List: Top 10 bestselling Dr. Seuss books
Way back when Richard Nixon was president of the United States … when Vietnam was still raging … when gasoline cost less than 40 cents per gallon … Dr. Seuss had the foresight to write "The Lorax," a story about environmental conservation that remains just as relevant in 2012 as the day he wrote it.
On Friday — on what would've been Theodor Seuss Geisel's 108th birthday — "The Lorax" story reaches a new zenith of influence with the release of a full-length animated film from Universal Pictures by the same name. Indeed, not only will millions of children absorb green themes while watching the movie, but "The Lorax" book, first published in 1971, is experiencing a renaissance as savvy marketing agreements bring the title character's mustachioed visage to high-traffic venues such as a major metropolitan zoo and a national grocery-store chain.
Meet the Lorax
The Lorax, the main character of the Seussian picture book, is short in stature and orange in color. His self-assuredness, though, is as outsized as his bushy yellow mustache. An irascible spokesman for trees and animals, the Lorax appears at intervals throughout the story to point at and make demands of the industrialist who is chopping down "truffula" trees at increasingly alarming rates.
Of course, the industrialist known as "the Once-ler" doesn't heed the warnings of the Lorax. So as pollution soars and smog builds and trees dwindle, the Lorax in succession sends off the bear-like Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish in search of cleaner habitats.
Danny DeVito voices the Lorax in the new movie, a perfect match given DeVito's gruff voice and diminutive stature. The plot is lengthened from "children's book" to "full-length motion picture" by expanding the roles of Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) and Audrey (Taylor Swift), two 12-year-olds living in a plasticized world who want to see a living tree for the first time in their lives.
Revived 'Lorax' thrives
Starting with a $3.5 million ad buy during the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, Universal unleashed a double-barreled ad campaign in advance of the film's release. The media barrage not only built buzz for "The Lorax" movie, but also rapidly restored the 41-year-old book to a prominent place in the American consciousness.
Against that backdrop, the Philadelphia Zoo has already capitalized on the book's reinvigorated popularity by holding special readings of "The Lorax" to familiarize children with its environmental themes. The zoo's events, held Feb. 18 and March 3, include an appearance by a fully costumed, life-size Lorax.
"I think the movie coming out is definitely helpful in bringing 'The Lorax' to the forefront and (having) people know more about it," said Dana Lombardo, communications manager for the Philadelphia Zoo. "Combined with parents who know about the book and are reading it to their children, those things are making people more aware of who the Lorax is, and they're coming out to visit and to see him."
Readings of "The Lorax" are actually just the tip of the iceberg at the Philadelphia Zoo, which is partnering with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to open a special exhibit on March 31 called "Trail of the Lorax." Consisting of eight informational stations and a two-story play area known as the Lorax Loft, the exhibit will use the fictional plight of the Brown Bar-ba-loots and Swomee-Swans to educate children about the very real peril faced by endangered orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra.
"We're a conservation organization, and we're kicking off the Year of the Orangutan here," Lombardo said. "The story of 'The Lorax' kind of parallels the story of the orangutan and what's happening in the wild today, so for us it was an important story to tell. We feel like it's a good partnership, it's a good book, it's a good way to tell that story."
A 'Whole' approach
National organic grocer Whole Foods Market also partnered with the "The Lorax" movie. The sustainability theme in "The Lorax" story is what initially piqued Whole Foods' interest when Universal Pictures came calling.
"'The Lorax' is really one of the original stories of sustainability for children," said Mara Fleishman, Whole Foods Market director of national partnerships. "(Dr. Seuss) wrote that well before the big movement on sustainability ever happened in the '70s. … We're burning through resources and we really need to change our habits. If we don't expose our children to the importance of that, we're basically just going to lose time — and we can't afford to."
Like the Philadelphia Zoo, Whole Foods Market is aiming to enrich children via "The Lorax." However, whereas the zoo's model calls for a high concentration of resources into one location, Whole Foods is employing a much more widespread and adaptable strategy.
"We're very decentralized — the power is really at the store level," Fleishman said. "What we do is present an opportunity, and we let the stores kind of gravitate or grasp onto the components that they really feel really resonate with their community. … In the end, we had 70 of our stores come up with unique promotions around 'The Lorax' that they felt fit with their community — everything from book-reading events for kids to creating planters for seed-planting to one store even doing a scavenger hunt."
Owing to her position with Whole Foods, Fleishman and her two children, ages 8 and 10, had the opportunity to attend "The Lorax" movie's world premiere at Universal Studios Hollywood on Feb. 19. What Fleishman saw on the silver screen that evening completely validated her hard work cross-promoting the film on the basis of the book's sustainability themes.
"My kids are pretty picky — I mean, they've seen most of the major animated children's movies," she said. "And they loved ('The Lorax'), absolutely loved it. It's great entertainment: it's funny, it's moving and it's exciting. … The true essence of the story is there and very prominent, and it's digestible for kids in a way that they can benefit from."
EMAIL: jaskar@desnews.com
'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax'
Release date: March 2
Rating: PG for brief mild language
Running time: 94 minutes
Deseret News age recommendation: 5 years and up.
Entertainment factor: This is a fun film filled with rich visuals and engaging dialogue. The movie stays true to the environmental and conservationist themes of the Dr. Seuss book on which it is based. Voice credits include Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Ed Helms and Betty White. "The Lorax" is similar in style and presentation to 2010's "Despicable Me" (both films are directed by Chris Renaud).
The bigger picture: Universal Pictures badly wants to cut into the market for digital animation that Pixar and DreamWorks have come to dominate. With his directorial debut "Despicable Me," Chris Renaud parlayed a $70 million budget — relatively small for feature-length digital animation — into more than $250 million at the domestic box office. If "The Lorax" even approaches the success of "Despicable Me," Renaud and Universal will be firmly established as heavy hitters in the expanding realm of digital animation.
Bottom line: Unless you find overt environmental themes offensive (we're looking at you, Lou Dobbs), take the kids to go see "The Lorax." It's not every day that a Dr. Seuss classic receives this sort of high-quality animated treatment.
— Jamshid Askar and Erin Askar