‘Lorax’ warms audience’s hearts

As a child, Dr. Seuss gave me endless hours of entertainment, silly jokes and the perfect bedtime story. Now, as a 21-year-old, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment has managed to do almost the same thing with their new feature film adapted from the Dr. Seuss classic, The Lorax. The book, originally published in 1971, opened in 3-D format on March 2, on what would have been Dr. Seuss 108th birthday.

While the movie makes necessary adaptations, the messages from the simple childrens book are still abundantly clear throughout and the producers make every effort to captivate the audience with Seuss traditional humor and joy that we grew up reciting.

The Lorax opened to a surprisingly successful start, grossing more money on opening day than any other Dr. Seuss film, including 2000s widely popular How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It grossed $121.9 million between its opening and second weekend.

The feature film explores the trials and tribulations of a 12-year-old boy named Ted who is searching for the love of the girl of his dreams, who he finds in Audrey. In order to do this, he must find a Truffula Tree, as this is the only way to capture Audrey, heart. It is through the Lorax, and his own personal story, that this can be accomplished. Along the way the boy experiences different situations from both the book and the imagination of the studio.

The book, in its original form, was quite different from previous work by Dr. Seuss, which was author Ted Geisels pseudonym. It veered away from his traditional color scheme and used his wife, Audrey, as both a character and as the books inspiration. Audrey Geisel is in fact one of the three executive producers of the film, along with Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, allowing Dr. Seuss original intentions to shine despite his death.

In order to create a full-length movie out of a short book, the storyline was embellished. These additions both maintained the books legacy and Dr. Seuss original work and sparked new interest for viewers. Through the 3-D technology, the films director, Chris Renaud, accurately brings to life the creatures and environment that had previously been confined to pages and individual imaginations without compromising the storys integrity.

Danny DeVito lends his voice to The Lorax in a wonderful depiction that leaves the audience feeling as though the Lorax is indeed real. The movie also boasts the voices of Hollywood stars such as Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift and Betty White. Through their performance, the audience is thrown into a magical world with the quality animation that viewers have come to expect after the studios impeccable and cutting edge production of Despicable Me.

The animated film does raise a few questions regarding the song choices, and there is an unexpected dark side even with the films PG rating. It is completely animated, and unlike the other recently released Dr. Seuss film The Cat in the Hat, does not leave the audience feeling uncomfortable or questioning Mike Meyers performance.

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‘Lorax’ warms audience’s hearts