Animation Celebration Saturday - The Lorax (2012)

Universal, 2012

Voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, and Taylor Swift

Directed by Chris Renaud

Music by John Powell; Lyrics by Cinco Paul

Let's celebrate Earth Day this week and Arbor Day next Friday with a story about a little fellow who speaks for the trees...and how important they are to our well-being. The Dr. Seuss picture book The Lorax debuted in 1971, just as many Americans were becoming more concerned about the environment and how badly much of it had been damaged. Controversy came with the book's message about "trees being something that everyone needs" and it's anti-deforestation stance, and it intensified after a TV special was released in 1972. With concern for the environment and our world once again in the news, how does this look today? To find out, we begin in the all-plastic world of Theedville, where a harmless request from a teen girl to the boy who has a crush on is about to change their lives forever...

The Story: Ted Wiggins (Efron) would do anything to impress pretty artist Audrey. She wishes she could see a real, live tree instead of the artificial ones in Thneedville. Inspired by his Grandma Norma's stories about a "Once-ler" (Helms) who knows what happened to the trees, Ted sets out beyond the walls of the town in search of the elusive recluse. 

The Once-ler lives in a ramshackle shop out in the smog infested badlands. This was once a glowing paradise of animals who subsided on the rainbow Truffula Trees and their fruit. Hoping to use the colorful leaves to make his multi-purpose Thneed, the young Once-ler chops down a tree. That tree is the home of The Lorax (DeVito), a mystical forest guardian who isn't happy with the Once-ler's thoughtless destruction. The Once-ler claims it won't happen again, at least until his Thneed becomes a sensation and his obnoxious family takes over his business. His obsession with short-term profits ends with every single Truffula tree being chopped down. The animals are forced to leave; even his family and the Lorax abandon him. 

Meanwhile, Ted keeps sneaking out more and more to hear the rest of the story. The town mayor, Aloysius O'Hare (Rob Riggle), doesn't want trees in his town. Vegetation will create air...and keep people from buying his bottled air. It'll take the help of Audrey and his family for Ted to make use of the Once-ler's gift and prove that "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things aren't going to get better, they're not."

The Animation: As bright and colorful as one could wish in a movie based after a Dr. Seuss picture book. The twisty Seuss aesthetic is everywhere, from the swirly designs of the buildings in Thneedville to the fluffy Truffula trees that wave in the breeze in the Once-ler's paradise. We also get a glimpse of the darker side of Seuss in the intense sequence when Ted travels through the mechanical corridors beyond the town and in the ruins that the Once-ler now inhabits. 

The Song and Dance: Along with the animation, Helms and DiVito stand out as the kind and optimistic young man corrupted by greed and sudden riches and the forest spirit who watches the change in his attitude to his friends and their beloved home. Betty White also has a great time in a rare big-screen role, playing Ted's wise and funny grandmother who gets the ball rolling when she sends him out to the Once-ler. 

Favorite Number: "Welcome to Thneedville" introduces us to the residents, who claim everything is perfect when it's obviously anything but, in this cheery spoof of opening numbers in musicals. The Once-ler has three numbers in his flashback that reflect his changes, as he goes from an innocent and optimistic young man who hopes to change the world ("This Is the Place") to a despondent entrepreneur who is happy to have his friends ("Everybody Needs a Thneed"), to a corporate tycoon who only cares about the bottom line ("How Bad Can I Be?"). "Let It Grow" brings together the entire town as they introduce themselves and admit that maybe their lives aren't so perfect...and that maybe, they do need a little bit of something real in their lives.

Trivia: Ted and Audrey were named for Ted "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and his wife Audrey. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Audrey and Ted aren't nearly as interesting as their elders. Swift doesn't have much to do (including sing), and Efron's a bit stiff and not terribly believable as a 12-year-old. The whole movie seems to treat the original special and book more than a little condescendingly, talking down to some of the original lines. Many people were also angry that they revealed the Once-ler's face and background. He's seen only as a disembodied furry hand in the original book and special. 

