The Lorax

The Lorax is a 2012 American animated 3-D film based on the Dr. Seuss story of the same name. It stars Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate, and Betty White.
== Plot ==
Twelve-year-old Ted Wiggins lives in Thneedville, a walled city where all vegetation is artificial. Ted is infatuated with a teenage girl named Audrey and decides to impress her with a "real tree". His grandmother, Norma, tells him about the Once-ler, who knows what happened to the trees. Ted leaves Thneedville and discovers that the land outside of his home town is a barren, contaminated wasteland. He finds the Once-ler, who agrees to tell Ted the story of the trees over multiple visits. The next time he tries to leave town, Ted encounters Thneedville's greedy mayor, Aloysius O'Hare, whose company sells bottled air. Explaining that trees and the oxygen they produce pose a threat to his business, O'Hare tries to intimidate Ted into staying in town, but Ted continues to visit the Once-ler.
The Once-ler recounts how, as a young inventor, he arrived in a lush forest of Truffula trees. Upon chopping down a tree, he was confronted by the Lorax, the self-proclaimed "guardian of the forest". After attempting to force the Once-ler out, the Lorax made him promise not to cut down any more trees. The Once-ler used the Truffula fibers to create the "Thneed", a knitted garment with numerous uses, which became a major success. He harvested the Truffula tufts in a sustainable manner until his unscrupulous relatives arrived and persuaded him to resume cutting down trees, leading to large profits, but also deforestation and pollution. After the final Truffula tree fell, the Once-ler was ruined and abandoned by his family. With the region uninhabitable, the Lorax sent the native animals away and vanished into the sky, leaving behind a pile of rocks etched with the word "Unless".
The Once-ler gives Ted the last Truffula seed and urges him to plant it. Ted returns home to plant the seed, but is spotted by O'Hare's city-wide surveillance system. Enlisting the help of Audrey and his family, Ted flees to the center of town with the seed. O'Hare chases him and rallies the citizens against Ted, saying trees are dangerous and filthy. Ted uses a bulldozer to knock down a section of the city wall, revealing the environmental desolation outside. Inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd turns on O'Hare, whose henchmen banish him, and the seed is finally planted.
As time passes, the land begins to recover and animals return, the Once-ler reunites with the Lorax.
==Cast==
*Danny DeVito as The Lorax
*Zac Efron as Ted
*Taylor Swift as Audrey
*Ed Helms as The Once-ler
*Rob Riggle as O'Hare, the mayor of Thneed-Ville
*Betty White as Grammy Norma, Ted's grandmother
*Jenny Slate as Ted's Mom
== Production ==
The Lorax is the fourth feature film based on a book by Dr. Seuss, the second fully computer-animated adaptation (the first one being Horton Hears a Who! in 2008), and the first to be released in 3D. The Lorax was also Illumination Entertainment's first film presented in IMAX 3D (known as "IMAX Tree-D" in publicity for the film). The idea for the film was initiated by Audrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss's widow, who had an established partnership with producer Chris Meledandri from a collaboration on Horton Hears a Who!. Geisel approached Meledandri when he launched Illumination, saying "This is the one I want to do next". The film was officially announced in July 2009, with Meledandri attached as the producer and Geisel as the executive producer. Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda were announced as the director and co-director of the film, while Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the duo who wrote the script for Horton Hears a Who! and Illumination's previous films, were set to write the screenplay. In 2010, Danny DeVito was cast as the voice of the Lorax character.
The film was fully produced at the French studio Illumination Mac Guff, which was the animation department of Mac Guff, acquired by Illumination Entertainment in the summer of 2011. DeVito reprised his role in five different languages, including the original English audio, and also for the Russian, German, Italian, Catalan/Valencian, Castillan Spanish and Latin Spanish dub editions, learning his lines phonetically. Universal added an environmental message to the film's website after a fourth-grade class in Brookline, Massachusetts, launched a successful petition through Change.org.
==Videos==
File:Lorax Logo Credits.png
Category:Animation
Category:2012 films
Category:Universal films
Category:Films based on children's books
Category:Kids & Family
Category:Standalone films
Category:Films with opening credits
Category:Films with vocal and instrumental credit music
Category:Films based on works by Dr. Seuss
Category:Danny DeVito films
Category:Ed Helms films
Category:Universal Pictures films
Category:Universal Pictures animated films
Category:Illumination Entertainment
Category:Illumination Entertainment animated films
Category:Films produced by Chris Meledandri
Category:Films directed by Chris Renaud
Category:Films starring Danny DeVito
Category:Rated PG
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