Reviews WesternAnimation / The Lorax 1972

The 1972 Cartoon: Powerful and Memorable

"You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back."

Out of all the aesops one can give, then undoubtedly doing one about nature is always the hardest. Most writers that attempt it can never manage anything in the realm of sublety and make the issue too black and white. Think Captain Planet. But The Lorax, one of my favourite stories from Seuss' library is probably the only tale I can ever recall doing it right. In the span of twenty five minutes it manages to weave a well-animated tale showing the downfall of not just an environment but also the same industry that thrived off that land.

The narration is great, and the animation does a good job of putting motion to Seuss' art style, but the story is perhaps one of the best things. I do like that they manage to make the Once-ler a morally complex and interesting character. He's not just an eeeeviiil capitalist who woke up one morning and decided to fuck up nature. He's a businessman who wanted to make money, sure, but he does feel guilt when he sees the damage he's caused, with no understanding of the long term effects of his work. He's also not an innocent victim like the CGI movie makes him out to be, driven into doing what he does by his eeeeevil family.

It's easy enough to find on youtube if you want to watch it. Even if you don't want to dwell on the philosophy, it still makes for a good story to watch.