History WesternAnimation / TheLorax

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|2012}}, a 2012 animated film by Creator/IlluminationEntertainment.

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''The Lorax'' is a [[AllCGICartoon computer-animated]] family feature film based on [[Literature/TheLorax the book of the same name]] by Creator/DrSeuss. It is the third film by Creator/IlluminationEntertainment and the second animated film from the team from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', as well as the writers from ''WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho''. Creator/DannyDeVito voices the Lorax. New characters include Ted (Creator/ZacEfron), a 12-year-old boy living in the synthetic city of Thneedville who has a crush on a high school girl, Audrey (Music/TaylorSwift), who says that Truffula Trees once populated this area before a city was built over it, and wishes to see them for herself. In an attempt to win over her affection, Ted seeks out the home of the Once-ler (Creator/EdHelms), who tells the regretful tale of how he brought down the forest. But once he's discovered leaving town, Aloysius O'Hare (Creator/RobRiggle) and his air company that oversees Thneedville wants to ensure that Ted stays in the city and nobody discovers the wasteland outside the limits.

The film was released worldwide on March 2, 2012 (coincidentally on which would've been the 108th birthday of the original author).

----
!!''The Lorax'' provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:#-C]]
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating:
** [[spoiler: After completely despoiling the ecosystem, Onceler is abandoned by the forest animals, his family, an the Lorax]].
** [[spoiler:O'Hare, the UltimateAuthorityMayor, due to his company running everything,]] gets this near the end of the movie when [[spoiler:Ted reveals the corrupt nature of both his business and character. Even his goons turn on him.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''O'hare:''' Let it die, let it die. Let it shrivel up and... Come on, who's with me?]]\\
[[spoiler:'''3-year Old Marie:''' Nobody.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Cy:''' (singing) You greedy dirtbag!]]
* AbusiveParents: The Once-ler's mother. First, she derails his dreams, which hurt him for a long time. Then she pressures him into breaking his promise for the Lorax. Finally, when his business ultimately fails, she throws him away like garbage.
* ActingOutADaydream: When Ted imagines himself kissing Audrey, he actually kisses the cereal box. Ms. Wiggins implies that this has happened before.
* ActionMom: Ted's mother during the chase scene.
* ActionizedAdaptation: The film adds action scenes that weren't present in either the book or the TV special, like the Lorax and the woodland creatures having to rescue the Once-ler from his bed falling off a waterfall, or Ted having to fight against O'Hare chasing him during the climax.
* ActorAllusion: One of the fishes hums the theme to ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII''. Coincidentally, Arturo Mercado Jr. (the young Once-ler's Latin American VA) voiced Ethan Hunt in that film.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The Once-ler's face was never revealed in the book or the movie, and it's unknown if he is even human (given his spindly green arms and yellow eyes, plus the fact that most of Dr. Seuss's characters are weird creatures), although he does say he "speaks for men" and talks about "human opportunities". In the movie, he's fully seen and his younger self is a pretty human.
* AdaptationExpansion: The movie expands on the FrameStory with the boy seeking out a tree to impress a girl he's in love with and then we see his struggle to undo the environmental devastation the Once-ler created in the face of his municipal government's opposition. The boy is given the name Ted, and his mom, Grammy Norma, Audrey, and O'Hare (indeed, the entire Thneedville population save for Ted) were never in the book.
* AnAesop: Over-industrialization is a terrible thing.
-->''Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not.''
* AffablyEvil: The Once-ler isn't maliciously evil; he just fails to recognize the consequences of his actions until it's too late.
* AirQuotes: The Once-ler does this when being confronted by Lorax about cutting down all the Truffula trees.
--> '''Once-ler:''' Look, if you've got a problem with what I'm doing, why haven't you used your, quote-unquote, "powers" to stop me?
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Onceler wrecked the environment with his self-centered greed. But his regret over his actions, being abandoned by everyone (including his own family), and being left alone in broken wasteland is a not a fun fate]].
%%* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated
* AllThereInTheManual: During the end of "How Bad Can I Be", the Once-ler's family provide a backup chorus. It sounds like generic chanting, but the official soundtrack reveals lyrics that were muffled.
-->''Buy, sell, trade, squash\\
Pork, fat, cut, smash\\
Gold, yen, mark, pound\\
Short, coal, oil, war''
* AllThereInTheScript: The bar-ba-loots (brown forest critters), except for one easily missed line, are not named in the film, although they are mentioned in the soundtrack album version of "This is the Place" and in the DVD special features. They are named in the book and special, however, along with the Swomee Swans and Humming Fish.
* AmbitionIsEvil: The Once-ler is ambitious from the start, but success leads to his desire for more and more until he becomes corrupted by it.
* AnimalLover: The Lorax often hangs out with the forest animals and describes them as "nature's innocent creatures".
* AnimalMotifs: In the song "Biggering" The Lorax gives {{Greed}} itself one of these describing it as a small pet that when fed will [[HorrorHunger only get hungrier]] because the little pet known as "Greed" has a parasitic worm inside that itself is always demanding more food but can never be full no matter what, the worms name? {{Pride}}
* AnticipatoryBreathSpray: Ted does this before he enters Audrey's house.
* AntiVillain: The Once-ler.
* AppealToInherentNature: The chorus of the Once-ler's VillainSong begins with the line "How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally."
* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: Thneedville run by O'Hare looks lush and clean... but then you see that the "trees" are all fakes, the "grass-filled ground" conceals actual soil beneath it, O'Hare is selling air to the citizens, and most of all, the bright blue sky is just a painting on a giant wall. Which Ted, the hero of the story, later breaks, to reveal to the other citizens the real world out there: a desolate ground with gray cloudy sky with no signs of life in sight.
