I love Dr Seuss and I love the cartoon television specials based on his work, the live-action movies excepting The 5000 Fingers of Dr T not so much. The Lorax is one of Dr Seuss' best stories and the 1972 television special is one of the classics too. It has a wonderful message that is still relevant now, simple and I think beautiful animation, catchy songs, witty dialogue, timeless characters that have their conflicts(especially Once-Ler),a story that is just as charming, whimsical and surreal as Dr Seuss' writing and stories and great voice acting from Eddie Albert and especially Bob Holt. I know this is not adding very much to the previous reviews, but anything I wanted to say about The Lorax has been said brilliantly already and better than I could do. I haven't seen the recent movie yet(doesn't come out until July where I live),I am very dubious in all honesty but even if it does turn out better than expected I don't think it will surpass this classic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This may possibly be my favorite animated movie from the famous Dr. Seuss. It has the usual witty rhymes and it has one actor I really like, Eddie Albert, already in his sixties when this was made, and prolific voice actor who does a good job here in portraying the Lorax as well as his antagonist, The Once-ler. Also, it's a topic that appeals to me more than for example the one in the Grinch.

At the beginning we see baboons and fish dancing happily though the forests and the green nature, but with the arrival of the Once-ler everything goes south. He starts building an industry at the expense of the nature and thus the Lorax, described as an an old forest creature that looks like the mix between walrus and hamster, is called into action to talk reason into the businessman. Sadly all attempts and neat rhymes from the little thing fail and more and more trees fall. Consequently, also the baboons and fish suffer and, eventually, leave for good. Growth and pollution increase rapidly and more and more trees fall until finally the very last one hits the ground, in what is really a sad moment and well displayed by the makers of the film. As there's no more raw materials left, the people leave the place and leave back an environmentally ruined area. The result is the Once-ler being equally ruined.

It's a good morale and it's a story that can teach something to all of us. I guess that's also what is implied by the fact that we never see the Once-ler clearly identified, only his arms and hands creating destruction. It could be anybody. I very much recommend this short film. Not too long ago, a full feature with Danny DeVito was made based on this 25-minute short. I haven't seen that version, but as animation draws audiences in masses to theaters these days, I'm sure many have and I hope they took something from it or maybe get inspired to watch the original from the early 1970s.

Let's compare this to the 2012 movie, shall we:

Budget: 1972 version: Probably under $1,000

2012 version: $70 million

Runtime: 1972 version: 25 mins

2012 version: 1 hour 35 mins

Animation: 1972 Version: Hand-drawn

2012 version: Computer animated

Well, strangely enough, with enough effort, a movie with 1/70,000th the budget of a kid's sellout movie, surpasses it in every way imaginable. The 1972 version really has a message. While the 2012 version seems to avoid the actual 'we need to help the environment' theme, the 1972 version shows that we are not doing enough to do so. It has a meaning, and therefore gives everyone a reason to watch it. Watching it did not make you feel like you were being subjected to an advertising sellout and made you really think about the environment as a whole. I think the 1972 version is a brilliant masterpiece, that did justice to Dr Seuss' work. The 2012 version however, stuck the Lorax on a Mazda advertisement. This just shows how much the 1972 version respected the source material compared to the 2012 version, and why it remains a masterpiece.