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| Dr.
Seuss' The Lorax DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Dr.
Seuss' The Lorax
(Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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October
7, 2003
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Length:
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52 mins.
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| Rated:
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NR
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| Format:
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Full Frame (1.33:1)
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Audio:
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2.0 Mono English
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| Subtitles:
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French, Spanish Subtitles, English Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Sing-Along-Song
Feature
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Much like "The
Cat In The Hat", I had never seen Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax"
- another "animated televised classic" that I must've
missed. Hell, I had never even heard of "The Lorax" - not
even the book. (A little research at Amazon.com revealed that it does
indeed exist - strange how I've never seen it!) So, it was a good
thing that I went into this DVD knowing nothing about the story
because I was amazed at just how brilliant it was. Truly, it was an
incredible social commentary.
It tells the story of the Once-ler who moves into the forest and
discovers that he can use the forest's Truffula Trees to make Thneeds.
Then, there's the Lorax, who tries to tell the Once-ler not to cut
down the trees. You see, he speaks for the trees, because the trees
cannot speak for themselves. But, the Once-ler doesn't listen.
Instead, he calls his friends and relatives to come to the forest and
help with "the birth of an industry". Soon, the forest is
overrun with Once-lers, and the Lorax continues to speak for the
trees. The Once-ler tells the Lorax that he shouldn't fight progress -
the Lorax, in turn, argues that sometimes, "progress progresses
to fast". To counter that argument, the Once-ler says "if I
didn't do it, someone else would". Soon all the animals, the bar-ba-loots,
the swomee-swans and the humming-fish, are driven from the forest by pollution
and the lack of food. One comical point (for me) was when the
sanitation truck drives by with the big sign stating "Sanitation
is Beautiful" and then proceeds to dump its load into the local
lake. It's funny and sad and so very true. Dr. Seuss was a brilliant
man - that's all I'll say. I knew it before, but I never knew how much
so until now. And it just makes me wonder what other gems are out
there that I've missed.
The second story on this DVD is "Pontoffel Pock and his Magic
Piano". I've looked around and couldn't find mention of this
story as a book, so I'm guessing that this one was made for TV only.
This is the story of Pontoffel Pock...and his magic piano...obviously.
Anyways, Pock lives in a small town where pretty much the only thing
to do is to work in the pickle jarring factory. But, when he can't jar
properly, he gets canned. So, he goes home and sulks. And in his
sulking he wishes he can just get away. Then, magically, some fairies
come and bring him a magical piano that will take him anywhere he
wants to go. He ends up screwing that up too and the fairies come to
take away the piano. But, Pock begs for one more chance. With his one
more chance, he ends up meeting the girl of his dreams - only she
isn't really available. I won't go on, but the rest of the story is
pretty fun. Not really up to Seussian standards in my opinion, but
still a fun ride worth checking out.
For special features on this disc, there isn't really a lot to offer -
pretty much only a "sing-along" feature. That and a couple
of previews at the beginning of the disc, one of which is for the
live-action adaptation of "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat".
So, I'm gonna recommend this disc, if only for "The Lorax",
which I am still marveling over. Everybody should have to watch this
one, kids and adults alike. I would say, much like the Lorax who
speaks for the trees, that I speak for the DVD, but really, the
DVD speaks for itself - brilliant.
| The Movie: |
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8/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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1/10 |
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