* AscendedExtra: The boy who's listening to the Once-ler's story is given a name (Ted) and an expanded role in the film (searching for the trees in order to impress a girl).
* TheAtoner: The Once-ler.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The Once-ler at the end of "How Bad Can I Be?"
* AuthorAvatar: Audrey is clearly supposed to be producer (and widow of Dr. Seuss) Audrey Geisel and her views. Ted (named after Dr. Seuss) less so.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: O'Hare drops a "damn it" to express his frustration during the climax. Given how out-of-tone it is with the rest of the movie and that just an annoyed look would have sufficed there, it seems quite obvious this is why they put it in.
* BadassBiker: When Ted gets on that scooter, awesomeness ensues.
* BedmateReveal: The Once-ler wakes up in his bed... and sees the face of the Lorax yawning next to him. Cue both freaking out.
* BigBad:
** O'Hare in Ted's story.
** The Once-ler in his own story.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: The leaders of the city don't like the idea of anyone trying to leave, and they have cameras everywhere.
* BigEater: The fat bar-ba-loot naturally seems to have shades of this.
* BigNo: O'Hare yells "No!" when [[spoiler: the residents of Thneedville banish him with a rocket helmet as comeuppance for his greed.]]
* BittersweetEnding: The townspeople don't really learn any lesson, they simply continue to blindly follow whoever makes an impression on them (not to mention how they don't have a mayor or canned air salesman anymore!), the Once-ler gets redemption from the Lorax, but he can't get his life back, and never really discovers his "full potential", instead he just fixes what he broke, and Ted's ending is neutral. The only character that really ends up with a truly good ending is "nature", if you want to count that. On the other hand, though, if the townspeople did learn anything, it's the fact that not everything is as perfect as they thought it was now that they've seen how bad things were this whole time just outside their city. It's also implied that they helped to restore the environment after the seed was planted in Thneedville, so maybe they did have an epiphany about nature's natural beauty and that having an artificial city isn't such a good thing after all. As for Ted, considering he both helped the Once-ler correct his mistakes and the implication that he and Audrey finally got together, which were his two main goals, his ending qualifies as being a positive one too. Oh, and Audrey herself got to not only see a living tree as she'd wished, but to contribute to their reintroduction.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Once-ler is made far more sympathetic. In the animated special, he's not outright bad, but he is ignorant, careless, and greedy. In the film, he's really only cutting down trees by pressure from his family who aren't sympathetic in the least, until the "How Bad Can I Be" number, where he becomes [[TookALevelInJerkass much less likable]]. The film's other main antagonist, however, is on-par with a ''[[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Planet]]'' villain. Thus we have Once-ler (Gray) and O'Hare (Black).
* BlatantLies: Once-ler tells one after chopping down a tree:
-->'''Lorax:''' Did you chop down this tree?
-->'''Once-ler:''' (''gasps'') [[LookBehindYou What's that?!]] ''(As the Lorax turns to look, Once-ler quickly drops the axe handle on a Barbaloot, who is clearly too small to lift it.)'' I think he did it.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Once-ler's brothers are a threat because they can't tell a difference between a bear and a football. Once-ler's mother is a threat because she ''can''.
* {{Bookends}}: The first song, "Thneedville", and the last song, "Let it Grow", are both [[CrowdSong Crowd Songs]]. To further this, the first line of "Thneedville" - "In Thneedville, it's a brand new dawn" - is repeated as an echo at the very end of "Let it Grow".
* BrokenAesop: Despite the [[GreenAesop message about saving the planet,]] Ted spins donuts in his motor scooter, which is spewing out smoke, instead of just stopping and waiting for his love interest.
** That’s not even getting into the insane amounts of merchandise it received ([[{{Hypocrite}} for an anti-industrial environmental film]]), much of which uses a ton of plastic. And the ad for [[HummerDinger Mazda cars]].
* BrokenMasquerade: Ted discovers the world outside of Thneedville, and O'Hare and his minions stop at nothing to re-conceal it.
* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: The opening "Thneedville" song.
* TheCameo:
** A model of one of ''Despicable Me'''s minions can be seen as Ted looks through his drawer for a screw (in keeping, since both movies come from Universal and Illumination Entertainment).
** There is also a picture of one on his Converse-looking sneakers, right where the logo should be.
* CanonForeigner: Ted's family, Audrey, Marie, Wesley, Dan, Rose, Cy, O'Hare, among many others, never appeared in the book nor the 1972 animated short.
* CardCarryingVillain: When the antagonist bursts out into a rendition of "Let It Die", it's safe to say that [[{{Anvilicious}} subtlety is out the window]].
* CartoonCreature: All of the inhabitants of the Truffula forest.
* ChekhovsBoomerang: The Onceler's axe. It is the implement he uses when he first ventures down his dark destructive path (by chopping down the first tree) and it is likewise the implement he uses when he is redeemed (by cutting down the boards enforcing his self-imposed exile).
%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Many of the animals that inhabit the area the Once-ler finds.
* TheCoconutEffect: When the rock hits one side of the Once-ler's bed before it goes over the waterfall, there is a "sproing" sound as if tension has been released (like a diving board) -- but there was never any tension in the bed -- the rock simply landed on the opposite side, sending him off as if it was a seesaw.
* ConspicuousGloves: The Once-ler dons elbow-length green gloves from the moment his business takes off to the end of the movie, as a ShoutOut to the original character.
* CoolOldLady: Ted's grandmother.