And...truth be told, no matter how much Universal tries, the whimsical simplicity of the Dr. Seuss books doesn't seem to translate well to the big screen. They were never meant to be drawn out into 90 minutes, complete with unnecessary cute critters, songs, and slapstick. To date, Horton Hears a Who!, the Seuss movie that came out before this one, has probably come the closest to the spirit of the book it was adapted from. 

The Big Finale: Cute enough time-waster on Earth Day or Arbor Day if you love the cast or the original Lorax book or special. 

Home Media: As a major hit and a relatively recent movie, it's easy to find in all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Hairspray (2007)

New Line Cinema, 2007
Starring Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Zac Efron, and Michelle Pffeifer
Directed by Adam Shankman
Music and Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman

This one had a convoluted trip to the big screen. It started out as a 1988 comedy by gross-out director John Waters. The stage adaptation hit Broadway in 2002 and proved to be such a huge hit, it returned to the big screen five years later. How does the story of a plus-sized teenager who dreams of dancing on a music show in 1962 Baltimore come off amid today's racial and musical climate? Let's head to Tracy Turnblad's room in Baltimore and follow her to school to find out...

The Story: Tracy (Blonsky) is a sweet girl with a personalty as big as she is. She and her best friend Penny (Amanda Byrne) are addicted to The Corny Collins Show, a local dance program, and its peppy dancers The Nicest Kids In Town. When the show gets an opening, Tracy auditions. Unfortunately, the show is managed by Velma Von Tussle (Pffeifer), a former beauty queen who relegates black dancers to a once-a-month "Negro Day" and neglects the other dancers to push her daughter Amber (Brittany Snow) into the spotlight.

After she ends up in detention, Tracy learns new dance moves from the "Negro Day" performers, including Seaweed (Elijah Kelley). She shows off these moves at a school dance, which gets her on the show and the attention of its main male dancer Link (Efron). Tracy's unique dances make her the hit of Baltimore TV and the talk of the town, to Amber and Velma's frustration. Tracy's mother Edna (Travolta) even emerges from her laundry business to become her manager. Tracy, however, is still determined that her new friends should dance more than once a month, even if she has to join a protest started by the Negro Day host Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifa) to do it and sacrifice her own popularity.

The Song and Dance: Big, bright, bold, and a lot of fun. I love the performances here. Newcomer Blonsky is a ball of sunshine as Tracy, who's determined that everyone, black or white, should have a chance to dance. Byrne's a riot as her sweet and supportive best friend, and Efron gets to show off his teen-dream charm as the object of Tracy's affections. John Travolta does better than you might think as Tracy's worried mother in a fat suit and drag and makes a surprisingly cute couple with Christopher Walken. Candy-colored costumes mingle with down-to-Earth sets, ably showing the changes in the early 60's from Amber's frilly yellow prom gown to Tracy's abstract black-and-white minidress and straight hair. I also kind of like the changed ending that truly integrates the show and throws the spotlight on both the black and white performers.

Favorite Number: We open in high style with "Good Morning Baltimore," as Tracy describes her gritty downtown neighborhood in the perkiest possible tones. The tracking shot of her on the garbage truck's adorable. "I Can Hear the Bells" shows just how crazy about Link Tracy is as she goes through her school day dreaming about him and ignoring everything else, including rubber balls in her direction and her classwork.

"New Girl In Town" starts off cutesy, with the pastel Nicest Kids In Town doing their movies and describing Tracy's arrival...but the heat goes way up and the colors go primary as the "Negro Day" dancers take over. Seaweed and his sister Little Inez (Taylor Parks) tear up the park as they explain about being a black teen in the changing early 60's in "Run and Tell That." Travolta and Walken have a great time romping through the dance genre satire in "You're Timeless to Me."

