Review No.148: The Lorax

Hey guys it's the summer holidays which means that it's animation time at the cinemas thankfully as Dr. Seuss adaptation The Lorax was released in the States earlier in the year I don't have to wade through a bunch of unruly school kids in order to watch it. The film sees Zac Efron give his voice to Ted an average, slightly annoying, pre-teen whose only hobby is mildly stalking attractive neighbour Audrey played by Taylor Swift. Both Ted and Audrey have grown up in Thneed-Ville a town in which everybody has to pay for air and in which no wildlife stays where the richest man in all the town Aloysius O'Hare as he's the man who has his own air empire. Audrey's one wish is to see a real tree, rather than the fake ones that O'Hare has, and as Ted wants to get lucky with her he sets off on a quest to find one so with help from his grandmother voiced by Betty White he finds out the man who can help him is the Once-Ler who lives outside the town. When Ted tracks down Ed Helms' Once-Ler he is told the story of how he was an aspiring inventor who came upon a land watched over by The Lorax, voiced by Danny DeVito who was the guardian of the trees and wildlife who he promised to look after the area in return for using the tufts of the trees to harvest his own creation the Thneed. When the Thneed becomes a popular accessory Once-Ler's family comes into mooch off him and his mother eventually convinces him to start chopping down the trees so production can go faster however in doing this he breaks his promise to The Lorax. Though Once-Ler is briefly wealthy he loses the respect and friendship of The Lorax as well as the brief attention of his family who lose interest when the last tree is cut down meanwhile a young O'Hare gets the idea to bottle the air. The Once-Ler entrusts the last remaining seed to Ted who shows it off to Audrey however O'Hare isn't going to let his empire crumble that easily and the film ends with a massive showdown in Thneed-Ville town centre.

As I'm not an American the Dr. Seuss books aren't as much a part of my childhood as they are for people on the other side of the pond so while I'm aware of The Cat in The Hat and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, mainly from their film incarnations, I'd never heard of The Lorax up to this point. Almost straight away though you're immersed into the Dr. Seuss world of rhyming couplets and colourful characters both of which are over-shadowed by the big important environmental message. Personally I enjoyed the first ten or so minutes of the film, those that occur before Ted goes out to visit the Once-Ler, as I thought the idea of a town in which the air is sold was an interesting one however as soon as we start to hear the central story about The Lorax things become a lot less interesting. I'm aware I'm not the target market for this film and if Iwas a youngster I'd probably enjoy looking at the oddly created Lorax however Pixar managed to make an issue film that children still adored with Wall-E. Though the message of the film wants to be 'big companies should stop destroying wildlife for financial gain' for me it was 'only save the environment if you think you'll get a new girlfriend from it'. As far as the voice cast goes it was Betty White who stole the show as Ted's wild grandmother while Danny DeVito's gruff tones suited the character of The Lorax. One thing that really irked me was the poorly written songs, which again is something that Disney would do a much better job with, as they almost detracted from the action while in addition they seemed to only be there to quicken up the plot in order for the film to be as short as possible. I'm not saying I wasn't entertained by some parts of the film, including the well paced final chase, however the adaptation of the story seems to either have been lost in the additional stories or in the fact that central message is being over-egged.

Verdict: While The Lorax does have some entertaining set piece and some amusing moments it is spoilt by a heavy-handed environmental message and too many overly dull moments so for that reason I will award it 6/10

Review No.101: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

After the last few days of dull or dire epics I felt the need to lighten the mood with two films that are both comedies of sort starting with Jeff, Who Lives at Home. The film stars two of my favourite US sitcom stars How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segal and The Office's Ed Helms as brothers Jeff and Pat who are both a strain on their mother Sharon who is played by Susan Sarandon. As the title suggests Jeff lives in his mother's basement and is obsessed with the movie Signs so has started connected mundane events together such as when someone calls his house looking for Kevin it starts him on an odyssey which means he forgets to buy superglue for his mother's cabinet. Pat meanwhile is stuck in some sort of middle management position married to Judy Greer's Linda and constantly upsetting her with his decisions such as his one to buy a new car. The two brothers randomly meet up throughout what is their mother's birthday due to Pat's belief that Linda is having an affair and Jeff's quest to find the elusive Kevin. The third part of the film follows Sharon who works in a dull office bemoaning her lot in life however throughout the film she starts to receive mystery messages from someone claiming to be a secret admirer. As you would imagine the film ends with a big set piece bringing these trio of stories together in what I personally considered to be a fairly surprising ending.

At the start of Jay and Mark Duplass' film I felt I knew what I was getting, I mean after all these were the directors who last bought us the ultra-indie Cyrus, however what I found was a sweet-natured comedy about small incidents creating life-changing moments. Though at first both of the brothers annoyed me the talent of Segal and Helms created two wonderfully rounded characters who had both dealt with the death of their father in different ways Jeff by regressing into a childlike state while at the same time being obsessed with finding the meaning in things and Pat by frivolously spending money that he doesn't have. It is Sarandon though who is magnificent here as Sharon giving one of her best performances in year as a cubicle-dwelling woman who has long given up on finding love again and has even fallen out of love with her two sons. The film's ending really surprised me and put a tear in my eye as an event changes everything for everyone and for me it changed my opinion of this film. Sure it may be a little twee and quirky for some while some will also find Michael Andrews' score a tad annoying but overall this was a sweet little comedy film that shows how a loss can affect us in different ways.

Verdict: Though a time a little too indie for its own good this film is sweet-natured and well-acted with a surprising conclusion so for those reasons it gets 7/10