* CoolShades: The Once-ler gets some during "How Bad Can I Be?"
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: O'Hare is the standard type, while the Once-ler at his worst is more self-deluded about himself than anything else.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The town of Thneedville seems like a really nice place. That is, until you see what lies [[CrapsackWorld outside the town...]] In the climax [[spoiler: Ted gets the townspeople on his side by [[TheUnmasquedWorld exposing it.]]]][[note]]The entire idea of Thneedville is a big TakeThat at modernization and industrialization. Thneedville is literally perfect, serene, and is entirely self-sufficient. Although [[spoiler:the air is almost completely polluted, leading to the BigBad gaining his fortune by selling ''air.'' The world outside is dead and decaying, there are the huge, rusted logging machines that Once-ler used to destroy the forests, and the only sign of any life outside of Thneedville is the Once-ler himself, in the tower that he seems to have stayed in since his business failed.]] Crapsaccharine indeed.[[/note]]
* CrowdSong: "Let It Grow", "Everybody Needs a Thneed" and "Thneedville".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:D-I]]
* DarkReprise: When the Lorax leaves, the beggining of the music sounds like the song sang by the Humming Fish when the Once-ler first arrived to the forest.
* DaydreamSurprise: An elaborate sequence where Ted daydreams of getting a Truffula Tree for Audrey's birthday. Cue SmoochOfVictory and before the lips meet...
-->'''Ted's Mom:''' Tedster, you're kissing the cereal again, hon.
* DeadpanSnarker: Old Once-ler. The younger Once-ler has shades of this.
* DefacementInsult: O'Hare gets back at Ted for defying his order not to go back outside Thneedville (and possibly bringing back trees) by painting over Audrey's tree mural with gray paint and writing "Courtesy of O'Hare, Inc." where it once was.
* DeliberatelyCuteChild: 3-year-old Marie, even earning a big aww from the crowd.
* DemotedToExtra: The title character. He is more or less a supporting character in the second act of the story, never appears in the main story (except at the end) and his story (the main story of the book) takes a back seat to the story of {{Author Avatar}}s Ted and Audrey.
* DescentIntoDarknessSong: [[spoiler:The Once-ler]]'s VillainSong seems fine and dandy for most of the song. That is until he starts talking about [[spoiler:not caring if the trees are dying]], while you see him [[spoiler:destroying said trees with the soundwaves from his guitar and carelessly hacking down every tree left and right while the forest creatures run for their lives.]] Not only does the song get so much darker, his voice gets a distinct malevolent echo at the end. And then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpgUQYARIsw "Biggering"]] extends the whole descent into darkness, to the point where at the end, it sounds like the Once-Ler descended also into madness.
-->'''The Once-ler:''' ''Who cares if some THINGS are dying?!''.
* DespairEventHorizon: "Well that's it... The very last one."
* DisneyAcidSequence: The song the Once-ler sings while he and his family cut down the forest and build their factory.
* DisappearedDad:
** Ted's father and grandfather are never seen or mentioned in the film.
** It's never made clear if the old man in the Once-ler's family is his Father or Uncle. However, since the Once-ler is supposed to be like Ted (in a sense), and the original book says he called his uncles, brothers, and aunts, it might be his uncle, so both Ted and the Once-ler would have missing fathers.
* DopeSlap: One of the fish dope-slaps another fish after it touches the stump and the storm preceding the Lorax starts.
* DoubleEntendre: "How Bad Can I Be?" is potentially both a question ''and'' a challenge.
* EarthSong: The movie's climax ends with a song where the entirety of Thneedville agree to let the truffela tree seed grow in the song "Let It Grow."
* EasilyForgiven: The Once-ler. [[spoiler:At the end, when he helps an attempt to regrow trees, the Lorax returns and tells him "you done good."]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** The Once-ler gets this when he arrives in the Truffula Forest. When he unloads the van while singing he carelessly throws everything behind him, barely missing killing anyone; the animals are not amused.
** The Lorax gets one when he's first summoned and looks at the chopped down tree. He mourns for the chopped down tree before going after the Once-ler.
* EurekaMoment: After the Once-ler's entire business goes under, a young O'Hare is working on cleaning the area. His co-worker looks at the old advertisement board for Thneeds and sarcastically wonders what the next big idea is going to be. He then coughs due to the horrible air quality, which gives O'Hare an idea to create an air business.
* EvenTheDogIsAshamed:
** Melvin, the Once-ler's mule who has been with him since they arrived in the forest, walks away from him along with the forest critters in their exile and refuses to return to the Once-ler because of his actions.
** As an additional GutPunch, Pipsqueak, the Bar-ba-loot who the Once-ler befriended with marshmallows, sadly refuses to return to him.
* EverybodyHelpsOutDenouement: The movie ends with the musical number "Let it Grow," where the population of Thneedville agrees to start helping the environment after realizing what a horrible state it's in. [[spoiler:The shot of the Lorax's home at the end suggests they've succeeded.]]
%%* EvilLaugh: O'Hare.
* EvilMakeover: The Once-ler gets this treatment during the "How Bad Can I Be?" number.
* {{Expy}}: Aloysius O'Hare is pretty much identical to [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} Lord Farquaad]] in both height and haircut, but as a CorruptCorporateExecutive instead of a medieval noble.
* TheFaceless: Present-day Once-ler is this, until the final scene (and also not in the flashback sequences). This departs from the book, in which his face is never seen.
* FailedASpotCheck: The Once-ler is completely oblivious to the arrival of the Lorax, despite storm clouds darkening the forest, accompanied with thunder and lightning, and lightning striking the stump itself. The Lorax lampshades this.
