By It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has forever colored the way I view Danny DeVito. He seems to be playing that character from such a personal place that I can’t help but view DeVito as some sort of hideous river troll. So when I hear him voicing the Lorax, who is a kind of cute troll, I fully expect him to launch into some disgusting, drug-fueled rant about his hobo associates.
Alas, this new trailer for The Lorax is completely work-safe, even the short introduction by DeVito himself. It goes down a bit easier than the first trailer, but makes me just as concerned. It seems like all the attention is being given to the greatly-expanded framing story, which will almost certainly have a happy ending where the world is covered in trees and Zac Efron gets a girlfriend. I know that the original story might not be enough to carry a full-length film, but that story should be the focus, not some flashback that merely supports the generic plot of a kid’s film.
The original Lorax was a foreboding fable, a warning that ended with just the smallest inkling of hope, a call for action. For a Doctor Suess story, it was dark and really hit me when I was a kid. But apparently, no one thinks kids these days are capable of comprehending such issues; they need everything solved for them. Best to tie everything up in a neat little bow, and then put a smiley face on the shining sun for good measure. Hooray for Hollywood!
[Yahoo via FirstShowing.net]