Inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd turns on O'Hare, whose henchmen strap a jetpack-like helmet to him, causing him to fly away in defeat, and the seed is finally planted.Īs time passes, the land begins to recover. O'Hare rallies the citizens against Ted, telling them that trees are dangerous and filthy, but Ted uses an earthmover to knock down a section of the city wall, revealing the environmental desolation outside. Enlisting the help of Audrey and his family, Ted is pursued by O'Hare to the center of town. Ted returns home to plant the seed, but is spotted by O'Hare's city-wide surveillance. The Once-ler gives Ted the last Truffula seed in the hopes he can regrow the forest and make others care about trees. The Lorax left a single word on a small pile of rocks: "Unless". With the region uninhabitable, the Lorax sent the animals away to find a new place to live, and vanished into the sky. The Once-ler was left heartbroken and unbearably guilty for destroying the forest. After harvesting the last Truffula tree, the Once-ler was ruined, abandoned by his family, and became a recluse. He harvested the Truffula tufts in a sustainable manner, until his unscrupulous relatives persuaded him to resume chopping down trees to speed up production, leading to enormous profits, but also deforestation and pollution. Using the Truffula fibers, the Once-ler created the "Thneed", a knitted article with multiple uses, which became a major success. After attempting to force the Once-ler out, the Lorax convinced him not to cut down any more trees. Cutting down a tree, he was confronted by the Lorax, the guardian of the forest who "speaks for the trees". The Once-ler recounts how, as a young inventor, he arrived in a lush forest of animals and Truffula trees.
Explaining that trees and the oxygen they produce freely pose a threat to his business, O'Hare pressures Ted to stay in town, but Ted continues to visit the Once-ler. The next time he leaves home, Ted encounters Thneedville's greedy mayor Aloysius O'Hare whose company sells bottled oxygen to the polluted city. He finds the elderly Once-ler who agrees to tell him the story of the trees over multiple visits. Leaving Thneedville in search of the Once-ler, Ted discovers that the outside world is a barren, contaminated wasteland. His grandmother Norma tells him the legend of the Once-ler, who knows what happened to the trees.
Ted has a crush on a girl named Audrey and decides to impress her with a "real tree". Ī 12-year-old boy named Ted Wiggins lives in Thneedville, a walled city where all vegetation and plant life are artificial. The film grossed $348.8 million worldwide on a $70 million budget. It also received backlash for its marketing, noting its contradictions to the book's message. It received mixed reviews from critics who praised its animation, musical score, and voice acting but criticized its characters. The film was released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, which would have been Seuss's 108th birthday. It builds on the book by expanding the story of the Lorax and Ted, the previously unnamed boy who visits the Once-ler. Seuss' children's book of the same name following the 1972 animated television special, and starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate, and Betty White. Seuss' The Lorax) is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film directed by Chris Renaud, produced by Illumination Entertainment, based on Dr.