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: The Lorax is in the Once-ler's room to deliver a dramatic warning. He does this and attempts to open the door and walk out... only to be unable to reach the door handle. The Once-ler helps him, and the Lorax tries warning him again.
* FixFic: The amount of time devoted to things that weren't part of the source material, the way a large portion of the original story was abridged into a single song sequence, and the fully resolved happy ending in place of a thought-provoking question-mark ending make it like one to an extent.
* FoodComa: Some bar-ba-loots and the Lorax himself are seen looking groggy after eating nine servings of pancakes.
* FreudianExcuse: The Once-ler had a dreary childhood and parents who thought he would never amount to anything; thus his determination to prove himself, even at the expense of the forest.
%%* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Once-ler, in his flashback.
%%* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Quite a few, most of which involve the fish and bar-ba-loots.
* GaspOfLife: The Once-ler shoots upright and gasps after the Lorax revives him via a MagicalDefibrillator made out of two Bar-ba-loots.
* GlassSmackAndSlide: When villain O'Hare, flying with one of his goon thanks to rocket headgear, slams into a delivery truck driven by another of his goon, he gets squished on the windshield and, as he's sliding down, yells "You're fired!"
* GranolaGirl: Audrey has some shades of this; her desire for a natural Truffula tree provides Ted's motivation.
* GratuitousDiscoSequence: The Oak-a-matic has four settings: summer, fall, winter, and disco!
* GreekChorus: The Humming Fish occasionally show this in the Once-ler's flashbacks, at one point, they start resembling the mice from ''Film/{{Babe}}''.
* GreenAesop: Lifted straight from the novel and given extra oomph with the addition of O'Hare and the modern Thneedville.
%%* HeelRealization: The Once-ler's expression when the last Truffula Tree falls.
* HereditaryHairstyle: Ted's mother and Grammy Norma. The only difference between them is color (justified, due to Grammy's age).
%%* TheHermit: Old man Once-ler.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Ted falls for redheaded beauty Audrey (who's older than him by a few years, mind you) and decides to find out about the fate of the trees for her sake.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Ted and the Once-ler are this to each other.
* {{Hipster}}: The Once-ler, in this incarnation.
* HopeSpot: Although it's subverted by the ForegoneConclusion, in the past, the Once-ler nearly gives up on his Thneeds before he manages to sell one, and later is willing to honor his promise to stop cutting down Truffula Trees before his mother gets greedy and manipulates him into it.
* HowWeGotHere: The film starts with all the trees gone and most of the film is the Once-ler telling the story of what happened to them.
* HumanFocusedAdaptation: The focus is now more on the Boy (Ted) and the Once-ler than the Lorax. Arguably the Once-ler was the main character of the earlier versions too, but in those [[TheFaceless it's unclear if he is supposed to be human]].
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The Once-ler is human in this adaptation, at least in the flashbacks. Even he didn't start out a bastard, but his parents clearly were and drove him to become one too.
* HurtFootHop: This happens to the Lorax on a DVD special feature that lets viewers watch the characters playing with things from the Once-ler's cart. If the viewer selects the cart to get more items, then the Lorax kicks it to make the items appear, then hops off the screen, clutching his foot in agony. This is a reference to the 1972 TV special, in which the same thing happens to the Lorax when he kicks the Once-ler's Super Axe Hacker, which "[[HaveAGayOldTime whacks off]] four Truffula trees in one smacker!"
* IdenticalStranger: Done for [[DramaticIrony dramatic]] purposes. The Once-ler looked a lot like Ted in his younger days. Also, the first person to ever get a Thneed looks a lot like Audrey.
* IgnoredEpiphany: O'Hare's portion of "Let it Grow":
-->''The things you say just might be true\\
It could be time to start anew\\
And maybe change my point of view...\\
Nah! I say let it die!''
* InevitableWaterfall:
** It makes the practical joke that the Lorax plays on the Once-ler a lot more serious, and brings the two together for a short time.
** Played with: Once-ler and Pipsqueak only face relatively passable rapids at first, and once they clear those... they see the huge roaring waterfall the trope normally deals with.
* InvisibleBackupBand: Partially averted during the Once-ler's song, "This Is the Place". The music comes from his electric guitar, without an amp. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] as he asks the animals what happened to his backup when the music comes to a sudden stop.
* ItsAllMyFault: The Once-ler laments that the trees are gone because of his past actions.
-->'''Ted:''' So, this ''is'' really all your fault. You destroyed everything.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:J-M]]
* JewishMother: Ted's mom has this in spades, which would technically make him AmbiguouslyJewish.
* KarmaHoudini: The Once-ler's family after manipulating him into despoiling the forest, ruining his business and rejecting him afterward. They leave and are never seen from again.
* KickTheDog: In perhaps the fastest, blink-and-you-miss-it example, in the song "How Bad Could I Be", you see the a bar-ba-loot pick up what looks like one of the last few truffula fruit, and the largest is going to let the small one eat it... only to have Once-ler pick it right out of their hands and eat it in front of them.
* KnightTemplar: Young Once-ler after his FaceHeelTurn. Bonus points for having a [[VillainSong Knight Templar Song]] while AffablyEvil and appearing as an EldritchAbomination to the animals and the Lorax at the song's end during the DisneyAcidSequence.
* LastNoteNightmare:
** '''''[[VillainSong HOW BAD]] [[ScareChord CAN THIS]] [[OminousLatinChanting POSSIBLY BEEEEEEEE?!?!]]'''''
** And the cut song, "Biggering". '''''[[SanitySlippage I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR CRYING!!!]]'''''