The big one here is the classic finale, "You Can't Stop the Beat." It gives all the principals a chance to shine while relating the show's theme - it doesn't matter how big you are or what the color of your skin is, we all deserve a chance to dance. The kids throw themselves into the gyrating moves, Travolta's solo is awesome, and it ends the entire film on a burst of energy. I also have a soft spot for the additional credits song "Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)."

Trivia: The Broadway version opened in 2002 and proved to be a huge hit, running for seven years. It also ran in the West End for three years with British stage star Michael Ball as Edna Turnblad. There was a TV version, Hairspray Live!, that ran on NBC in 2016 and featured Harvey Fiernstein in his original role as Edna, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle, and Martin Short as Wilbur.

What I Don't Like: \Queen Latifa beautifully puts over the anthem "I Know Where I've Been," but the whole protest scene is a bit of mood whiplash from the rest of the effervescent plot. I do kind of wish it had retained some of the songs from the Broadway show (thought "Cooties" and "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" sneak in during the credits).

The Big Finale: This is one of the best musical films made in the 21st century. If you want a big, bright extravaganza with great dances and something to say, you'll want to grab your can of hairspray and twist on over to this one.

Home Media: As one of the newer movies I've covered, this is easily available in all formats.

DVD - Deluxe Edition
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Disney, 2008
Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Lucas Grabeel
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Music and Lyrics by various writers

I'm returning to this franchise in honor of the end of the school year here in Southern New Jersey. By the late 2000's, the High School Musical films were such a major phenomenon, especially among young children, the small screen was too small to contain them. It became Disney's first live-action big-screen musical since Newsies in 1991...and unlike that film, it wound up being one of the bigger hits of the fall of 2008. How well do the antics of the Wildcats come across on the big screen? Let's return to East High in Utah and find out...

The Story: The end of the basketball season brings the beginning of the rehearsals for the spring musical...and of the seniors at East High considering their futures. Kelsi (Oleysa Rulin) has signed her entire homeroom up for the show. None of them are thrilled at first, as they're all busy with school activities and homework, but they eventually agree to it. Not only that, but there will be people from Juliard coming to consider Sharpay (Tisdale), Troy (Efron), Ryan (Grabeel), and Kelsi for drama scholarships. Troy has no idea where he wants to go. Sharpay wants that scholarship badly and gets her twin Ryan to try to butter up Kelsi in order for her to give her best songs to them.

Meanwhile, most of the kids are focusing on prom. Troy's best friend Chad (Corbin Bleu) is trying to figure out how to ask out brilliant scholar Taylor (Monique Coleman), while Sharpay hires British exchange student Tiara (Jemma McKenzie-Brown) to be her assistant, and later, her understudy. Troy's devoted girlfriend Gabriella (Hudgens) gets a scholarship to a freshman program at Stanford. Sharpay convinces him that he's holding Gabriella back from her dream, and he encourages her to leave. He's shocked when she won't come back for prom and the spring musical...but he still manages to find a way to have his last dance with her.

The Song and Dance: The increased budget for the big screen really shows in the numbers. There's some attempts at special effects, including in Efron's solo "Scream," and some glowing cinematography. The story is slightly more interesting than the last one, with the kids trying to figure out what they want to do with their futures. The scene where Troy tells Gabriella she should go to Stamford is especially effecting.

Favorite Number: Once again, the chorus numbers are the stand-outs. High-energy routines like the opening basketball routine "Now or Never" come complete with some excellent choreography by director Kenny Ortega. Along with Troy's "Scream" on his confusion over Gabriella leaving and where he wants to go to college, Efron gets in on two good duets, his memories of childhood with Bleu "The Boys are Back" in the junkyard, and the first version of "Can I Have This Dance?" with Hudgens on the Garden Club roof in the rain.

What I Don't Like: Anyone who is a lot less self-involved than Sharpay can probably telegraph Tiara's real intentions from a mile off. Yes, while the story is a little better than last time, it's still a mass of cliches, and the ballads are still bland and too sugary. If you like your musicals darker or more thoughtful, or you weren't a fan of the first film or aren't into Ortega's style, this won't be your show.

