The Lorax (2012) / YMMV

Adaption Displacement: While the original story is pretty known among when people are talking about Dr. Seuss general work, This movie is possibly what always come up in the general conversation about the book. The reason why it has arguably become slightly more known than the original book could be because of the popularity of the Once-ler from this movie that spawned back in Tumblr when the movie came out. Building even a whole fandom all for himself and possibly introducing more people to the book itself. Another reason is that some countries the book and the 1972 animated special aren't well-known and/or were never published.
Adorkable:
- The Once-ler. His facial expressions alone really sealed the deal for a lot of people.
- Ted whenever it comes to his crush, Audrey.
Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Trying to please your family isn't worth the effort if they're shallow, materialistic people who only see you and your work as a commodity for them, as the Once-ler learns the hard way when his folks turn their backs on him the moment his Thneed-whacking business goes pear-shaped.
Alternate Self Shipping: The most popular ship in the fandom is shipping the Once-ler with his post-Face–Heel Turn self, "the Greed-ler," who is distinguished by wearing the bright green outfit seen in his Villain Song. Also doubles as a form of Angel/Devil Shipping. During the height of the film's fandom, there existed a vast array of Alternate Universe incarnations of the Once-ler who were also often shipped together.
Alternative Character Interpretation: When the Once-Ler's Mother disowns him and tells him how disappointed she is of him, did she feel disappointed because the Once-ler couldn't keep selling Thneeds, because he chose to take poor and unsustainable decisions and didn't think on replanting the trees or both? Also, when she early on told him that she belittled him just to motivate him, did she really mistreat him to toughen him up or was she just lying to make it look she was always on his side?
Anvilicious: Just like the book was, particularly the musical numbers. In fact, many actually consider it to be even worse because it neglects the subtlety and Strawman Has a Point moments from the original book and special. By painting a clear right and wrong picture, they overlook the more realistic negative impacts that well-meaning-but-ignorant people can have on the environment.
Awesome Music:
- In Thneedville, it's a brand new daaaaawn...
- How ba-ah-ah-ad can I be?
- John Powell's orchestral work on the score is spectacular as usual.
- At first I didn't realize I needed all this stuff...
- You don't know me, but my name's Cy...
- Plant a seed inside the Earth...
Base-Breaking Character:
- The Once-ler. It cannot be overstated how popular he was with fangirls for some time, for being a sympathetic pretty boy rather than the unseen limbs he was in the book, but there are a sizable number of Seuss purists who utterly despise this version of him and his accompanying fandom for the exact same attributes. A third camp of fans feel that he's an enjoyable and entertaining character on his own, but freely admit that he has almost nothing to do with his original counterpart.
- O'Hare. Some fans enjoy the character for his funny moments and his Love to Hate qualities, whilst others, specifically fans of the original book, unironically hate him for being an unnecessary addition to the story who only exists to make the Once-ler look better, which many viewers feel defeats the whole message of the original book.
- Once-ler's family. Are they a legitimate source of angst and villainous drive for Once-ler? Or do they do a poor job of humanizing Once-ler?
Broken Aesop: Despite the message about saving the planet, Ted spins donuts in his motor scooter, which is spewing out smoke, instead of just stopping and waiting for his love interest.
Broken Base: Is the ending a decently uplifting story? Or does it cheapen the message of the original story?
Cargo Ship:
- Ted/Cereal Box
- The Once-ler's gloves. They even have the ship name of "Glovecest".
Crack Pairing: The Once-ler/himself. And no, that's not just a few people shipping it, it borders on One True Pairing and even has a ship name (Oncest). The reason given is usually that a lot of people found the Once-ler an appealing character, but since there wasn't anyone in the movie-verse itself who could be shipped with him without resorting to using an Original Character, the fandom decided to ship his post-Face–Heel Turn self, often called "Greed-ler", with his innocent self at the start of the story.
Critical Dissonance: Critics are split down the middle, and fans of the original book aren't crazy about it, but general audiences mostly seem to like it fine.
Crosses the Line Twice: O'Hare trying to persuade the citizens of Thneedville to kill Earth's last hope of seeing plant life again... by clapping his hands and singing his own version of "Let It Grow", which goes "Let it die, let it die, let it shrivel up and die!"
