Lorax Storyboards

Didier Ah-Koon has a few storyboard sequences from The Lorax on his site, and while most of them are just extended versions of what ended up in the movie, Sequence 2102 is a sequence that was completely cut.  It is also required reading for any Once-ler fan.  Go to it.

A Cool Article You Should Read

I found this blog post comparing The Lorax movie with the classic silent film Metropolis, and I thought it was pretty good.  Definitely check it out.

This Is The Place fanvid

Someone actually made this.  And it is awesome:

I do this more often than I admit

I was relistening to the OCR of The Secret Garden, which is one of my favorite musicals, despite only ever having listened to it, and it should come as no surprise by now that some of the songs made me think of The Lorax movie.  What did surprise me was the sheer number.  Seriously, I did not think I was going to get so much out of it.  And true, very few whole songs worked, but here's what struck me the most, with the occasional tweaks to make it fit better.

The House Upon the Hill:

High on a hill sits a big old house lerkim

With something wrong inside it

Someone died was lifted and someone's left

Alone and can't abide it

There in the house lerkim is a lonely man

Still haunted by her it's beauty (the land, that is)

Asking what a life can be

Where naught remains but duty

Ted: Is it always so ugly here?

Grammy Norma: It's the moor.  Miles and miles of wild land where nothing grows on but heather and gorse and broom grickle grass.

A Bit of Earth

A bit of earth

She wants a little bit of earth

She'll plant some seeds

The seeds will grow

The flowers bloom

But is their bounty

What she needs?

How can she chance

To love a little bit of earth

Does she not know

The earth is old

And doesn't care if

One small girl wants things to grow

There's a Man - Transition

There's a man whom no one sees

There's a man who lives alone

There's a heart that beats in silence for

The life he's never known.

Wick

The whole friggin' thing!  But here's a few lyrics to give you an idea:

When a thing is wick

And someone cares about it

And comes to work each day

Like you and me

Will it grow?

It will

Then have no doubt about it

We'll have the grandest garden truffula tree ever seen.

A Bit of Earth - Reprise

A bit of earth

A drop of dew, a single stem

Begins to rise

That bit of earth

Is pushed away, the flowers bloom

Before our eyes

Hold On

When you see a man who's ragin'

And he's jealous and he fears

That you've walked through walls

He's hid behind for years

As a side note, while this doesn't really work with the movie as is, but I envision Quartet being played out with Old!Once-ler as Archibald and Green-Suit!Once-ler, representing his greed, as his brother.  Not sure who the ladies would be, though. 

Late Night Video - Portuguese Making of The Lorax

Another thing I totally love: foreign versions of songs from animated musicals.  Even if I can't understand them.  Which explains why I'm posting this next video, despite it being in Portuguese.
Granted, only parts of it involve the music, but it was enough to make me happy.  Especially hearing part of "How Bad Can I Be?" (despite it being partially talked over).  Kinda makes me wish I knew Portuguese.

Here's the rundown, in case you just want to skip ahead:

2:49 - The chorus of "Let it Grow"

4:43 - "How Bad Can I Be?"

5:12 - The O'Hare Delivery Guy (Cy)'s part of "Let It Grow"

6:05 - Grammy Norma's Portuguese VA tries her verse of "Let It Grow"

Late Night Video: Well, that was quick

While I love me some Inception trailer mash-ups, I was very surprised to find a Lorax one up already.  Considering the limited clips available, this actually came out pretty well.

Even More Lorax Featurettes

Should have held off on my previous post, as today I discovered Xfinity has a bunch of Lorax featurettes and other types of clips.  Most of them have already turned up elsewhere, but there are a few in there that I haven't seen anywhere else.  One in particular fills me with joy, but since there's no embed option, you'll have to check it out at the link: A look at the songs.  It leaves out "These Trees" and "Let it Grow" (instead looking at the credits version), but what makes this a must watch is the footage from "How Bad Can I Be?"

Now maybe the fanartists will remember to add his sunglasses (which really make the whole outfit, don't you think?).

Lorax Featurettes

Here's a couple of featurettes on The Lorax movie that I didn't post before, but they're worth watching.  First, a look at adapting the book:

And second, the basic story of the movie as told by the cast:
These are the only sources for images of The Once-ler in his green suit, by the way.  (For the time being, anyway.)

Lorax Soundtrack Thoughts

Having now seen The Lorax movie, I am exceedingly glad that I didn't give in and listen to the soundtrack ahead of time, because that definitely would have lessened their impact in the movie for me.  Especially since I have been listening to the soundtrack pretty much nonstop since seeing the movie.  Now, while most semi-musical movie soundtracks would mix the songs and score, the score got its own release (as I mentioned before), and so the soundtrack is bolstered, not with songs inspired by the movie, as I thought, but with demos of songs that ultimately weren't used.  Which is pretty cool.  So here are a few of my thoughts on the tracks, which will include some unmarked spoilers.  If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to skip this post until you do, though nothing I mention is all that huge.

