In some ways this movie was much better than expected, while at others this movie still remained a rather weak and disappointing one. At times I was really liking the movie, while at others it would be doing something that completely took me out of it.
The one things I was especially worried about, beforehand, were its visuals. It was far too colorful and cartoon-like/childish for my taste but as it turned out, the visuals was the foremost thing that still made me like the movie. I really liked its style, that beside suited the movie its face pace and the very unique and distinctive looking Dr. Seuss characters.
So nothing wrong with the character design and overall visual style of the movie. Also little wrong with comedy. I admit that I laughed more than a couple of times. It's nothing too original but it's getting done and told in an effective way. Especially (young) children will love it, also of course for its bright colors and very imaginative surroundings and characters.
Than what was my problem with this movie? Well, unfortunately its story. I don't know but every time I thought that the movie would be doing something good and interesting it started to head into a totally different direction again. It's as if this movie had plenty of ideas and intentions with its story but didn't had the time or budget to effectively finish it all and incorporate it all into the movie. The movie is quite short and who knows, maybe an extra 20 minutes would had done wonders for it and its story.
But it's also a bit due to the Lorax himself that the movie its story doesn't always work out. After watching this movie, I still don't know anything about the Lorax, about who he was and what his purpose was. He also isn't really being the main character of the movie and perhaps only is the second or third most important one in its story. But perhaps also my expectations for him were a bit wrong. I was expecting a grumpy and evil Grinch like character, especially after I found out he was getting voiced by Danny DeVito. But the Lorax is being an overall good guy, with always the best intentions. In other words, not all that interesting at all!
The thing I also didn't really liked about the story was that it was basically being 2 stories in one. It was telling a story in flashbacks and then there was also still a story, getting told in the present time. To be fair I was only interested in the story out of the flashbacks and I wouldn't had minded at all if the other story got completely left out of it. That way the movie would also had some more focus in it, instead of jumping all over the place constantly with its story.
Seriously, the movie was quite good and enjoyable but its weaknesses and inconsistencies still make this a far from great movie. Not that young children would mind much though. This is still a pretty good and entertaining animated movie for them to watch!
6/10
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