Crossover Ship: The Once-ler seems to have become the patron saint of this trope. Go to any movie's YMMV page that lists crossover ships, and it will likely list the Once-ler paired with whoever's in the movie.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: It's difficult not to want to be in the Once-ler's shoes during "How Bad Can I Be". Though he's brought back to earth hard in the following scene.
Draco in Leather Pants: The Once-ler. Despite cutting down all the trees to make his Thneeds, the Once-ler is one of the film's most popular characters, thanks in part to his depiction in the film.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Cy the Delivery Guy has started to get to get more popular after the movie's Memetic Mutation, thanks to his pleasantly plump design, standing up to O'Hare in a major way in the climax, and Fletcher Sheridan's distinct male soprano voice that provides some of the prettiest vocals in the film, especially his iconic line "you greedy dirtbag!". Even people who hate the movie love him.
- There's also a handful of people who like Grammy Norma. Mainly because she's a Cool Old Lady and voiced by the great Betty White herself.
Estrogen Brigade: The movie made the Once-ler a human. A very cute human. A very cute human with a sympathetic POV. He is probably one of the well-known examples, as most of his fans didn't really care about the movie itself and would ship his nicer self from the beginning of the movie with his greedy business self he became later on, to the point where it unfortunately became somewhat common to make fun of them for it, with some former Once-ler fans considering it Old Shame.
Fandom Rivalry: For a while, the Once-Ler fandom would declare this for pretty much any character who seemed to pose a threat to the Once-Ler's dominance, particularly Rise of the Guardians' protagonist Jack Frost, as evidenced by this article.
Fan Nickname: Post Face–Heel Turn Once-ler is often referred to as "Greed-ler", though mostly when he's shipped with someone.
Fanon:
- In the case of Ted's mom, some have christened her as "Helen", named after Dr. Seuss' first wife, as in a similar fashion how Ted and Audrey's names were based off of.
- The Once-ler's mother's name being Isabella. But the funny thing is, nobody knows how that name came to be or where it even came from but many decided to use it when referring to her in fanfics or in general.
- How Ted's grandmother came to know the Once-ler in the first place (well, enough to know he's probably on the outskirts of town). Some fashion that they had a romantic relationship throughout his journey into becoming the Corrupt Corporate Executive he turns into in the end.
  - Adding onto that, many believe the Once-ler to be Ted's actual grandfather, given their visual similarity and how compatible both theories are. The idea of the grandson having to make up for his grandfather's mistakes also gives the movie a lot more depth.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Many viewers tend to prefer the scrapped "Biggering" as the Once-ler's Villain Song over "How Bad Can I Be?", due to finding it to be a much more powerful song with its dark tone and harsher lyrics, as well as making the Once-ler a villain who is motivated by pride and greed (which is more faithful to his portrayal in the original book), instead of a pretty boy who was pressured into insane environmental destruction by his greedy family. Most of them snark that the real reason why it was cut was because this song is effectively holding a mirror in front of the executives in real-life who didn't like being shown the truth of their actions and cutting this song out proves that.
Fanwork-Only Fans: One of the more notable examples; the movie's portrayal of the Once-ler resonated a lot with younger female viewers at the time, who found him cute and relatable, leading to a sizable fandom that really didn't care at all about anything else in the film but the Once-ler character. This was to such an extent that this fandom frequently shipped the Once-ler with himself (his pre and post "villain transformation" selves being treated as two distinct characters) in a ship called "Oncest", as there wasn't anyone else in the movie that was a good candidate or which they cared about enough to pair him with.
Harsher in Hindsight: Thneedville's pollution levels being so high that the citizens need to buy contained air to breathe is now a reality in China.
Heartwarming Moments: The now-elderly Once-ler chopping down the boards across his windows when he hears the singing of the people of Thneedville, and softly says "Thank you, Ted" with tears in his eyes.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Those Misaimed Merchandising deals down below that make the Lorax into a product mascot? The film mirrors this in one scene where the paparazzi takes a photo of the Lorax accidentally holding a Thneed, then posting on an ad now claiming Thneeds are "Lorax approved".
- The song "Let It Grow", mostly because Frozen (2013) would later make the similar sounding phrase "Let it go" an international phenomenon.