* LegoGenetics: A boy turns into a bioluminescent mutant after going into the local polluted swimming pool.
* LighterAndSofter: The Once-ler was changed from a blatant greedy villain to a naive and sympathetic anti-hero. The musical numbers and expanded plot distract from the original main plot of The Once-ler destroying the environment. The original book ended on a dark and pessimistic tone. [[spoiler: In the original book, it was uncertain whether or not The Lorax would return, the forest of Truffula trees would regrow, and The Once-ler's destruction would be reversed. Meanwhile, the film decided to go straight for a happy ending.]]
* LiteralAssKicking:
-->'''The Once-Ler:''' And don't let the boot hit you on the way out.\\
'''Ted:''' The boot?
* LookBehindYou: The Once-ler pulls this on the Lorax.
%%* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair
* LyricalDissonance:
** The entire "Thneedville" number is a bouncy and upbeat song about how there is absolutely nothing natural or organic about the city, and their blissful ignorance regarding what happens to the waste.
** The "How Bad Can I Be?" song segment shows obviously unpleasant and horrid things happen to the environment and those that live within it while the lyrics constantly try to convince us that it's all for the greater good and is completely understandable.
* MamaBear: Although not immediately obvious, Ted's mom becomes this in the climax. In the presence of Mr. O'Hair, the woman is practically trembling and clearly wants to make a good impression. The moment she sees him threatening her son, she insults the guy to his face and demands he leave.
* ManHug: There is a particularly emotional one near the end of the movie between the Lorax and the Once-ler.
* MechanicalAnimals: One of O'Hare's surveillance tactics is a robot cat with cameras in its eyes that meows when it's alerted.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** At the beginning of the movie, The Lorax introduces himself: "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees." In the climax, Ted does the same thing the Lorax does: "My name is Ted Wiggins, and I speak for the trees!"
** A visual example, also with the Lorax and Ted, is the ring of stones that they placed around trees.
** When the older Once-ler finally steps out of his house he is revealed to have grown bushy eyebrows and a big moustache, like the Lorax's. The Lorax even tells him "nice moustache".
* MeaningfulName:
** [[MythologyGag Ted, the actual name of Dr. Seuss, and Audrey, named after his second wife.]]
** The Once-ler, as in the original.
* MelismaticVocals: The first line of each verse of "Thneedville" is punctuated with a melisma. And of course, "How ba-ah-ah-ad can I be?"
* MetaphoricallyTrue: The Once-ler promises the Lorax he won't cut down any more trees. And he doesn't. [[LoopholeAbuse He gets others to do it for him.]]
* MisterBig: O'Hare.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: The elderly Once-Ler.
* MomentKiller: Ted and Audrey nearly kiss, but Ted's mother yells, "We don't have time for that!"
* MoodWhiplash: From the song "How Bad Could I Be" to the PollutedWasteland resulting from the very actions the song was about.
* MotorMouth: The Lorax, when the Once-ler asks him how his bed got in the river, he says, "Iputyourbedinthewater."
* MrFanservice: The Once-ler, of the pretty boy variation. He did a lot off shaking his butt and hips, bending over, and allowing his legs to be open at the audience. He once crawled across a table, as well as stripped down partially on screen.
* TheMusical: [[NeverTrustATrailer Believe it or not.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** As in the original book, the Once-ler once he sees the deforestation. The effect is added when he realizes he's losing all of the friends he made.
** O'Hare pretends he's remorseful over how he's monopolized ''air'' and made his town such a [[CrapsaccharineWorld thinly-veiled polluted crapsack]]. He then tries to get the crowd to let the Truffula die. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain It only makes the town want to plant the tree more.]]
--->'''O'Hare:''' My name's O'Hare, I'm one of you! I live in Thneedville too. The things you say just might be true. It might be time to start anew. And maybe change my point of view... (''beat'') Nah, I say let it die! Let it die! Let it shrivel up -- who's with me?\\
'''3-Year-Old Marie:''' Nobody.\\
'''Delivery Guy:''' You greedy dirtbag!
* MythologyGag:
** The Once-ler's gloves are green. His arms were all green in the book and cartoon.
** "Everyone Needs a Thneed" returns with reworked lyrics.
** When the Once-ler is trying to sell Thneeds at the local town, he advertises them being sold for $3.98. This is the price he managed to bargain off with the first man who bought one in the book.
** The box of the toy plane Ted lands in Audrey's house is labeled "Geisel's Gadgets". Geisel is Dr. Seuss's last name.
** Ted and Audrey share names with Ted and Audrey Geisel, with Ted Geisel being Dr. Seuss' real name and Audrey his wife and the film's executive producer.
** "How Bad Can I Be" is basically a short musical summary of the main plot of the 1972 special. It even features the words "schloppity schlop" and "smogulous smoke".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Z]]
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Ted isn't named in the book, due to its SecondPersonNarration.
* TheNapoleon: O'Hare is bout three times shorter than Ted and very grumpy.
* NeverMyFault: The Once-ler's mother pins all the blame for the Thneed business failing on him.
* NeverTrustATrailer:
** Some people had to think that Ted was going to meet the Lorax even though he never did. The fact that the young version of the Once-ler looked [[IdenticalStranger strangely like him]] doesn't help.
** The TV spots for the DVD release include ''as little footage of Ted's story as possible.''
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If O'Hare would've kept his mouth shut after he sang the first part of his song during the "Let It Grow" song, he probably would've been allowed to stay as mayor even if his air company went bankrupt.
