Team RWBY's Commentary of The Lorax (2012) (Part 2 - Final)

"So the Once-ler's family comes out to live with him and, once again, it's not the Once-ler himself who's consumed by productivity. That would make him interesting, identifiable, and complex. No, it's just his evil family that eggs him on. So, we guess as long as you don't have one of those, this could never happen to you.", Ruby summarized as they saw said scene with the Once-ler's mother telling her son that he's now running a business, "Even his progression seems hastily original was good at showing the Once-ler debate himself but then always find an excuse to keep going bigger. And even the story never claimed that going to another extreme was the answer."

Yang exampled, "It was trying to find that middle road that wasn't victimless, but was the best compromise we could come up with. Here, one song and BOOM! Overnight douche!", as the next part of the film has the Once-ler singing How Bad Can I Be? during his progression of power, "Instead of slowly but surely over the course of the film we see the progression of these choices and the effect that it's having, it's just one song. Anakin Skywalker's transition in Revenge of the Sith was more complex.", then reacting to The Lorax being given a Thneed as he was taken pictures with one billboard claiming it is Lorax Approved.

"And there's your allegory for the movie right there. Just take a picture with the Lorax on your product and BOOM! It's suddenly Lorax Approved!", Blake told, proving her point as she plays many commercials with companies promoting The Lorax movie like HP and iHop, "Ironic this song is against everything corporate when that's exactly what The Lorax marketing was doing.", also playing the Mazda commercial promoting the film, "Enjoy your air-polluting car! The Lorax says it's okay!", also noticing during the song, "On top of that, have you noticed that out of the five songs in the movie, only one is pro trees? And it's only played at the end?"

Weiss nodded, "And yes, we know they're being ironic in praising overproductivity, but by the gods, four upbeat modern-style pop songs about it and only one, fucking one song that actually says 'Give a damn about the trees'? Don't you see even a little bit of a problem with that?", issuing the songs' inconsistencies, "They're not even timeless songs. They all sound like the Top 10 from Radio Disney."

"It seems as if they were trying to reach the most popular demographic.", Ozpin assumes.

Ironwood also noted, "We respect that. As if they're trying to get their message out to as many people as possible."

"Yeah, but the popular way isn't always the lasting way.", Weiss taught.

Ruby assisted her teammates' reasoning by saying, "Fad is just one letter away from fade. And that's exactly what they do. They fade away. That's why it's better to focus on being good, rather than being popular. If they can be both, great. But if they had to choose one over the other, always pick good over popular, because once the people grow out of it and move on to the next popular thing, there's nothing of substance to bring it back. And the timeless message that they claim to fight so hard for...becomes just another passing trend to forget about."

"Powerful words, Ruby Rose.", Ozpin impressed politely.

Ironwood bets, "Almost as good as mine.", simply nodding once with respect while stern.

"So, as I'm sure you guessed, the Once-ler finally chops down the last tree and his business, as well as the forest, is completely gone.", the leader of team RWBY said next.

The elder sister of Ruby says, "The Once-ler's family abandons him, and the Lorax lifts his ass into Heaven, leaving the Evil McObvious villain O'Hare to be inspired to be the next big tyrant.", watching a clip of a younger O'Hare being inspired by the Once-ler's invention when working on a billboard, "And, of course, you know how the rest of the story goes. The Once-ler gives the boy the last seed and it's left up to him, as well as the children watching to make the choice on whether or not they'll grow a cleaner and better world, leaving on a powerfully quiet, emotionally fueled, and subtly ambiguous...final note."

Soon enough, the four members of team RWBY couldn't help but giggle to this remark as it grew louder in amusement.

"Are you girls alright?", Winter worried a bit.

The female Faunus apologized for her teammates, "We're sorry...the idea of any Dr. Seuss movie doing anything clever or subtle! No! Of course they don't do that!", the four laughing momentarily, "No, this one has car chases! Yeah! Because if there's anything that people were complaining were missing from Dr. Seuss, it was more fucking car chases!", adding, "Also, we get thebig bad corporation trying to take control of the people's minds! By the gods, they're making Hail HYDRA sound like a weather-resistant German car!"

"Throw in a radical snowboarding granny...", the Schnee heiress continued, "...a tubular scooter that's probably polluting the more times he rides around on it...seriously, you're just talking, do you have to ride around in circles like that...and we clearly see the town not over the progression of time and patience, but rather fucking instantly join the boy's side, go out to plant a million trees, and sing another pop song about it.", while they watch the excerpts of said moments during the film's climax before hearing a bit of the movie's final song Let It Grow, "Oh, God! People were satirizing Let It Go before it even came out! HOW POPULAR IS THIS SONG?!", thinking of the Frozen song Let It Go.

