So the next up in adaptations of the still great Dr. Seauss' literature is The Lorax!
A brief introduction:
The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. As in most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book.
The book is commonly recognized as a fable concerning industrialized society and the danger it poses to nature, using the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler (whose face is never shown in any of the story's illustrations or in the television special) and to the environment as the Lorax.
But the story has sparked a great deal of criticism and controversy:
In a retrospective critique written in the journal Nature upon the 40th anniversary of the book's publication, Emma Marris described the Lorax character as a "parody of a misanthropic ecologist". She called the book "gloomy" and doubted it was good for young children. Nevertheless, she praised the book overall, and especially Seuss for understanding "the limits of gloom and doom" environmentalism.
The Lorax has sparked notable controversy. In 1988, a small school district in California kept the book on a reading list for second graders, though some in the town claimed the book was unfair to the logging industry. Terri Birkett, a member of a family-owned hardwood flooring factory, authored The Truax, offering a logging-friendly perspective to an anthropomorphic tree known as the Guardbark. This book was published by NOFMA, National Wood Flooring Manufacturers' Association. Just as in The Lorax, the book consists of a disagreement between two people. The logging industry representative states that they have efficiency and re-seeding efforts. The Guardbark, a personification of the environmentalist movement much as the Once-ler is for big business, refuses to listen and lashes out. But in the end, he is convinced by the logger's arguments. However, this story was criticized for what were viewed as skewed arguments, particularly a "casual attitude toward endangered species" that answered the Guardbark's concern for them. In addition, the book's approach as a more blatant argument, rather than one worked into a storyline, was also noted.
The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie" was removed more than fourteen years after the story was published after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie. The line remains in the DVD release of the special.
On April 7, 2010, Amnesty International USA commented in their blog on the story of the book that "amazingly parallels that of the Dongria Kondh peoples of Orissa" in India, "where Vedanta Corporation is wrecking the environment of the Dongria Kondh people."
Well they are now adapting such a story to the silver screen, here is the initial plot:
The film follows Ted, an idealistic young boy, who tries to find the one thing that will win him affection of the girl of his dreams. To do so, he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.
It will be staring these people!
The up & coming Zach Efron playing Ted, the protagonist to the film!
The always great Ed Helms as The Once-ler!
The awesomely awesome Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve Rob Riggle as O'Hare, a financial king.
The never-dying Betty White as Grammy Norma, Ted's grandmother!
The musically-inclined Gelfling that is Taylor Swift as Audrey, Ted's romantic interest!
And naturally the eternally depraved Danny Devito as the Lorax!
With all of that said here is the trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrlWJePbk8
Thoughts?
Posts
I am the Lorax.
I speak for the trees!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYD6t3-FbX8&feature=related
Hope this doesn't suck.
He's qualified.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHJo_klmPcA
That's weird, I totally thought it was The Polyphonic Spree even though that's the only song I've ever heard of theirs.
Book, though? Hard to decide. I do really like Green Eggs and Ham.
Man I'm looking forward to reading those to my kid.
Dunno if it can top Horton tho
Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
but I kind of wish the Lorax had a deeper, more authoritative-sounding voice
like Albert Finney
A little... I thought at first she was just a cougar he wanted to bang.
Wait...
... OH. What's a LORAX? My bad.
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That show has pretty good music selection, too. I guess that's probably a track that they own so they can use it whenever they want.
Fuck the trees. I speak for the poops and natek is my representative, stenographer and concubine.
I like this post.
Realistically you could have two, career voice actors do every character in a film like this.
Nolan North.
Just Nolan North.
But I guess Taylor Swift gets more asses in seats.
as do I
Nah, you need a female voice actress to be able to do both females & children.
A solid pairing is Billy West and Tress MacNeille.
And if there are any animals you call Frank Welker.
She'd certainly get my ass in any seat...
Unless they shoehorn in a reason for her to sing.
for younger characters you need Will Friedle and either Grey DeLisle or Tara Strong
I will continue to hold out hope for my second favorite Dr. Seuss book, but chances are it will still be worse than the cartoon.
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