* NoEndorHolocaust: The movie implies that with the planting of the last remaining truffula tree seed, all is (eventually) made right again. However, in the long-term, the trees would probably go extinct anyway. Much like trying to rebuild the human race with only one man and one woman, trying to rebuild a forest with only a single tree would probably fail due to the available gene pool being too small to build a large population from.
* NoNameGiven: None of the forest creatures are referenced by name during the course of the movie, though the movie's [[AllThereInTheScript official site]] seems to give ''some'' of the creatures names. In one of the cut songs included on the Soundtrack, "This Is the Place", they're all named and introduced by the Once-ler one at a time as he tries to find material for his Thneed.
* NonIndicativeName: The Humming Fish don't actually hum; they sing a capella.
* NotGoodWithPeople: The Once-ler ironically seems to be more comfortable around the animals than other people.
* NothingCanStopUsNow: The Once-ler tells the Lorax that nothing will stop him from chopping down truffula trees to make more thneeds. [[TemptingFate Cue the very last tree falling...]]
-->'''Lorax:''' That's it. The very last one. That may stop you.
* ObliviouslyEvil: Once-ler during his "How Bad Can I Be" sequence.
* OddlySmallOrganization:
** Once-ler's Thneed Company only seems to ever have his family as its workers despite how big it gets.
** O'Hare's company only employs O'Hare himself, his two goons, and the one delivery man. This is especially noticeable in the climax, where O'Hare feels the need to join the chase himself.
* OffscreenTeleportation: After the Once-ler tells the Lorax that he's not going anywhere, he walks into his house and shuts the door only to discover the Lorax standing there.
* OhCrap: Ted has one just before he's launched up in the air when he rings the Once-ler's doorbell.
* OneWheeledWonder: Ted's scooter has only one wheel, looking like a big ball. This doesn't stop him from doing impressive stunts with it.
* OpeningChorus: "Thneedville"
* OstrichHeadHiding: When the Lorax first arrives, a bunch of birds plunge their heads into the ground and a bear tries to do likewise but its head just rebounds off the ground.
* TheOutsideWorld: The film has Ted wanting to go to the Outside World to find a real live tree for a girl he likes. However, he finds that [[spoiler:the outside is a really bleak and dark CrapsackWorld.]]
* ParentalBonus: The non-fiction book ''Too Big to Fail'' (about the current global economic crisis) is referenced in one scene. The film's producers seem to be in love with referencing topical news events (see ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'').
* PayingForAir: In the city of Thneedville, inhabitants have to buy air in bottles due to the lack of trees, until they come back and Aloysius O'Hare is overthrown near the end.
* PetTheDog: Exploited.
-->'''Once-Ler:''' How ba-a-a-ad can I be? Just look at me pettin' this puppy.
::: Made worse by the fact that he had a ''legitimate'' PetTheDog moment earlier with the very same animal.
** After promising to never cut down trees again, (until his family manipulates him into doing so again) he switches to just picking small tufts off of the trees and makes about 9 courses of pancakes for the wildlife.
** On a subsequent visit, Ted brings the Once-ler [[TrademarkFavoriteFood a bag of marshmallows]], much to his delight.
* PragmaticAdaptation: The Once-ler's face is shown because it would be near to impossible to hide his face during an entire feature film. Also this film indicts the environmental blight of urban sprawl as well as unchecked industrialization. There's also the fact that trying to film the story exactly would make for a really depressing movie if you didn't have Ted's struggle to put things right.
* PrecociousCrush: 12-year-old Ted's crush for high school girl Audrey.
* PhotoOpWithTheDog: ''Literally'', as part of "How Bad Can I Be?"
* PollutedWasteland: The land surrounding Thneedville is this for a while; the air is full of smog, and unexplained oil-like substances are being leaked (if not deliberately pumped) into the water outside the town.
* ProducePelting: When Once-ler tries to sell his Thneed, the townsfolk respond by pelting him with tomatoes. One enterprising old man sets up a stall to sell tomatoes to the crowd.
* ProductPlacement: Thankfully avoided in the movie itself, but some of the crossmarketing [[http://www.scpr.org/programs/madeleine-brand/2012/03/01/22732/how-mazdas-lorax-campaign-went-awry hasn't been without controversy]].
* PuttingOnTheReich: During "How Bad Can I Be?", the Once-ler's Family marches as an army behind him, swinging their hatchets like in a rifle drill.
* {{Ramprovisation}}: Ted's attempt to [[RampJump jump over the gorge]] using a barrel and a board doesn't quite go as planned. Good thing too, because if it did, he wouldn't have had a way back.
* RealMenWearPink: While sewing his first thneed, Once-ler insists to himself that there's nothing unmanly about knitting. He also ends up wearing a pink thneed scarf.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Many of the animals in Truffula Valley. Mostly Pipsqueak.
* RottenRockAndRoll: The Once-ler's FaceHeelTurn is accompanied by the rock song "How Bad Can I Be?"
* RuderAndCruder: O'Hare says "damn it" twice by the end, which is the only reason the film got a [=PG=] rating. Naturally, the Creator/DrSeuss children's book on which the film is based had no such language.
* RuleOfThree: The Once-ler spreads his story out and stops in select areas so Ted has to come back another day to hear the rest. It takes three days/visits for him to get the whole story.
* SanitySlippage: The Once-ler gets more committed to "biggering" the more the Lorax calls him out on the effects of his operations. It isn't until the last tree falls that he comes to his senses.
* SanitySlippageSong: The CutSong "Once-ler's Traveling Madness" is one of these.
