A young boy in a polluted ghost town meets the Once-ler, who recounts the story of the Lorax, a creature who speaks for the trees. The Once-ler, initially enchanted by the Truffula trees, starts a business making Thneeds and rapidly depletes the trees while ignoring the Lorax's warnings. As industrialization progresses, the environment deteriorates, the animals leave, and the Once-ler's factory eventually shuts down after cutting down the last tree. The Lorax departs, leaving behind a pile of rocks marked "Unless." The Once-ler reveals to the boy that "Unless" signifies the need for someone who cares to take action. He gives the boy the last Truffula seed, encouraging him to restore the forest, signaling hope for the future.
While the storyline closely mirrors that of the original book, there are some key differences.
The Once-ler does not charge the boy to hear the story, nor does he tell it using a "Whisper-Ma-Phone". These elements were reintroduced in the 2012 film.
The Bar-ba-loots leave the valley to find food after the sky becomes smoggy. In the book, they leave while the sky is still clear.
The Once-ler's character is depicted with greater complexity; at one point, he engages in an internal debate about the morality of his actions and convinces himself that others would do the same if he didn't. He also argues that closing his factory would result in mass unemployment and harm the economy, a point that the Lorax reluctantly acknowledges.
The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie," originally spoken by the Lorax in the book, is instead voiced by one of the Humming-Fish. While the line was removed from the book in 1985 following successful cleanup efforts in the lake, it remains in all home video releases of the special.[3]
Following the departure of the Humming-Fish, the Once-ler's perspective starts to change, until his secretary alerts him of a significant increase in his company's stock. It is this, rather than the Lorax's continuous protests, that triggers his outburst.
In the book, the Once-ler does not understand the Lorax's message until after he concludes his story, and gives the boy the last Truffula seed as a reward for helping him realize this. In the special, the Once-ler seems to already understand the message, leaving his motivations for giving the seed to the boy unclear.
Home media
The Lorax was released on VHS in 1994 as part of a CBS Video four-tape package called "Dr. Seuss Sing-Along Classics".[4]
To tie-in with the 40th anniversary of the special and the release of film The Lorax, Warner Home Video released the special on a deluxe edition DVD and Blu-ray on February 14 (Valentine's Day), 2012.[5] This release once again included Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and now also included The Butter Battle Book as another extra (however, when The Lorax was released on digital retailer sites in 2021, the two extras were taken out of the release and moved over to being included with the digital retailer release of Green Eggs and Ham and Other Treats, where they were restored in high definition).
Reception
The Lorax received the Critics Award from the International Animated Cartoon Festival (Zagreb, 1972) and the Silver Media from the International Film and Television Festival (New York, 1972).[6][7]