn’t so darn cute, but I liked how the story was presented and many of its odd characters, especially the humming fish and the biggest, ever-eating Bar-ba-loot. Even the songs, written by John Powell and Cinco Paul (none sung by Taylor Swift, who voices Audrey, however) are pretty good and move the story forward.  The film isn’t as timeless as I would prefer (neither was Aladdin, to give another example), but it works as entertainment for kids of all ages — and I don’t believe anyone will want to be cutting any trees down after seeing it.  ✰ ✰ ✰.  17 April 2012.