- In the Japanese dub, Ted is voiced by Mamoru Miyano. So Miyano got to voice Zac Efron's role after Zac failed to get one of Miyano's biggest roles?^note
- The Once-ler's mention of Donkey Kong is even funnier after Illumination was announced to be producing an animated Mario movie, which even includes DK among other characters.
- Zac Efron voices heroic, pre-teen protagonist Ted. A few years later, Efron would play a rather different Ted
Just Here for Godzilla: The Once-ler, whose fans basically turned into a fandom of their own separate from the general film.
Love to Hate:
- The Once-ler's family, especially Aunt Grizelda.
- Those who like O'Hare do so due to having several funny moments despite being written as a greedy Hate Sink, Rob Riggle's performance, a great singing voice in it's own right, and showing Villainous Valor in his attempt to stop the heroes in the climax.
Memetic Molester: The Greed-ler tends to be this one on Oncie/Once-ler in most fanfictions, like this one
Misaimed Merchandising:
- Mazda using the Lorax, with all its green aesops, to shill their not eco-friendly SUVs in this commercial.
- Also promoting the movie is the typical host of theater paraphernalia... including putting the film's logo on disposable paper popcorn holders. Again, it does not take a genius to ascertain why this runs somewhat counter to the film's message.
Mis-blamed: A number of viewers and critics accused the Lorax of trying to kill Once-ler by sending him afloat the river on his bed... despite the fact that it was a freak accident from a sleeping Once-ler that put his life in jeopardy (his leg accidentally steers the bed down the wrong stream, toward a waterfall), and the Lorax outright says after he saves Once-ler that he didn't want him dead, just to "harmlessly drift away downstream". If he had really wanted Once-Ler dead, he probably wouldn't have used a pair of bar-ba-loots as a Magical Defibrillator.
Narm: The Lorax lifting himself into the sky after the last Truffula tree is cut down is set up as one of the few quiet, serious moments of the film... but he flies away by lifting himself up by the skin of his rear, which looks ridiculous and funny.
Questionable Casting: Many find Zac Efron's role as Ted to be this, as he is an adult man voicing a teenaged boy. Taylor Swift's role also sometimes gets this, but to a lesser degree.
Realism-Induced Horror: While the film's main villains are too stereotypically evil corporate supervillains, some see the Once-ler's family as a soul-crushingly realistic take on manipulative family members who take advantage of one of their own.
Romantic Plot Tumor: Some find the Ted and Audrey subplot as this, since the only thing it really contributes to the plot is Ted venturing out to find a tree and subsequently meet the Once-ler.
So Okay, It's Average: Reception for the film is largely along the lines of this. As an adaptation, it drops the subtlety of the book and went overboard with the Adaptation Expansion, which is why a lot of Seuss fans are quite split about the quality and message. On its own, the film is definitely wonky here and there but nothing outright bad.
Sweetness Aversion: Its more "lighthearted" moments which are subjected to overly cheerful song and dance numbers are this, mostly in the very beginning and very end, especially when little 3-year old Marie suddenly starts singing. Its bright, colorful visuals don't help either, which clash harder with the original message far stronger than the original book and TV special did.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Characters, plural. The Once-ler's family actually made far more interesting villains than O'Hare being naturally un-supportive, greedy, and manipulative. Wouldn't it have been better for more of the conflict to show them how destroying nature is a bad thing and along the way, maybe reconcile with his family?
- As Musical Hell pointed out, Audrey could've been a more engaging protagonist than Ted, considering how she actually cares about the trees, unlike Ted, who only cares about getting into Audrey's pants. Not to mention that the movie doesn't explain how she got to know about trees in the first place.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The film never really explains Granny Norma's knowing so much about the Once-ler. The film never showed that she had a relationship with him, let alone even shown in the Once-ler flashback, with Norma as young as the Once-ler was. Yet, the film shows that she knows where the Once-ler lives, and mentions the fact he exists to Ted without any explanatory reason as to why.
The Woobie: The Once-ler. His family and the townspeople mock him at first, his greed and years of success are glanced over and he ends up spending the majority of his life as a forgotten, guilt-ridden hermit. Had they shown more of his bad side, his punishment wouldn't seem so unjustifiably extreme.

YMMV / The Lorax (2012)

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