1. Let It Grow (Celebrate the World)
This is the song that plays over the end credits, and truth be told, I skip it more often than not.  It's not a bad song, but just kind of generic, and it doesn't blend in with the rest of the movie's songs that well.

2. Thneedville
I was not prepared for this song to be as insanely catchy as it was.  When I first saw the track titles, I thought this song would be kind of lame, but it seriously blew me away.  And I freaking love the melismas all over the place.  It does a very good job of setting up the world of Thneedville as a nice place, but not quite right.  As far as I can tell (i.e. remember), there's only one difference between the soundtrack version and the movie version, which is that O'Hare gets a slightly longer part.  I suspect that this was cut not for time, but to alleviate some Fridge Horror, as he sings "Everyone 'round here works for me."  And since he's pretty much put out of business by the end of the movie, that would be a lot of people out of jobs...

3. This Is the Place [Tricky Version]
Now this track right here is a very good reason to be glad I didn't listen to the soundtrack before seeing the movie, since what ended up in the movie is very different (which is probably the credits refer to it as "These Trees").  In the movie, The Once-ler pretty much just la la's, na na's, and doot do's with the animals while he unpacks his cart, pissing off the animals with his haphazard throwing.  This version has the Once-ler recruiting the animals as his back-up singers while he attempts (in song) to find material from their homes (and the animals themselves) for his thneed, before discovering the truffula tufts.  As a song, it's very catchy, but the movie version gets points for being truer to the book (as in, immediately knowing the truffula tufts were what he needed).

4. Everybody Needs a Thneed
I go back and forth on this one.  I mean, as a song it's really just serviceable, but sung by the crowd it's just so full of energy that I can't help but smile when I listen to it.

5. How Bad Can I Be?
Okay, this song is just pure, unadulterated awesome.  While watching it in the movie, I was honest-to-goodness smiling so wide the whole time.  Granted, part of that was because of the visuals (especially the Once-ler in his awesome suit and sunglasses!  Why are there no clips of that online?), but also because the song itself is just so great.  I fervently hope that the official site (or at least the official youtube channel) will put the song up, because I need screenshots!

6. Let It Grow
Again, I was surprised by this song, and how gospel-y it ended up being.  And O'Hare's "Let it die" bit was very funny; I'm glad it made the soundtrack.

7. Let It Grow Gospel Ending
Optional ending for Let It Grow, letting Ted's Mom have a big solo bit.

Demos:
8. Thneedville 
The original version was a bit harsher and painted the citizens of Thneedville less as content with the status quo and more as mindless consumers, with lyrics like "In Thneedville, you're never alone/'Cause you've always got the stuff that you own" and an interlude of Ted trying to convince his mom to get him a whozit, ending with "All I've ever wanted in my life is the stuff that I don't have."  Musically, though, it's essentially the same as the final version.

9. Once-ler's Traveling Madness
This one is less a song and mostly just Ed Helms ad-libbing.  I assume that this would have been a scene of the Once-ler traveling before he got to Truffula Valley (as the movie dubs it).

10. I Love Nature
An alternate take on The Once-ler's reaction to first seeing the valley.  I like the music parts, but the lyrics are a little too silly, IMO.

11. You Need a Thneed
The full version of The Once-ler's thneed jingle, which in the movie is continually cut off.

12. Nobody Needs a Thneed
The dark reprise of "You Need a Thneed."  In the movie, unlike in the book, The Once-ler doesn't immediately sell his thneed, and is about to throw in the towel, which is probably when this song would have occurred.

13. Biggering
When I first saw the songs in the movie, "How Bad Can I Be?" was the one I wondered the most about.  I figured it would be about the Once-ler justifying himself to the Lorax, but I wasn't sure which direction it would go in.  That is, whether it would be an upbeat number, which it ultimately was, or if it would take a more melancholy route.  If it had, it would have been this track, which shares some elements of the song that ultimately replaced it, but is a little more intimate.  And in the end, a little boring.  Not bad, mind you, but let's just say I'm glad it didn't make the final cut.

It was definitely interesting to hear different takes on the songs in the movie.  Makes me wish more movie soundtracks did that. And no doubt we'll see some of the demos show up as deleted scenes on the DVD/Blu-ray.

News on the Lorax Soundtrack

There's finally news of a soundtrack for the songs of The Lorax movie, though when exactly it's coming out isn't clear.  According to Film Music Reporter, it's coming out on the 28th, but according to Amazon, it isn't coming out until March 13th, a week after the score soundtrack is said to be released.  They do, however, have a digital version of the soundtrack set to come out on the 28th.  I haven't been able to find any other source of information for this soundtrack, so we'll just have to see.
If you follow the FMR link, they have a preview of all the songs on the CD, which I am deliberately not listening to or embedding here.  The one thing I absolutely refuse to spoil myself on are the songs.  In fact, I kind of wish I hadn't learned the names of the songs in the first place, but there's nothing to be done about that now.  All I can do is wait for March 2nd and hope I don't accidentally get spoiled before then.