The Big Finale: I'm probably the wrong audience for these movies. They're enough fun that I'm glad I saw them again...but they're also not something I'm going to actively seek out or watch a lot. If you have younger kids who were fans of the first ones, you'll want to show them the Wildcats' final performance.

Home Media: Like the rest of the series, this is very easy to find, both as a stand-alone film and bundled with the other two movies.

DVD
DVD - High School Musical: 3 Movies Collection
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

Musicals on TV Double Feature - High School Musical & High School Musical 2

The High School Musical films were a bona-fide kid phenomenon in the late 2000's. I remember seeing children as young as 6 talk about how much they loved the movie and the music and gush about Gabriella and Troy and all the other Wildcats. There were toys, dolls, notebooks, clothes, and countless CD "remix" editions. The soundtrack of the first movie hit #1 on the Billboard charts. The second movie was the top-rated TV program of the summer of 2007, on broadcast or cable TV. Kids loved these movies...and some adults found them endearing, too. How do they stand up over a decade later? Let's head to a ski lodge on New Year's Eve, where two teens are about to do a karaoke routine together that will change their lives..

High School Musical
Disney, 2006
Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Music and Lyrics by various

The Story: High school basketball star Troy Bolton (Efron) and brilliant A student Gabriella Montez (Hudgens) meet while singing karaoke at a party on New Year's Eve. Troy gets quite a surprise when Gabriella shows up at his New Mexico high school a week later. Seems her mother moved there over Christmas break. They both end up in detention the first day when they try to contact each other on their cell phones during class, along with Troy's basketball-crazy buddy Chad Danforth (Bleu), spoiled drama queen Sharpay (Tisdale), and her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). The ridiculously over-the-top drama teacher (Alyson Reed) is hoping to get people to sign up for the school's winter musical and has the kids work on sets. It works on Gabriella and Troy. They go to the audition, but are too shy to sing...until they do a ballad with sweet pianist and songwriter Kelsey (Oleysa Rulin) that Sharpay and Ryan built into a sugary pop number. This puts them over with the teacher and gets them a call-back.

Sharpay is incensed. How could anyone at the school be better than dancing and singing than her? Their friends are even more shocked. The jocks think drama is stupid and academics are something you do that keeps you from playing sports; the A students think jocks are idiots and drama is mind-numbing. Drama nuts Sharpay and Ryan think they're above sports and academics. All of the cliques try to keep Troy and Gabriella from trying out and seeing each other, until they start to understand that everyone has different talents and unique abilities. Just because you're good at one thing, doesn't mean you can't excel at something else.

The Song and Dance: What I love about all three of these movies is the sheer energy level. Unlike the Grease films, these kids are genuine teenagers, or young adults at the most. They bring a level of authenticity and vivaciousness that lets you overlook the cliches and really enjoy the numbers. No wonder Hudgens and Efron went on to major careers. I also appreciate the message that kids can have many different interests and talents and shouldn't be afraid to pursue them - sports stars can be singers or bakers, braniacs can be leading ladies.

Favorite Number: The kids are at their best in chorus routines like "Get 'Cha Head In the Game" with Troy and the basketball team, "Stick to the Status Quo" in the cafeteria as everyone shares their secret dream, and the finale "We're All In This Together." Hudgens gets a decent solo mid-way through after she thinks Troy isn't interested anymore, "When There Was Me and You."

What I Don't Like: First of all, the story is cliched to the max. It's basically a modern Grease with less grit, a slightly more likely ending, and a cast that doesn't look old enough to vote. Sharpay was popular enough to get her own spin-off in 2011, but her character is obnoxious and annoying, and does she have to scream so much? The love duets are syrupy-sweet and all sound alike, and they really don't give you an idea as to why everyone fell over themselves to get Troy and Gabriella into the show. (And obviously, this isn't for people who prefer their musicals darker ala Cabaret.)