Ruby concludes when seeing the last scene with the now-revealed elderly Once-ler seeing The Lorax return as he was watering the Truffula trees, "We even see the Lorax come back! Yep, he comes back, removing all the weight of ambiguity and sense of urgency, and instead give the audience their happy little ending.", and reacting the Once-ler hugging the Lorax, "Aww! Isn't that just precious? Say, while you're at it, why don't they just clarify that Bambi's mom never died? It was a bit of a downer, why don't they just clarify that she came back and they all lived happily ever after?"

"Come to think of it, why don't you just reveal whether or not the top falls over in Inception?", imagined Yang, "Why don't you just tell us what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johansson?Or give away what was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Because that's what life is made up of, right? Answers. Easy, non-thought-provoking answers. And we need to prepare everyone for just how fucking easy life is going to be! Yeah, sure they made us think! But look at it this way, THEY MADE US THINK!", screaming afterwards before calming down, "Maybe that's the idea... Maybe the message will last longer because people keep coming back to think about it!"

Ironwood said, "Now that you finished it..."

"What would you girls say about the moral?", Ozpin awaited.

Ruby simply said, "There's nothing left to exploit, so it's because they have given them nothing challenging, and thus nothing valuable to keep coming back to."

That was when the four members of team RWBY begin their concluding thoughts;

"Though it's not as bad as The Grinch or The Cat in the Hat, and the animation style is colorful and lends its way to Seuss's world better than live action, The Lorax still sucks in capturing the spirit of Dr. Seuss. Instead of being poetic, it panders to the mainstream.", the red-black-haired huntress first said.

The blonde huntress reasoned, "Instead of having it speak to everyone, it paints extremes that alienates the truth of the story. And instead of being dark and subtle, it knocks you on the head with its message, ironically making it far less memorable."

"Dr. Seuss fans and others may not be coming back because they gave them nothing that shows you respect them as thinking people.", said the black-haired huntress, "They simplified it, made it easy. So easy that nobody finds it fun anymore. I don't care how many movies they make, how popular they are for the moment..."

The white-haired huntress finished her girlfriend's sentence, "...or how often they keep missing the spirit of these great stories, because no matter what they do, people are always gonna keep returning to the masterful books of Dr. Seuss. Not only because they remember them, but because they're worth remembering."

As a moment of silence ensues in the office, Ozpin simply stood up without a word before he said, "Team RWBY, that's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Huh?", the four girls of team RWBY said as they watch Ozpin walk over to look out the windows of his office of the entire far view of Vale and the whole academy.

Ozpin spoke, "You four were right about Seuss. His books will indeed last forever in the history of books for all ages, especially for the young and young-hearted. But sometimes, people take that for granted. So, what better way to remind them of Seuss's power than making films that either enhances it or completely screws up?"

"So, Universal's films... The Grinch, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, you think they were all purposely terrible and dated?", Ruby and Yang asked.

The professor continues, "They needed to be popular so that everyone would see them, but they also needed to be horrible so that everyone would go back to remember just how good the original stories were. True beauty never fades, you just need to be reminded of it once in a while."

Ruby couldn't help but shed a tear of joy when hearing this while her other three teammates were joyously emotional by their professor's words, before she started crying tears as she said, "We almost forgot to acknowledge the tragic loss of the actress who played the grandmother in the movie and one of the Golden Girls herself, Betty White... She was a tremendously great actress who played many great roles in film and television... She would've turned 100 years old and become a centennial, but...she died on New Year's Eve just weeks before her 100th birthday... We're just...very sad she's not here with us anymore...", sniffling and trying to hold in tears.

"Come here.", Ozpin cared as she came over to hug Ruby, just as the latter couldn't help but cry over the loss of Betty White.

Yang, Blake and Weiss were tearing up as well, the three walking over to hug Ruby as well.

Ironwood smiled happily at the five's emotional moment, while Winter Schnee respectfully sheds a tear.

The five of them stood there for moments as team RWBY had finally finished their Lorax review...

In Loving Memory of Betty White (1922 - 2021)

End of Team RWBY's Commentary of The Lorax (2012)

Up Next: Team RWBY's Commentary of Bridge to Terabithia