Question about the release of "The Lorax" in March 2012

If it makes you feel better, The Cat in the Hat is my friends favorite movie. So that makes TWO people who like it

Make that 3! It's not too great, but it's okay.

Admittedly, it's NOT the BEST movie that was ever made, but it's not the worst either... it's certainly a lot better than most comedy movies these days (like pretty much all those Jason Segel-esque manure piles).

I think another thing about it too is that post-Austin Powers, does anybody even really like Mike Myers? Again, The Love Guru TANKED, BOMBED, FAILED, and was labeled the worst movie of all time (but again still, IMHO, it was good for a laugh), but Mike Myers seems to fall into the same category as Will Ferrell: he's pretty much only good at playing sketch characters, and as such, he's just not going to work out well in a movie. Austin Powers was successful, but the characters from the movies were so one-dimensional, and even when they did try to add some "conflict", it was corny and cheesy.

I'd have to agree with you there. And even sketch characters he sometimes fails at. Wayne's World is one of my favorite movies. But Thinking about it, I dont like it for Wayne (Mike Meyers), I like it for Garth (Dana Carvey), as he pretty much carries the movie. Though, I cant really speak much for the SNL sketches as I dont watch SNL

I also didnt like the Austin Powers movies. Just throwing that out there

It took awhile but I came around to the Wayne's World and Austin Powers movies, lol. I just don't see that happening for CITH, lol.

Somehow, I still can see 2 things happening with this movie.

1) The watered down environmentalist anti-consumerist plotline, while noble, completely loses itself in a pile of unwanted Lorax T-shirts, kid's toys, fast food promotions, video gamesand various other stupid things that wind up going to deep discount on their way to the dump.]

2) Some radio show host, MARK MY WORDS, will start griping about how evil liberal Hollywood is guilting everyone who lives in a pile of their own waste and drives a tank that actually rips a hole in the ozone behind it... even though I've seen a fair share of "War is the only answer, let's blow stuff up" come out of "liberal" Hollywood. yes, yes, yes... global warming is a "myth," and we have to look the other way when the oil company funds your show. Jeez! Does anyone think this will open any eyes? I don't see the point in preachy films anymore.

That said, I find the best environmental/anti-consumerist message in a movie is Over the Hedge. I really strongly suggest looking into that movie, it was pretty solid... it was the first corner Dreamworks turned that lead to a line of very good films. yeah, I could also say Wall*e had that message too... but in a different way.

Over the Hedge was kinda... eh... blah... I mean, it wasn't the worst non-Shrek DreamWorks movie, but it certainly wasn't the best... of course then again, I was in the middle of suffering from a depression when I saw it, so that probably effected how I was able to enjoy it.

I dont know, I didnt think it was that spectacular. I mean, its ok. Its a movie I could watch multiple times and be ok with it, but its not a movie I would go out of my way to see

It dealt with the same subject matter without a level of Captain Planet preachiness. It's not the greatest film, but a 180 and complete improvement over Sharktale and those kind of films they were going to make at the time. Kung Fu Panda was much better a film, I feel... but this was the film that marked an improvement. I think I dug it more than I did Madagascar. Oddly, it was the ONLY time I ever seen an indie paper give a GOOD review to a DW movie and a bad review to Pixar (Cars, of course... I liked Cars).

But nothing bugs me more than consumer merchandise that says how environmental someone is unless it's made out of recycled materials and can be further recycled. it's like... JEEZ! Way to make everyone look hypocritical. It's like those USA #1 bumper stickers and magnet made in China. How I long for a shirt with a bored looking Kermit that says "Look! I'm doing the best I can here, but I still throw batteries away on occasion," a shirt with the Lorax that says, "I try very hard not to litter, but at LEAST I don't throw my KFC big cups and Family sized Dorito Bags all over my lawn!" or my personal favorite, one with Toxie that says, "Gee! I really hope these unsold shirts and wrappers they comes in don't end up in a landfill."

