There's No Getting Away From It--The Lorax Is an Eco-Snore-ax

Jenny Punter--a near-perfect last name for a Globe and Mail scribbler--reviews the movie version of Dr. Seuss's preachy eco-screed for impressionable moppets--in verse. Here's a sample:

For a Hollywood feature, mildly taking a stand,
Dr. Seuss's main story just had to expand.
So it's puffed up with lots of extraneous stuff--
Super fun for the kids but for grown ups? Just fluff.
(Already Lou Dobbs has made quite a kerfuffle,
its liberal "agenda" the Fox host wants to muffle,
claiming the film aims to brainwash our kids,
as they snorffle down popcorn and soda with lids.

Sorry, Jenny. As the mom of a kid who has been bombarded with eco-crapola without end, and who is being forced to make an actual facsmile of his carbon footprint in his art class, I have to side with the Fox host on this one:

I adore those Seuss books about Grinches and Horton,
But when it comes to the Lorax
I can't help but start snortin'.
He piles on the message so thick and unsubtle
That it's practically impossible to launch a rebuttal.
The Lorax--he's sort of a Seussian Al Gore,
Only shorter, hairier and even more of a bore.
He's cute as the dickens with his eco-tirades
About how mankind, well, sucks
Since the world it degrades.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, it's merely another--albeit a cuter--
Form of eco-indoctrination.
And all things considered, I wish educators
Would eschew the eco-hysterics
And stick with genuine education.



Update: From the review in People Magazine:

But as this is one of Doc's more political stories (it could even be called anti-capitalist), you may want to talk to kids about the issues it raises.

Indeed. And the issue I'd be inclined to talk about is Doc's disturbing anti-capitalism (what--does he think Marxist-Leninism is better?) that--you should pardon the pun--animates this twee bit of eco-kiddie porn.