Lorax Movie is a Musical!

The official site for the Lorax movie added the Cast and Crew section, and if you click on the Production Notes tab, you'll get a PDF full of interesting stuff about the making of the movie, though none of it is too spoilery (I mean, as long as you've been following along with the information and video clips that have been trickling out). Except for all the titles of the songs that are in the movie.  Now, it had been hinted at in various interviews that there would be songs in the movie, but according to the notes, there are seven, three of which are sung by Young!Once-ler himself:

The Once-ler happens to play the guitar and has a number of solo songs in which he picks it up and sings.  Singing is very much a part of his character.

I cannot express how happy this makes me.  However, the only info about the movie soundtrack I can find is a score-only CD thatcomes out the Tuesday after the movie does.  I sincerely hope that if nothing else, the songs will be on iTunes.  (Not that the score, by John Powell, won't be awesome.)

In related news, the world premiere screening of the movie is going to be this Sunday, which is my birthday, coincidentally.
Update:  There's a new character-centric featurette, and this time it's the one I was waiting for: Ed Helms talking about the Once-ler:
I wonder how many of these are going to come out?  Will there be one with Rob Riggle/O'Hare or Betty White/Grammy Norma?  Will they even go as far as Jenny Slate/Ted's Mom or the folks voicing the Once-ler's relatives?  Probably not.

Lorax Behind the Scenes and Coloring Pages

Yeah, I know.  Just bear with me for three more weeks.
First up, HP has a page of Lorax-themed printables, which as you may have guessed, I'm only mentioning because one of the coloring sheets includes Young!Once-ler (he has to share a page with Ted and Audrey).  Sadly, he does not get a bookmark, though Grammy Norma does, of all characters.

Second, here are two character-based behind the scenes clips from the upcoming Lorax movie.  First up, Danny DeVito talks about the Lorax himself (with plenty of Young!Once-ler):



And Zach Efron goes through Ted's motivations. Lots of new footage here, and I'll admit, that bit at the end made me laugh:

More Lorax Stuff

The Lorax movie's official site updated yesterday, going from what is now the splash page to an interactive site, with more wallpapers, some games, and a handful of character profiles.  I wasn't really going to comment on that, but the Once-ler's profile mentions he has a talent for playing guitar.  And I was like "Can't wait to see the fan art for that."  And then today I found that Collider put up 8 clips from the movie, and in one of them, the Once-ler has his guitar!  I was so happy.

Now, on the one hand, I'm glad that clips from the movie keep popping up because I am seriously eating them up.  But on the other hand, I don't want to have the whole thing spoiled for me, either.  So even though there's still three weeks to go, I hope that these are the last of the promo clips.  Speaking of, here's the clips, all in one video.  A few have already shown up in other places, but at least half of them are new:

Lorax clips

In honor of there being only four weeks until The Lorax movie comes out, a couple of clips from the movie have come out.  One gives a bit of context for the bit of dialogue that ends both the trailers:



Timeout, back up, stop, don't move an inch by rageanddoom And the other includes the bit of dialogue that was in the scratch trailer but didn't make it to the actual trailers:



I'm so excited for this movie, though these clips don't really add to my excitement. Mostly because, like a good chunk of people, what makes me so excited for this movie is Young!Oncler.  But while these clips may not have enough of him, there's plenty to be found at the movie's Facebook page, where they're counting down to the movie by releasing a new image from the film (among other things) each day.

Update:  Here's a very Young!Oncler-filled clip:

Lorax Movie meets a Meme

I admit, I laughed harder at these than I probably should have:


Cut All The Trees by ~Ca14 on deviantART
Cut All the Trees? by *ThinkerGirl96 on deviantART

The Lorax Movie Trailer finally debuts

Back in July, a work-in-progress trailer for upcoming Lorax movie was uploaded to youtube, but Universal had it taken down right quick, along with any images that people had used to blog about it.  I completely missed this, so I was glad to catch it when a chinese site leaked it again last month, though once again Universal had it taken down almost immediately.  So it's probably in light of these leaks that the official trailer has finally been released.


Some parts are a little different from what was in the leaked trailer, and some things were left out, specifically one scene where the Once-ler accuses Ted of just doing this for a girl.  And the scene at the end of this trailer with (I assume) the Once-ler's relatives wasn't in the leaked trailer at all.

New Image from The Lorax

As you may or may not know, the same folks responsible for this past summer's Despicable Me are working on a film version of The Lorax, and they recently released an image from the upcoming film, seen above.  Now is it just me, or does that seem to be a female version of Pontoffel Pock?  Seriously, the hair, the upturned nose, the same friggin shirt.  There isn't any word on who this character is yet (the movie doesn't come out until next May), but a first look from USA Today points toward her being a character named Audrey.   As far as I'm concerned, she's the daughter of Pontofel and Neepha Pheepha (apparently, that's how her name is spelled), though I doubt this will be brought up in the movie.