-->''Look, it's some circling birds\\
I bet you that they're going to ''eat our corpses''\\
And then the worms will come out of the ground\\
And then some other little critter's gonna come and\\
Make furniture out of our bones\\
And sit on it, and have lovely dinners''\\
'''''AND THIS WHOLE THING WILL BE A DISASTER'''''
* ScarilySpecificStory: The Once-ler is mad at Ted Wiggins for interrupting his story of the past, so he tries to intimidate him by claiming that the story will soon feature a musical number about "the kid who kept interrupting the story and [[ImpliedDeathThreat was never heard from again]]".
* SceneryPorn: The vistas of Thneedville.
* SceneryGorn: The environmental devastation outside Thneedville.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl:
** The Once-ler's scream when he wakes up and finds the Lorax next to him is really high-pitched. He does this when the forest animals attack him, as well.
** The man who's having a bath when Ted drives into his house to get out of the city.
* ShakingTheRump: Mostly from the Once-ler, who bends over to shake it at the viewers quite a few times. And also Ted's mom when disco dancing; she wiggles her butt directly [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents at her son]].
* ShooOutTheClowns: The three Humming Fish disappear when it's time to be serious.
* ShoutOut:
** One plot point regards a salesman selling [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} canned air]], in actual soda cans.
** Thneed-Ville is a lot like the Village in ''Series/{{The Prisoner|1967}}''.
** The trees on the ski course are from Lego sets.
** The Humming Fish hum the ''Series/MissionImpossible'' theme when the Lorax and the Barbaloots carry Once-ler's bed to the river.
** Audrey's design is reminiscent of Pontoffel Pock of ''Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?''/''And his Magic Piano''.
** Ted has a Minion keychain in a desk drawer.
** A guy tries to impress a sweet-natured young woman named Audrey by growing a fantastic plant? [[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors Why does that sound familiar]]?
** The queue of people waiting to pelt the Onceler [[Film/{{Airplane}} seems familiar]].
** The Onceler's FatBitch aunt being named Grizelda could be a reference to Music/TheMonkees song "Your Auntie Grizelda".
* ShoutOutThemeNaming: The main human characters are named Ted (short for Theodore, Creator/DrSeuss' real name) and Audrey (Dr. Seuss's wife).
* SilentSnarker: Melvin the donkey.
* SlasherSmile: Once-ler gives one at the very end of "How Bad Can I Be?"
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: The entire theme of the [[VillainSong How Bad Can I Be?]] song. Over the course of the song, the Onceler makes more and more compromises to his morals until by the end he no longer has any qualms about destroying the environment and driving his former friends out of their homes.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: "The" Once-ler.
* StartOfDarkness: The song "How Bad Can I Be" demonstrates Once-ler's FaceHeelTurn as he justifies his actions to himself.
* StealthPun: Towards the end of the DisneyAcidSequence during "How Bad Can I Be?", the Once-ler is flattening truffula trees with the soundwaves from his electric guitar. In other words, he's using his axe as an axe.
* TakeThat:
** "How Bad Can I Be?" is a musical one against every popular modern excuse for corporate excesses you can think of.
** O'Hare's bottled air business is an obvious jab at the bottled water business.
** The advertisement proposed to O'Hare, on the other hand, looks like a jab at beer commercials.
* TalkingAnimal: The crowd during the Everybody Needs a Thneed number includes a random cat riding and singing atop a guy's helmet.
* TemptingFate: "How Bad Can I Be?" Well, Once-y, [[ApocalypseHow since you]] [[SceneryGorn asked]] [[KickTheDog so nicely]]...
* TimeSkip: According to the producers, five years passed once the Once-ler and his family started their Thneed operations. The "How Bad Can I Be?" montage is meant to be the passage of time going by as they destroy the Truffula forest.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Ted and Audrey. Justified since he's twelve and she's in high school. (Incidentally, Taylor Swift really is taller than Zac Efron, though not to quite the same extent.)
* TooUnhappyToBeHungry: The Once-ler tries to cheer up Pipsqueak with a marshmallow after he's sad about being forced to leave home. Pipsqueak rejects it.
* TookALevelInJerkass: The Once-ler undergoes a jarring change in temperament (as part of a FaceHeelTurn in a DescentIntoDarknessSong) when his Thneed business becomes a success, turning from a mostly good-natured guy into a greedy, arrogant CorruptCorporateExecutive, carelessly abusing and exploiting the forest creatures he'd previously befriended.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: The Once-ler loves marshmallows and uses them to win over the forest creatures.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The second trailer tells you the book's ending! This is harmless to the movie itself though -- the storyline is expanded to continue after those events.
* TreacheryCoverUp: The greenery you see in the town? It's plastic to cover up the environmental destruction.
* UltimateAuthorityMayor: Ohare seems to have so much power he had the ability to ban people from leaving town.
* UnconventionalFoodUsage: Grammy Norma bounces her jello around on her plate, causing her daughter Mrs. Wiggins to scold her for playing with her food.
* TheUnfavorite: The Once-ler is implied to be this before he sets out to find his fortune. He manages to shake it for a while after becoming a success, but it doesn't take long for his mother to choose his other brothers over him once more. Out loud. [[KickTheDog To his face.]]
* UngratefulBastard: The Once-ler's family ditches the Once-ler once he has chopped down every tree in the land. Nevermind the fact he let them enjoy his fortune.
%%* TheUnmasquedWorld
* UnscientificScience: Whereas the book shows the devastation and pollution the Once-ler has wrought on the land (which is bad enough), the film adaption keeps emphasizing the ''very air'' everyone breathes as being affected. It becomes its [[VillainsActHeroesReact own plot-arc with O'Hare]]. Trees are '''carbon neutral''', as in, they release as much oxygen during the day as they absorb during the night. Deforestation presents us with all kinds of problems - soil erosion, landslides, loss of habitat, loss of wildlife etc, but it doesn't affect our air quality.
