Did you love The Cat in The Hat as a child? Does the Grinch feature in your Christmas festivities? Looking for a fun movie to watch with your family and friends?
Dr. Seuss has made some of the best creative children’s stories and his imaginative adventures don’t have to be left behind in our childhood! Hollywood took Seuss’ stories to the screen for generations of children and adults alike to enjoy.
This film has both the childhood animations and catchy songs to keep the young ones entertained but also the deeper themes and metaphors for the adults. Speaking of the fun songs, this movie has a number of foot tappin’, road trip worthy tunes! A must have in your playlist!
The film is full of relatable characters for the audience: a teenager trying to please his family, a Lorax trying to save the environment, a boy wanting to impress a girl and of course someone who’s made mistakes and doesn’t know how to fix them. The characters are enhanced by the voices of some of the greatest actors and actresses; Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Betty White and Zac Efron.
On the surface it is a fun animated movie telling a story of excessive land clearing impacts, however the film is full of other life lessons and messages. It is a cautionary tale about pride, selfishness and greed and how actions undertaken with even the best of intentions can quickly be twisted by money.
The book was written in 1971 but Seuss’ futuristic thoughts of selling air and a world with no trees is not that far from the world we see today. Organisations such as Vitality Air now exist, by which canisters of ‘fresh air’ are sold all over the world. There are children in overpopulated cities who have never seen a cow except in movies. It seems as though Dr. Seuss was forewarning us of a future that audiences at the time deemed unimaginable.
We are extremely lucky to be studying on the beautiful campuses of Charles Sturt University surrounded by the rural landscape of Australia. The Lorax is a nice chill movie for a study break, weeknight entertainment or just to spend some time with family in a singalong. Enjoy!