The Big Picture: I can see why kids responded so strongly to this. The sugary and cliched story and dialogue are elevated by the spirited chorus numbers and energetic and talented cast. If you love Grease or other musical school tales, have kids who are musical fans, or remember when this was the biggest thing on cable, it's still highly recommended.

Home Media: Thanks to its tremendous popularity, it can be found in almost every possible format and version you can imagine, usually for under 10 dollars.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

High School Musical 2
Disney, 2007
Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Corbin Bleu
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Music and Lyrics by various

The Story: Troy (Efron), Gabriella (Hudgens), and their friends are looking forward to a summer of fun, freedom, and hanging out together. He not only manages to land a job at Lava Springs Country Club, but encourages them to hire all his friends, including Gabriella. Sharpay (Tisdale), whose parents own the club, wants Troy and his amazing voice backing her in the club's big end-of-the-season talent show. She goes out of her way to have the manager Fulton (Mark L. Taylor) treat the kids badly and promote Troy. Her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) is getting sick of being pushed aside, and goes to the other Wildcats to set up their own musical number in the show. Troy sees Gabrellia with Ryan and gets jealous, leading to him singing with Sharpay...or standing there mildly annoyed while Sharpay performs around him.

The kids now all see Troy as a traitor. The basketball team members won't speak to him, and Gabriella quits and and breaks off their relationship. As club employees, the kids have all been banned from the show, thanks to Sharpay's jealousy. He realizes how much he let his desire for a college scholarship and the preferential treatment from Sharpay and her parents go to his head. It takes intervention from Ryan to make his sister realize how selfish and silly she's being and bring Troy and Gabriella together.

The Song and Dance: Pretty much "more of the same, but outside." The country club setting allows for some nice cinematography and glowing colors, especially on the golf course, and it does feel a bit less claustrophobic than the original. Glad to see Grabeel come into his own here; he had some great footwork in the baseball number "I Don't Dance." Some of the adults registered a bit more strongly here, too, especially Robert Curtis Brown and Jessica Tuck as Sharpay and Ryan's parents.

Favorite Number: Along with "I Don't Dance," the kids have fun with the end-of-the-school-year opening "What Time Is It?" and "Work This Out" when they realize just how bad their jobs at the country club are. Troy and Gabriella's touching "You are the Music In Me" becomes a candy-colored routine for Sharpay and Troy that, of course, puts the emphasis on the former. Sharpay also gets the very funny "Fabulous," where she extols the virtues of her posh life and how she has to have the perfect everything, including the perfect guy.

What I Don't Like: If anything, this movie is even more cliched than the last one, and the main ballads are still too sugary. The emphasis on Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan means we see less of the other Wildcats, including Rulin and Bleu. And no matter how wonderful she thinks she is, Sharpay is just as annoying and screechy here as she was in the previous film. The additional number for her and Ryan as they're trying to persuade him to join their show is intentionally goofy and does nothing but scare Troy off and add to the film's length.

The Big Picture: Same deal. If you loved the first movie, you'll probably have just as much fun with the Wildcats' summer adventures.

Home Media: The version that's currently available online and on DVD includes the aforementioned extra number and once again is easy to find in a wide variety of formats.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

The Greatest Showman

20th Century Fox, 2017
Starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, and Zendaya
Directed by Michael Gracey
Music and Lyrics by Benji Pasak and Justin Paul

This was the film that inspired me to create this blog. Several pre-teen and young teen girls I know raved about it, even calling it their favorite movie. I was surprised and delighted to hear people at such a young age giving rave reviews to a musical. When I was their age in the early-mid 90's, you would have gotten made fun of for admitting you liked a live-action movie musical. It got raves from some adults I talked to about it as well, especially for the music and Hugh Jackman's performance. Let's head to New York City in the 1840's to find out if this is really "The Greatest Show," or if it's as much of a fraud as Barnum's illusions...

