The Lorax (2024)

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. Which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please!"

— The Lorax

The Lorax
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. And I've got my own page On the Greatest Characters Wiki.
Gender: Male Type: Guardian of a truffula forest who speaks for the trees Species: Lorax (only one of his kind) Portrayed by: Bob Holt (TV special) Danny DeVito (movie) Status: Alive Media of origin: The Lorax

The Lorax is the namesake of the book The Lorax, the 1971 TV special, and the animated film. He was voiced by Bob Holt (TV special) and Danny DeVito (2012 film). He's a caring creature who loves the environment. He also shows that he has feelings for the Forest Animals and The Onceler for when he tries to warn him that cutting down the trees is bad for the environment and could affect the whole world. But The Onceler didn't listen, He just went on cutting down the trees anyway. But still, even though The Lorax may seem mean and grumpy. He has a good heart. Just don't judge his instincts or trigger him by doing something he doesn't like. And he is also known as thoughtful, hard-working, earnest, loving, and selfless. In the movie he is shown to be kind of annoying and nagging.

Why He Can Speak For the Trees

1. In all of the adaptations, it's shown that the Lorax is a kind, gentle and compassionate creature who just wants the best for his fellow creatures. He'll fight tooth and nail to stop the forest being ruined, but tries his best not to upset the loggers, coming to a valid conclusion with them.
2. He gives valid points about what can happen if a forest is destroyed.
3. His design is very good, as well as detailed. This is especially true in the 2012 movie, where the textures make him capture the embodiment of what a Lorax may look like.
4. Bob Holt and Danny DeVito did great jobs portraying him in the animated TV Special and the movie respectively.
5. In the Illumination film, he becomes a lot friendlier with the Once-ler and starts to form a friendship with him before greed goes to the latter's head.
6. He has a few funny moments, especially in the 2012 film.
7. His last-ditch method to save the environment is really impactful.
   • The Once-ler pollutes the sky, river, and landscape until the very last Truffula Tree falls. With no further chance of business, he is left broken and abandoned by his family, with his mother disowning him, and with the region uninhabitable because of his business's pollution, the Lorax sends the animals off to find a new place to live before he departs into the sky, leaving only a stone-cut word: "Unless". Distraught and ruined, the Once-ler became a recluse, having one last Truffula seed. Because of this, he believes that the one-word phrase means "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not."
8. He has great chemistry with the Once-ler and the other animals of the Truffula forest.
9. Even when his franchise went down in the 2012 Illumination movie, he still remained as one of the only likeable characters, despite his downgrade.

Bad Qualities

1. Despite the fact that he is still pretty likeable, as mentioned above, his counterpart in the film is an absolute downgrade for the following reasons:
   • He is shown to be kind of annoying and nagging, living up to his status as being known to be a bit more "mean and grumpy".
   • He's a lot more of a butt-monkey in this flick, being relegated to more of a punching-bag who's just there for comic relief.
   • In the commercials leading up to the movie, he was used for product placement, including a car that can actually pollute the environment, which goes completely against the original message that Dr. Suess was going for.
2. Even before the movie, he was also a bit of a butt-monkey, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was in the aforementioned flick.

Trivia

• The Lorax was once challenged by a school district on the grounds that it "criminalizes the forestry industry".
• There was a parody of the book called The Truax, but the titular character is the bad guy and the logger is the good guy.
• Recently, a statue of the Lorax was stolen from Mrs. Seuss' estate.
• The voiceover actors for the animated film recorded their scenes while surrounded with character art and video screens displaying content from the Lorax to immerse them in the story.
• Actor Ted Danson did a recording session for this book however it was never made into video animation to the project Dr. Seuss Video Classics. However, you can hear his recording on Soundcloud.

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