Over the Hedge wasn't my favorite Dreamworks movie but it wasn't the worst. I loved the plot but it's not 'I wanna watch it over and over' good! Steve Carrell, to me, made the movie more funny and entertaining. And I also wanna mention the soundtrack! I loved the music in it! Even though, it had very little music!

Actually, it seems like every other animated movie within the last several years or so has had that exact same hidden message... but interestingly, it was Happy Feet that ended up drawing controversy about the matter about, "Brainwashing our kids with subject matter".

The people who use the term "brainwash" the most are usually the ones that do the most "brainwashing."

I've said this for a while now... the only people more annoying than treehuggers are people who complain about them like they think they're affecting their lives.

I'm no fan of the logic:

Environmentalists are annoying= Global Warming is a Myth= Excuse to buy a selfish fuel hogging status machine and throw Doritos bags from the windows.

I still fail to see what advantage that has other than laziness and smug self righteousness. Oh yeah... payola from the oil industry.

At least, said biopics usually end up being forgotten stories, that end up in the $5 discount bin at Walmart... but the thing is, the same thing happens to genuinely good, well-done biopics as well, such as Radio.

So far there's been a Mazda commercial plugging the movie.

Faux News attacked it, of course.

Of course they did. When are we going to have a movie where the Koch Brothers save the world by dumping toxic waste into the ocean, poisoning our water and food supplies and saying, "Good news, everyone! Thanks to our ingenious laziness, we saved about a rough tenth of what we spend on lobbyists so we don't have to follow any socialist regulations... and you're all going to die while we go to our super secret subterranean bunker filled with booze and loose women!"

Lou Dobbs is... well... a certain female hygiene product and the bag it came in. Now I HAVE to see this crappy film, just as a referendum on him. Seriously, he's like a cartoonish bad guy from Captain Planet. Yup... 2 dimensional.

That said, I'm glad Pox News didn't exist when Dr. Seuss was writing Butter Battle Book. We ALL know what that one was about. Then we'd hear them complain that they're indoctrinating kids into NOT wanting to start a nuclear holocaust... because only smart people want that...

Yeah, and IHop breakfasts. I get the Green Eggs and Ham stuff, though. I'm glad that was never made into a movie... yet.

But seriously, looking at the trailers... the film seems so plastic, and like all of GE's phoney environmental causes (Pay yer dang taxes already and keep off the corporate welfare, GE!) just is there for show. As far as the substance of the movie, it seems like the actual events of the book are told as an anecdote in hindsight, not the center of the action. Though I am glad the original version has been rereleased on DVD... with Pontoffle Pock! I LOVE that old special. Joe Raposo did the music for it... even sang the opening number!

Wait, the Grinch was in the original "Horton Hears a Who" special? I don't remember that. Though it is ironic... Both stories involve whoville, the original specials were both produced by MGM (where most of the others were produced by DePatie-Freling and a few by Turner) and directed by Chuck Jones, and both movies starred Jim Carrey.

I've seen the commercials for The Lorax, and I don't think it looks too bad, though it looks like there won't be much focus on the Lorax (or maybe the commercials are trying not to overshow him). I recently saw the new Lorax DVD in stores, and it's interesting how the cover has a sticker reading "Contains three bonus Dr. Seuss shorts" (they're not shorts, they're specials!) though the back cover correctly calls them specials.

Do the Addams Family movies count as remakes, becuase those are good.

Yeah, I've noticed that since the last Austin Powers, Mike Myers hasn't done much besides Shrek. I wonder if he's semi-retired or having trouble finding work or what. Makes me wonder how a fourth Austin Powers movie would do at this point... I was a really big fan when the movies were current, but in the years since I haven't cared about them as much, though I do have my favorite characters and moments and lines.

You know I did forget that and you're right those movies are also very well done. Ultimately it came down to the quality of the writing. The jokes were sophisticated and not cheap laughs, yet other times the story was taken very seriously and you absolutely believed in their world. In fact I would argue I liked the movie better than the TV series (though the series was fine, it was just different).

I know you shouldn't judge movies by their trailers but this Lorax remake horrifies me and makes me weep for the medium of cinema. Perhaps it truly is on its way out, heh.

I thought they were more reboots rather than remakes.