DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX will arrive on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack
and Blu-ray Combo Pack (both sets featuring DVD, Digital Copy and UltraViolet)
Plot
Ted
Wiggins (Zac Efron), an idealistic 12-year-old boy, lives in "Thneed-Ville", a walled city that, aside from the citizens, is completely, perfectly, artificial: everything is made of plastic, metal, or synthetics. Ted sets out to find the one thing that will win him the affection of Audrey (Taylor Swift), the girl of his dreams, who wishes to see a real tree. Ted's energetic grandmother (Betty White) suggests he speak with the Once-ler (Ed Helms) on the matter, and he discovers that their city has been closed off from the outside world, which is a contaminated and empty wasteland. The Once-ler agrees to tell Ted about the trees if he listens to his story over multiple visits. Ted agrees, even after the mayor of Thneed-Ville, Aloysius O'Hare (Rob Riggle), who is also the greedy proprietor of a bottled oxygen company, confronts the boy and pressures him to stay in town. Over the course of the movie, Ted, with the encouragement of his grandmother, continues to sneak out of O'Hare's sight and learns more of the history of the trees.
Over the visits, the Once-ler recounts the story of how he met The Lorax (Danny DeVito), a grumpy yet charming orange creature who served as guardian of the land he arrived in. He pleaded for the trees, which were the key in the Once-ler's invention, not to be logged until the Once-ler agrees to desist. When the young businessman introduces a revolutionary invention from the native Truffula Tree's tufts, the thneed, it eventually becomes a major success and the Once-ler's family is brought in to participate in the business. Keeping his promise at first, the Once-ler continues thneed production by harvesting the tufts themselves in a sustainable manner. Unfortunately, his greedy and lazy relatives convinced him to resume logging as a more efficient gathering method, and the destruction of the forest spirals into a mass overproduction. Flush with wealth, the Once-ler rationalized his short sighted needs into arrogant self-righteousness that even co-opted the helpless protests of The Lorax for his own ends. As a result, he became mean-spirited, and even rebuffed The Lorax when he returned to confront him. At that moment, the last Truffula Tree fell outside, and the Once-ler realizes he had completely depleted the forest while making the region uninhabitable with his business' pollution. With that, the Once-ler was left ruined and abandoned by his own family and became a recluse with the creation and isolation of Ted's town that came under young Mr. O'Hare's control, giving him the plan to sell fresh air with the absence of trees. Eventually, The Lorax sends the wildlife (and Melvin the Once-ler's mule) away before departing himself into the sky, leaving a stonecut word, "Unless."
At the end of the story, the Once-ler realizes the meaning behind The Lorax's last message, and gives Ted a gift of the last Truffula Seed in hopes of planting it to regrow the forest. And what began as Ted's desire to impress Audrey becomes a personal mission to remind his town of the importance of nature. Unfortunately, O'Hare is determined to not have trees undercut his business and takes heavy handed steps such as destroying Audrey's nature paintings, closing off the door that Ted uses to see the Once-ler, and forcibly searching Ted's room for the seed. Ted is undeterred and enlists his family and Audrey to help plant the seed, which has begun to germinate after coming into contact with water. O'Hare and his employees pursue the dissidents until they manage to elude him and reach the town center. Unfortunately, their attempt to plant the seed is interrupted by O'Hare who rallies the population to stop them. To convince them otherwise, Ted takes an earthmover and rams down a section of the city wall to reveal the environmental destruction outside. Horrified at the sight and inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd defies O'Hare with his own henchmen expelling him from the town. The seed is planted, and Audrey kisses Ted on the cheek. Time passes and the land is starting to recover; the trees are regrowing, the animals are returning, and the Once-ler is happily reunited with The Lorax.
Cast
Zac Efron as Ted Wiggins, an idealistic 12-year-old boy. He is named after Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss's real name.
Taylor Swift as Audrey, Ted's love interest. She is named after Audrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss' widow.
Danny DeVito as The Lorax, a grumpy yet charming orange creature with an amazing moustache.
Ed Helms as the Once-ler, a man who recounts how his discovery of the Truffula Forest as a younger man led to its depletion. In the film, he is portrayed as a tall human, while the original book and television special left his species ambiguous and his face hidden.
Rob Riggle as Aloysius O'Hare, the mayor of Thneed-Ville and head of the "O'Hare Air" company that supplies fresh air to Thneed-Ville residents.
Betty White as Grammy Norma, Ted's grandmother
Jenny Slate as Mrs. Wiggins, Ted's mother
Nasim Pedrad as the Once-ler's mother.
Stephen Tobolowsky as Uncle Ubb, the Once-ler's uncle.
Elmarie Wendel as Aunt Grizelda, the Once-ler's aunt.
Danny Cooksey as Brett and Chet, the Once-ler's brothers.
Additional voices were provided by Jack Angel, Bob Bergen, John Cygan, Debi Derryberry, Bill Farmer, Jess Harnell, Sherry Lynn, Danny Mann, Mona Marshall, Mickie McGowan, Laraine Newman, Jan Rabson, Claira Nicole Titman, and Jim Ward.
Dr. Seuss The Lorax Is Available on August 7, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