The Story: PT Barnum (Jackman) starts off as a poor servant to a wealthy family just outside of New York. He falls in love with Charity, the daughter of the family, early. She goes away to finishing school, and he first sells newspapers to make his fortune, then joins the railroad. He returns his Charity (Williams) years later. They wed and raise two girls, Caroline (Austyn Johnson) and Helen (Cameron Seely). They live simply, but Barnum wants more.

After he loses his job as a shipping clerk, he takes out a loan to buy a building in New York and showcase unique waxworks. Business is slow, and Caroline suggests it's because the waxworks don't move. Taking this to heart, Barnum and his family hire "freaks" - unusual or deformed people with rare talents, like the bearded lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle), midget Tom Thumb (Sam Humphery), and 7-foot tall Vasily Palvos (Radu Spinghel) - and pull them together for what becomes New York's most popular circus. He even brings on young playwright Philip Caryle (Efron) as his partner.

A trip to England to meet Queen Victoria brings him in contact with Swedish singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson). Captivated by her beauty and stunning voice, he convinces her to join the show and becomes her manager. Meanwhile, Philip is having his own romantic misadventures. He wants to woo Anne, the show's trapeze artist (Zendaya), but she's African-American, and his stuffy family doesn't approve of the integrated paring. Charity has also discovered her husband's affair with Lind, and both woman walk out on him...just as protesters destroy the Museum. Barnum thinks he's through, but it takes his family of "freaks" to remind him that the show must go on, and while his illusions may be make believe, true love and friendship are as genuine as they come.

The Song and Dance: No wonder the kids loved this. It's an absolute blast. Jackman's on top of his game from start to finish. Efron, Williams, Zendaya, and Settle (who sings the movie's best-known song, "This Is Me") are also excellent. Special kudos to the wonderful costumes and art direction that ably recreate both the grimy New York of the mid-19th century and the spangle-and-glitter world of Barnum's Circus. There's more energy in this movie than there was in many of last year's bigger sci-fi extravaganzas.

Favorite Number: "This Is Me," Lettie's anthem to the protesters outside the Museum, won the Golden Globe for best song and got an Oscar nod. My favorite numbers are "Come Alive," where Barnum and his family hire their unusual performers, and the hit ballad "Rewrite the Stars" as Philip explains to Anne why their relationship can work...and Anne points out all the reasons it can't. The opening and closing number "The Greatest Show" has some great circus acts and wonderful choreography.

Trivia: A somewhat more historically-accurate musical retelling of PT Barnum's life, Barnum!, opened on Broadway in 1980. Jim Dale played PT; Glenn Close was his Charity. It's probably best-known for the recording of the 1982 West End version with Michael Crawford in the title role.

What I Don't Like: While the music soars, the plot remains flat. Critics took potshots at the historical inaccuracies from the moment this came out. We don't get to see Charity's early death and only two of their four daughters, Barnum's later career in politics, or the ill-fated venture into real estate that's really what ruined him in the 1850's. To this day, no one knows what caused the fire that destroyed Barnum's first museum, but it was likely due more to his pro-Union sympathies during the Civil War than any resentment towards the "freaks."

For all this movie's talk about diversity, it still focuses on the good-looking white guys. The movie falters in the second half when Barnum's rather dull affair with Lind and Philip's only somewhat more interesting relationship with Anne come into the spotlight. The real Barnum's life and career was a lot more interesting than that.

The Big Finale: The fate of this movie was much like that of Barnum's Circus. Critics didn't know what to make of it, but it eventually became a word-of-mouth hit during the 2017-2018 Christmas season. Put me in the latter camp. The problems with the cliched book are mostly overcome by the wonderful performances, delightful music, and the stylish production. If you haven't seen this one yet, do so, especially if you have pre-teens or young teens of your own who loved other recent musicals like Hamilton.

Home Media: As the most recent movie I've reviewed that's available on home media and a fair-sized hit, you can easily find this movie in pretty much any format of your choosing, both streaming and on disc.

DVD
Blu-Ray
4K
Amazon Prime (buy only)