On the occasion of Dr. Seuss’s 108th birthday comes “The Lorax,” a big screen animated adaptation of his most serious book. In seventy pages he laid out a plea to save the earth, one tree at a time. The message remains, but the spirit of the book is lacking.
Twelve-year-old Ted (voice of Zac Efron), hopes to impress a girl (Taylor Swift) by giving her a tree. You see, she’s never seen a real one because they live in Thneedville, a town where everything is fake. They live in plastic houses, and even the trees are battery operated. “It’s perfect,” they sing, “and that’s how it will stay.” The town is run by Mr. O’Hare (Rob Riggle) a business tycoon who made his fortune selling fresh air. He doesn’t want Ted to find a tree because trees make fresh air, and at would put him put of business. Meanwhile Ted’s search for the tree leads him to the Once-ler (Ed Helms), the keeper of the last tree seed, who tells him about The Lorax (Danny DeVito) and why all the trees disappeared.
By and large “The Lorax” is a pretty good kid’s flick. It has some good characters–DeVito is fun as The Lorax and a trio of singing goldfish, part Andrews Sisters, part Greek Chorus, are the best thing in the movie. There’s a strong central message for kids (particularly if they are interested in gardening) and some good laughs, but I left the theatre with the unshakeable feeling that It would have made a better short film. At 70 well thought out pages the book doesn’t quite offer up enough to fill out a feature length movie and as a result the movie feels padded and not quite what the Dr. Seuss ordered.
It just didn’t feel Suessy or Seussian, or whatever the word would be, enough. Kids will like the cute creatures and the Lorax’s giant orange handlebar ‘stache, but it is too frenetic to be considered a faithful translation of a Seuss book.
The central “they paved paradise” themes of the book–not wasting our resources, loving the earth and its inhabitants and pollution–are hammered home, along with a strong anti-corporate message (“How bad can I be?” sings one greedy character, “I’m just building the e-con-o-meeeeee!”) are timely and heartfelt, but will probably be lost on the target audience for the movie, which would be kids from four to eight.
“The Lorax,” for all it’s charms, doesn’t really feel like Dr. Seuss. It just doesn’t feel green-eggs-and-hammy, or in non-Seuss terms, magical, enough.
Big screen adaptations of novels are common. This year everything from Big screen adaptations of novels are common. This year everything from The Lorax to The Hunger Games and even Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter are making the leap from page to stage.
Less common is the reworking of self-help books for the movies.
Earlier this year Think Like a Man, a rom com based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling advice book was a huge hit and this weekend pregnancy guide What to Expect When You’re Expecting gets the all star treatment as a comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks.
Self help guides rarely get adapted into movies because they generally lack a dramatic arc. 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly, 4th Edition, for instance, doesn’t offer up much in the way of exciting drama, but some filmmakers have found ways of creating stories from advice books.
In 1962 when Helen Gurley Brown’s book Sex and the Single Girl sold 2 million copies in 3 weeks, Hollywood came calling. The book’s then controversial premise—
that women should enjoy sex in or out of wedlock— was, however, watered down into a salute to marriage, which better suited the tone of the times than the book’s feminist message.
Years later both Sex and the City and Renée Zellweger’s sex farce Down with Love both looked to the book for inspiration.
The success of Sex and the Single Girl gave birth to Woody Allen’s adaptation of David Reuben’s sex manual Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Allen adapted the bestseller’s seven chapters—including What Happens During Ejaculation?—into vignettes which explored human sexuality.
In 2004 Tiny Fey shortened the unwieldy title Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughters Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence to Mean Girls. The story of high school cliques was a hit and launched the careers of Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried.
Not all self-help book adaptations are successful. One review for Let’s Go To Prison, based on an advice book by Jim Hogshire, said, “89 minutes that drag on like, well, a prison sentence,” while He’s Just Not That Into You was likened to “reliving your 20s, without any of the fun.”
Those flops haven’t stopped filmmakers from developing more stories from self-help books. Soon the most famous of them all, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, will be coming to a theatre near you. are making the leap from page to stage.
Less common is the reworking of self-help books for the movies.
Earlier this year Think Like a Man, a rom com based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling advice book was a huge hit and this weekend pregnancy guide What to Expect When You’re Expecting gets the all star treatment as a comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks.
Self help guides rarely get adapted into movies because they generally lack a dramatic arc. 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly, 4th Edition, for instance, doesn’t offer up much in the way of exciting drama, but some filmmakers have found ways of creating stories from advice books.
In 1962 when Helen Gurley Brown’s book Sex and the Single Girl sold 2 million copies in 3 weeks, Hollywood came calling. The book’s then controversial premise—
that women should enjoy sex in or out of wedlock— was, however, watered down into a salute to marriage, which better suited the tone of the times than the book’s feminist message.
Years later both Sex and the City and Renée Zellweger’s sex farce Down with Love both looked to the book for inspiration.
The success of Sex and the Single Girl gave birth to Woody Allen’s adaptation of David Reuben’s sex manual Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Allen adapted the bestseller’s seven chapters—including What Happens During Ejaculation?—into vignettes which explored human sexuality.
In 2004 Tiny Fey shortened the unwieldy title Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughters Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence to Mean Girls. The story of high school cliques was a hit and launched the careers of Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried.
Not all self-help book adaptations are successful. One review for Let’s Go To Prison, based on an advice book by Jim Hogshire, said, “89 minutes that drag on like, well, a prison sentence,” while He’s Just Not That Into You was likened to “reliving your 20s, without any of the fun.”
Those flops haven’t stopped filmmakers from developing more stories from self-help books. Soon the most famous of them all, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, will be coming to a theatre near you.