As far as today’s younger generation goes, no one is concerned about nature, nor is anyone looking after it. The Lorax revives that spirit within one, first and foremost. The kind of busy lives we usually lead, we need other people forcing and motivating us towards a goal, and here in the movie we have The Lorax, who actually does this job and supposedly becomes instrumental in the children loving trees again. While clearly this is a film aimed at the kids, and getting them back in touch with the side of them that enjoys all things in nature, it was equally enjoyable for adults, though one has doubts about the effectiveness with which the message of the film was delivered.

The movie starts off with a plastic world which most people live in these days. Except, here the world is actually all plastic and synthetic.  Everyone is busy with their own lives, not bothering with anyone else, whereas kids like Ted (Zac Efron) and Audrey (Taylor Swift) do find that they have something in their hearts that makes them think about the trees that once grew from the ground. Ted makes countless efforts in bringing trees back because his crush Audery would love to see a tree. So to that end, he has to meet The Once-ler (Ed Helms) who knew all about trees. Ted has to travel outside his made-up city to visit The Once-ler, even though no one is allowed to leave the city.

Meeting The Once-ler obviously puts the kid in a position where he has to hear the whole tree story which he is really not interested in but because he wants a seed which would grow into a tree, he is forced to listen to it. The story starts from the time when the Once-ler was young; he possessed a careless nature which eventually became a cause of regret for him. He left his house in search of success to invent something for which he had to chop off the trees (fake trees because they don’t actually look like real life trees) when he chopped off the first tree, The Lorax came into being.

The Lorax was known for his dialogue “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.” He tries his best to look after the trees and stop them from getting chopped down. The whole jungle was with him but somehow their efforts didn’t bear any fruit. The young chap, The Once-ler, was successful with his invention and started working on it and for that he called his whole family over. There’s a saying “When a person receives success its worth should be known and handled properly” when success was found by the Once-ler he misused it and chopped off all the trees and because of his ego he didn’t listen to The Lorax.

As soon as the story ends, the kid gets the seed and makes his way back to the plastic city. He goes on to  make his fellow citizens realize the importance of trees and the fact that oxygen is actually produced by them,  not by fake bottles sold to them.  This is an example of the film’s educational aspects, e.g. the word photosynthesis is used and explained and the children can actually relate to it.

The animals in the jungle were super adorable and their actions were equally funny, the whole movie actually stood upon them and they kept entertaining the audience. The fun factor is high and the jokes are completely hilarious as opposed to the foul jokes cracked in other animated movies which render them unsuitable for kids. The older crowd did enjoy the movie but generally missed the point, with things such as “As if we didn’t know that we have to take care of the trees,” being heard in the wake of the movie.

As with all movies The Lorax did have its bad points, but the positives are influential and overwhelm them. The message that everyone should love trees, as it is equal to loving humanity, is one which is needed these days.

It is a must watch and the youngsters must be guided to take the movie as a lesson and to implement it into their lives.

– Faiz Rohani

*CINEMATIC SUICIDE
**FORGETTABLE
***WATCHABLE
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD-WORTHY