* VanityLicensePlate: The Once-ler has one on his horse-drawn wagon.
* VillainProtagonist: The Once-ler, as in the original book. Of course, [[AntiVillain he's more sympathetic here.]]
* VillainSong:
** "How Bad Can I Be?"
** Among the soundtrack's cut songs, "Biggering", a darker RockOpera-esque song that was eventually replaced by "How Bad Can I Be?"
** O'Hare's section of "Thneedville" (soundtrack version). It's a shame that part was cut, as it sums things up so nicely.
--->''Everyone 'round here works for me\\
I sell them something they should get for free\\
We live in perfect harmony!''
* VitriolicBestBuds: The Once-ler and the Lorax. When the Thneed fails, they become genuine HeterosexualLifePartners... until the masses come clamoring for Thneeds and even then, he tries to listen to the Lorax and keep his promise, until Mom points out that production is slow thanks to picking the truffs from the trees... then it all goes downhill from there.
* VocalDissonance: Does Ted even sound close to a twelve-year-old?
** Cy's voice sounds ''very'' young, soft, and high-pitched for a moustachioed, middle-aged delivery man.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Young Once-ler sports one.
* WallAroundTheWorld: Thneedville.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Part of the Once-Ler's motivation is to please his fickle mother. Ultimately, she manipulates him and rejects him after she ruins his business and the forest.
-->'''Once-ler's Mother:''' Son, you have let me down. [[MoodWhiplash Brett, you are now my favorite child.]]
* WeUsedToBeFriends: After "How Bad Can I Be", the Lorax asks the Once-ler if his presence makes him remember the promise he broke and the person he used to be. Once-ler [[HairTriggerTemper doesn't take this well.]]
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Subverted. At first glance, "Once-ler" appears to be his actual name. His mom calls him "Once-y." His brothers, on the other hand, are named [[ThemeTwinNaming Brett and Chet]], which proves that there ARE normal names... but then, it would seem his real name is Wuncler. The only time we actually see his name written is during [[VillainSong "How Bad Can I Be?"]], and Once-ler seems like a nickname that stuck.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The Once-ler.
* WorkingClassAnthem: "How Bad Can I Be?" has elements of this, showing that the Once-ler's success is corrupting him and doing harm to the world around him, including environmental degradation and {{Fake Charit|y}}ies.
* WorldLimitedToThePlot: Thneedville and the former Truffula forest are treated like the only places left in the world in the main (post-Lorax) story, despite the Once-ler [[TravelMontage traveling to various locations]] on his quest for Thneed material and having grown up in a rural area far away enough from Thneedville that his family needed an RV to get there.
* WouldntHitAGirl / LadyLooksLikeADude: The title character is about to open a can of fury on a relative of The Once-ler's, who objects saying:
-->'''The Once-ler:''' You wouldn't hit a woman, would you?\\
'''The Lorax:''' That's a ''woman?!''
''[[/folder]]''

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: [[spoiler:O'Hare, the UltimateAuthorityMayor, due to his company running everything,]] gets this near the end of the movie when [[spoiler:Ted reveals the corrupt nature of both his business and character. Even his goons turn on him.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: The Once-ler, due to his feminine behaviors and interests.

* DisabledDeity: Basically what the Lorax is stuck with. He has the power to summon storms and command the beasts of the earth, but is apparently not allowed to use any of his powers on humans even to do his job. Though after this latest fasco, maybe the PowersThatBe will wise up and remove that restriction.

* LighterAndSofter: The Once-ler was changed from a blatant greedy villain to a naive and sympathetic anti-hero. The musical numbers and expanded plot distract from the original main plot of The Once-ler destroying the environment. The original book ended on a dark and pessimistic tone. [[spoiler: In the original book, it was uncertain whether or not The Lorax would return, the forest of Truffula trees would regrow, and The Once-ler's destruction would be reversed. The film decided to go straight for a happy ending.]]

* AnimalMotifs: In the song "Biggering" The Lorax gives {{Greed}} itself one of these describing it as a small pet that when fed will [[HorrorHunger only get hungrier]] because....
** The little pet known as "Greed" has a parasitic worm inside that itself is always demanding more food but can never be full no matter what, the worms name? {{Pride}}

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Averted. There's a quick scene where the Once-ler strips off his pajamas for a change of work clothes in front of the Lorax and the Bar-ba-lots, but it's never commented upon.

* WorkingClassSong: "How Bad Can I Be?" has elements of this, showing that the Once-ler's success is corrupting him and doing harm to the world around him, including environmental degradation and {{Fake Charit|y}}ies.

''The Lorax'' is a [[AllCGICartoon computer-animated]] family feature film based on [[Literature/TheLorax the book of the same name]] by Creator/DrSeuss. It is the third film by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation, as well as the writers from ''WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho''. Creator/DannyDeVito voices the Lorax. New characters include Ted (Creator/ZacEfron), a 12-year-old boy living in the synthetic city of Thneedville who has a crush on a high school girl, Audrey (Music/TaylorSwift), who says that Truffula Trees once populated this area before a city was built over it, and wishes to see them for herself. In an attempt to win over her affection, Ted seeks out the home of the Once-ler (Creator/EdHelms), who tells the regretful tale of how he brought down the forest. But once he's discovered leaving town, Aloysius O'Hare (Creator/RobRiggle) and his air company that oversees Thneedville wants to ensure that Ted stays in the city and nobody discovers the wasteland outside the limits.