Why "The Lorax" is changing my life.

So, I went to see the Lorax tonight with a couple of good friends. Not immediately my first choice, but considering it is the top movie this week despite it's 57% rotten tomatoes rating, I went. Immediately I sized up this animated childrens movie as boring and unoriginal comparing the animation and storyline to that of it's superior, Pixar. I cringed at the opening song sequence and oddly dis-proportioned characters and objects in the film (so un-Pixar like). I rolled my eyes at the two main coming of age characters (somewhere between 12 and 20, maybe?) and their simplistic love story. And Betty White, really? She was so, last Super-Bowl season.

Then Ed Helms came in and changed everything.

And I take back what I said earlier, because you can't really say those things about a movie that made you cry.

The Lorax turned out to be quite a multi-faceted movie bringing up a few different talking points (and cringing points for some of my friends). One could debate the weighty political/ economic message of the movie and go on and on about Helms' musical tribute to corruption of modern capitalism.One could also spend quite a bit of time comparing the environmental curriculum to that of movies of an earlier era like Ferngully (this is all just propaganda, right?). But, really what I'd rather focus on is what happens in the last few minutes of the movie, because that is where bipartisan lines cease to divide and the real beauty is found.

I don't know what it is about seeing a film about the end of someone's life that I find so moving. A movie in which someone dies and there is some tribute paid to their life, whether good or bad, large or small, is always particularly touching. I don't like death, to be honest with you, and I don't have some creepy fascination with the death or the pain that is associated with it. What I do love, thought, is the examination of a life lived. What is more emotionally riveting than looking at and celebrating the fullness of a person's life?

I can't say for sure that the end of "The Lorax" was the end of Helms' character's life, there is nothing to really indicate this at all. But there is a specific examination, of sorts, that the Lorax gives of his life. Helms' character, the Once-ler, has lived a life full of regret, and it is quite apparent throughout the movie that he is greatly ashamed of the decisions he made, decisions that have brought about a lasting consequence to the characters around him. Essentially he breaks a promise, and the end result is caos.

But, that's not the whole of the story. I think the great thing about this film is it's ability to inter weave one story with another, revealing bits of plot one small portion at a time until slowly it brings us to one final resplendent conclusion.

So here we are again at the end of the movie, standing outside on old house watching an old unkept Once-ler water his new found landscape. Enter the Lorax. He has returned to express his deep found gratitude to Once-ler for finally keeping his promise.

It's at this part that I couldn't quite keep it all together anymore, it's this part in every movie that just get's me.

So what does all of this mean? I can watch a movie about a man that has a complete breakdown over the fact that he may die of cancer and still retain a straight face, but, watch a big yellow mustache tell a guy in a pink scarf "gee, thanks" and it's waterworks. It's all of this life lived stuff that I'm still trying to figure out, in the movies and in my own life.

I think I love these life reflective movies so much because I desire so desperately to live a life worth celebrating. I want to look back on my life as an old woman and not be filled with the regret of not living as fully as I had intended. But how do I get there without missing the essential steps? This brings me to the place where I have found myself struggling for quite a while now. What do I do with my life? I've found myself recently at an all defining crossroad, a point in my journey where the next few decisions will drastically shape the rest of my life. And I can't move forward.

A barrage of questions keep swirling around in my head; "what do you want to do, what are you good at, what are you passionate about, what is going to make you happy?" And wouldn't I really just like to have the good life without having to work another day in my life? Isn't that the answer we're probably all looking for?

But, watching movies like "Braveheart" has taught me that, in life, we either settle for the ok things, or we fight for the greater things.

And that has become the pivotal factor for me, it's not so much what I do, it's how hard I'm willing to work for it. Good things don't come to those who wait, they come to those who work hard.

And this really goes hand in hand with something Dr. Seuss was trying to say through this movie:

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

So, care greatly, make good decisions and work hard. It seems like this is at least a good start to a greater life.