The award-winning tale of The Lorax tells the story of the greedy, tree-chopping Once-lers and the brave little Lorax who speaks up for the vanishing forest. Then, in Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano, a young Dill Pickle Works worker wishes he could get away from it all – and has his wish granted in a head-spinning, globe-trotting, song-singing way by the magical McGillicuddy!This adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book about pollution and environmental damage may be a bit heavy for younger kids. But children age six and older, as well as adults, will find much to ponder in its story of capitalist greed gone amok. The Lorax is a creature that once lived in a beautiful paradise, populated by animals and trees. When Mr. Once-Ler comes along and starts cutting down trees to make the profitable (but useless) Thneeds , the Lorax voices concern, saying, “I speak for the trees! Let ‘em grow! They say I’m old fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast.” Mr. Once-Ler ignores the Lorax’s warnings, and lives to regret it. Eventually, paradise has become a barren wasteland. All the trees are cut down; the factory has closed; the animals, birds, and fish have fled; and the air is polluted. Even the Lorax is gone. The fate of the Lorax is put in the hands of a young child at the end, when the chastened Once-Ler gives him the last tree seed, with the admonition: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing will change.” The themes of capitalism, depletion of resources, and selfish affluence may be a bit heavy for kids under five, but with some parental guidance this makes for an educational and moving tale that can spark family discussions about the importance of respecting the wealth we all inherit from the natural world. –Elisabeth Keating
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April 10, 2010
#1
The last reviewer’s interpretation of the book involves a narrow understanding of profit motive as “greed” and no understanding of property rights. (The same is a problem for the environmental movement today.) … Someone truly driven by profit (Once-ler) motive would not cut down all of his Truffula trees, but rather would replant and manage his truffula forests in order to continue his biggering (growth) into the future. At the same time, habitat for the forest creatures is continuously renewed (dispelling this apparent dichotomy). In the Lorax, there are no clearly assigned property rights. Thus, the Once-ler’s has no incentive to protect his own property. Indeed, since no one owns the surrounding property either, the Once-ler is also allowed to pollute, as well. They have no recourse to sue him or exact compensation, so the Once-ler is allowed to spread the cost of his activities onto everyone else. This is known by economists and social theorists as the Tragedy of the Commons… The lesson I’ll teach my kids from this book is respect for other’s property, for nature, and that “common property” ends in disaster.
April 10, 2010
#2
If Pat McCulloch or anyone else can help us get hold of a copy of the video that would be great. I have used the book in teaching my economics class but I would love to be able to show the video
April 10, 2010
#3
Kids will enjoy this video and maybe even understand a little bit of its important message about the environment, but adult fans may be quite disappointed, even annoyed, by pedestrian animation and voice talent, and what has to be one of the worst musical scores of any movie, let alone cartoon. On the plus side, the text is expanded so the Lorax gets to make an even stronger case for environmental awareness than he does in the book. After a pleasant introduction, nicely sung by Eddie Albert (remember Green Acres), the “bouncy” songs showcase the worst of the 60′s beach music school of melody (think Raffi meets Frankie & Annette and you may get the idea). Remake anybody?
April 10, 2010
#4
I think mankind needs to learn to stop taking the lives of everyone and everything for granted. Would it be difficult to get children to watch a cartoon? Should we make kids watch this world wide? The governments should be forced to watch it to realize that what they have done or allowed to be done was not so great either. The end feels close, doesn’t it?
April 10, 2010
#5
The Lorax is one my favorite Dr. Seuss cartoons. Obviously Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) had many different things on his mind when he wrote The Lorax. While many kids enjoy this story, many of them, most likely, will not be able to see one of the messages Dr. Seuss incorporated into the story: Corporate greed.
The cartoon is very well done, but I noticed extreme color fadings on the cartoon. It’s not as crisp and bright as the ones I’ve seen growing up. In fact, this is the worst presentation I’ve seen The Lorax in. There are also a few scenes where the color finally gets brighter, but then a few seconds later, it turns to dull coloring again.
I have not seen the second cartoon on this DVD but plan to soon.
In a nutshell, The Lorax is a fine cartoon. But the extreme color fading of the film is most likely the worst presentation it has been given in. It is still worth the buy.