You already know that the road of Dr. Seuss projects to the big screen is littered with carcasses ("The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and "Cat In The Hat" in particular) but on the animated front, things have fared a bit better. "Horton Hears A Who" was respectful in its star studded approach, and the makers behind "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" (not really sure the author's name needs to be in the title, but we digress) are hoping they too can do the same. And for the most part, they have.
A new trailer, awkwadly introduced by Danny DeVito (dear studios, having stars/directors intro trailers doesn't make them more special) gives us our best look at the movie yet, running nearly three minutes long. And it's not bad. While the humor isn't particularly gutbusting, the overall tone is charming enough, with some inventive design particularly when it comes to the dark elements of the story. Moreover, the liberties taken with the book (most notably an added romance angle and the turning of the Once-ler into a human) seem to work here, so it looks like Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda — who most recently worked together on last year's smash hit "Despicable Me" and are directing 'The Lorax' — have gotten the spirit right for the enviromental tale.
"Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" hits theaters on March 2, 2012. Full trailer below.
Isn't Dr. Seuss the American version of the Tintin phenomenon? Like here, he is a beloved childhood culture institution and the rest of the world is just baffled. I remember when The Grinch movie came out, and on some movie forum, all the foreign users were all "WHAT IS THIS SHIT?!" and the USA users were flailing around and trying to explain it and getting all gooey and nostalgic over the movie's tunes and lines.