Summary and Impact:
The story starts from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, Ted, who is head over heels for an older girl named Audrey. Audrey dreams of seeing a real tree since Thneedville is only filled with artificial trees. Ted makes it his goal to make Audrey’s dream come true. One day at dinner, Ted brings up Truffala Trees, and his grandmother tells him about the Onceler, where to find him, and what to bring him for Ted to achieve his goal. Ted then sets out to find the Onceler, who lives outside town. The Onceler then reluctantly starts to share the story about Truffala Trees. He starts off by talking about himself and how he set on a journey for an entrepreneurial opportunity. He then discovers an area filled with Truffala Trees, beautiful wildlife, and animals. The Onceler proceeds to cut a tree down, and from that stump, a small orange man who speaks for the trees, the Lorax, appears. The Lorax explains to the Onceler that the forest is home to the animals, and destroying it will destroy their home. The Lorax told him that he could not cut down any more trees. The Onceler disregards the Lorax and continues to cut down trees to make thneeds, an object with various uses made from the tuft of truffula tree. Due to the Oncelers’ business growing, new factories built, and the Oncelers’ family moving to the land, the forest, previously home to many animals, was destroyed. The animals were forced to leave the land as it served no purpose for them anymore because the resources Onceler and his corportation stripped the resources. After Onceler finishes his story, he gives Ted a Truffala Tree seed, which Ted is determined to grow and give to Audrey. O’Hare, a short man who sells bottled air to Thneedville, sees Ted and tries to stop his actions because they will destroy his business. Ted triumphs against O’Hare’s efforts and plants the truffala seed, helping restore the environment. The Onceler also begins to plant truffala seeds and water them. This movie has an important message about the destruction of the environment that industrial activities and businesses/corporations can have. It gives a better perspective of people’s actions on the environment and expresses the value our actions can have in trying to progress our environment. The importance of preserving nature and how it should not be destroyed or repurposed because it is home to many forms of life is finally depicted in the movie.
- Release Date: March 2, 2012
- Writter: Dr. Suess
- Director: Chris Renaud
- Producer: Illumination Entertainment
- Rating: ★★★✩✩
- Box Office: $349.2 million
Movie Trailer: