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

[D'Snowth]

It dealt with the same subject matter without a level of Captain Planet preachiness.

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".

 

[Drtooth]

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.

 

[D'Snowth]

But there's really only three things that Hollywood is cranking out right now: vulgar, low-brow spoof flicks; crappy remakes of once popular franchises; biopics about mundane people that nobody really cares about.

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.

 

[mr3urious]

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.

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

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.

Faux News attacked it, of course.

 

[Drtooth]

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...

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

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!

 

[minor muppetz]

I dunno why they even got him other than the name. Steve has a recognizable voice, Carol has a recognizable voice, Will Arnet and Amy Pohler... Jim? They could've got Matt Frewer for a fraction of the cost. However, I DID like the stylistic references to the Grinch (a character who couldn't be in the film, due to movie licensing reasons... he WAS in the Chuck Jones special) as this is Whoville...

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.

 

[Dominicboo1]

Aw right back at ya! Lol. Honestly the only remake that ever really worked to me was the Brady Bunch because they took it in a more satirical direction.

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

 

[minor muppetz]

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.

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.

 

[CensoredAlso]

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

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.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

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

I thought they were more reboots rather than remakes.