‘The Lorax’: Why Do Dr. Seuss Movies Suck?
In our weekly video feature Flick Picks, The Daily Beast’s Ramin Setoodeh and Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers debate the new movies opening at a theater near you. See which films get a “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe” from our critics. In this week’s lineup, The Lorax shows us why Dr. Seuss movies don’t work on the big screen. Plus, have we already seen the worst movie of 2012?
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment
The Lorax
Films based on the children’s books of Dr. Seuss—from The Cat in the Hat starring Mike Myers to How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey—perform extremely well at the box office. But why are they so bad? With a thin plot and superfluous characters (including a grandmother voiced by Betty White), the latest Seuss adaptation, The Lorax, doesn’t break that streak.
Wanderlust
Jennifer Aniston’s new comedy, about a married couple that ends up in a (sometimes nude) hippie camp, made a measly $6.5 million in its opening weekend. Do not go to see it, because it’s already one of the worst movies of the year. And there are too many old, naked penises featured.