The Lorax 2012

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's impossible not to be charmed by "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," a 3-D animated rendering of the Seuss tale of environmental activism and the power of one person to make a difference. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The movie is a noisy, useless piece of junk, reverse-engineered into something resembling popular art in accordance with the reigning imperatives of marketing and brand extension. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It remains faithful to the spirit of Seuss. The pro-conservation, anti-consumerist message of the book is heartily intact. And, like the Seuss story, the film never resorts to sermonizing. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: The Lorax packs all its crucial action into a few key scenes, further exacerbating the feeling that the movie could easily be chopped down into a half-hour TV special, much like the 1972 Seuss-scripted animated adaptation of the same book. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The film, directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda, adds several characters to the original story -- and a few boffo song-and-dance numbers, as well. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Despite some schmaltz and pandering, this is a still a nifty feat of protest whose activism now comes mostly from songs. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Hypocrisy on an epic scale, this computer-animated feature turns the Dr. Seuss classic about corporate greed into a multimillion-dollar toy commercial. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: [It] does a few smaller things right but the bigger things not quite. I've come to fear these movies. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Director Chris Renaud and his team have fun with these dithery, frenetic characters. The film is less special when it slows down and takes a breath of fresh air. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The design is witty and imaginative, and the small grace notes are enough to keep an open-minded adult giggling. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie is like a less original WALLE, but it's still vibrant and touching. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: Armed with a splendid voice cast and a gorgeously-rendered 3D-CG landscape, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax entertains while delivering its pro-environmental, anti-greed message wrapped in a bright package of primary colors that truly pop. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This movie version adds a whole lot of other stuff, most of it not very good and not in keeping with the spirit of the Seuss original. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Where "The Lorax" succeeds, it's by letting its Seussian spirit shine through. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: May be a diversion for younger children, but it betrays the elegant simplicity of Geisel's vision. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" eschews [Seuss'] unique style in favor of less risky, more generic characters. It looks like something you've seen before. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Even adults are likely to walk out wondering how our own society has strayed so far from any sensible path ... before hopping into their Lorax-approved Mazda and heading to IHOP for some Truffula Chip pancakes. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: I am the critic, I speak to displease: "The Lorax" is awful, like chronic disease. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The result is solidly entertaining - not quite as good as Horton Hears a Who or How the Grinch Stole Christmas - but unquestionably better than The Cat in the Hat. I now await Green Eggs and Ham and the Further Adventures of Sam I Am. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: This tale is filled with delightful characters and it's sugarcoated with vibrant animation and candy colors. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: The whole thing is harmless. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Did you ever get a package where the bubble wrap was 10 times the volume of the item inside? That's what "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" is like. Read more

Jody Mitori, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: While the movie is funnier than the book, the drawback of this modernized version is that it loses the timeless quality of the story on the page. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: It's puffed up with lots of extraneous stuff - Super fun for the kids but for grown-ups? Just fluff. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The big screen's best treatment of Seuss since the wonderfully weird 1953 kid-flick The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: About as factory-produced a film as it's possible to make about the evils of commercialism, while the bulbous, Haribo-hued animation style reflects none of Seuss's visual wit. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Down go the Truffula trees, out pops Danny DeVito's pissed-off woodland spirit, and suddenly you're watching a cautionary tale that no number of ancillary Lorax toys is going to dispel. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: From the opening song-and-dance production number introducing us to the plastic-loving population of Thneedville, to the adorably comic critters who live in the lush valley, this kid-pleasing movie packs a visual punch and a worthy message. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: [The Lorax] has its share of eye-popping amusements, but its wobbly pacing and routine kidpic elements make for an experience that feels not just tiresome and rudderless but antithetical to the Seuss spirit. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Par for the course in blowout CGI adaptations, a great deal of detail and bustle is gained at the expense of charm-for all the miracles these armies of animators can achieve, they have yet to successfully reproduce a humble artist's line. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The badness of the picture is a shock. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It looks like a bowl of fuzzy Froot Loops. But it goes down like an order of oatmeal. Read more