It seems every few years Hollywood execs get together to delute a beloved Dr. Seuss tale with an overly long, often insipid, adaptation. (Anyone remember How the Grinch Stole Christmas?) Critics bemoan, audiences are split, and the film is quickly forgotten... until the process begins again a couple of years later. (Anyone remember The Cat in the Hat?)
The tale of The Lorax is my favorite Seuss story. I have very mixed feelings for the animated adaptation that lengthens the original tale and throws in some unnecessary song and dance numbers to what is a moral lesson concerning the effects of unchecked industrialization and greed on nature and the environment. I'm even less sure of a full-length feature starring Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Zac Efron, and Danny DeVito as the voice of the Lorax.
If not ruined, embellished, dumbed-down, or lengthened and stretched too far, the tale could give us a great fable with a lesson every more important today than when the book was first published. Then again, it could be The Cat and the Hat all over again.
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