The Lorax Bluray Combo Pack {A Review}

A few days ago, my family was lucky enough to receive a copy of Dr Seuss's new movie, The Lorax in the 2D Bluray/DVD Combo Pack to review. If you haven't yet heard of this movie, here's the official synopsis:

The imaginative world of Dr. Seuss comes to life like never before in this visually spectacular adventure from the creators of Despicable Me! Twelve-year-old Ted will do anything to find a real live Truffula Tree in order to impress the girl of his dreams. As he embarks on his journey, Ted discovers the incredible story of the Lorax, a grumpy but charming creature who speaks for the trees. Featuring the voice talents of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate and Betty White, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is filled with hilarious fun for everyone!

To be honest, I didn't really think the movie sounded all that great myself. Even as a huge fan of two of the voice talents- Zac Efron and Taylor Swift- I had no real desire to rush off and watch it, but my son had been talking about it for a few months and so when I was contacted asking if I'd like to receive a copy to review, I jumped on the chance. My little guy is extremely picky, so when he actually wants to watch something new, you don't pass that chance up!! He was so excited when it arrived that we had to watch it immediately...twice!! Despite my initial skepticism, I surprisingly found myself really enjoying the movie as well! The colors are nice and bright, you can't help but watch and there are some great musical numbers throughout the movie as well. (Of course, that should have been expected with the cast!) Those two things together were enough to grab both my attention lacking son and myself!! One of my other initial thoughts upon reading the synopsis was that the story sounded quite similar to Wall-E, and while there truly were a few similarities, they are also completely different as well, and I thought The Lorax was probably more 'kid friendly'- as in more fun with the music, colors, fun characters, etc. It was a great message about how we can all make a difference in our environment, and very relevant in today's time. Overall, I loved the movie, and Shaun loved it even more. In fact, even after watching two times on that first day, he has still been asking to watch it daily!!

The movie is available in both 2D and 3D combo packs. Because we don't have a 3D TV, we opted to go with the 2D version. The Bluray includes some amazing features, such as:

• 
  MINI MOVIES
• Serenade -- Two Bar-ba-loots -- one love shy and the other suave and confident -- battle for the heart of their would-be sweetheart with the help of a colorful cast of characters, including the Humming-Fish and Swomme-Swans.
• Wagon-Ho—Two Bar-ba-loots take The Once-ler’s wagon on a ride they won’t soon forget.
• Forces of Nature—Determined to scare The Once-ler out of Truffula Valley, The Lorax decides to create the illusion of ominous forces of nature.

• MAKING OF THE MINI MOVIES—Go behind the scenes at Illumination Mac Guff to see the joys and challenges of continuing the characters’ stories in the dynamic format of the mini movie.
• DELETED SCENE
• SEUSS TO SCREEN—A fascinating look into the translation of Seuss’ iconic style from book into the big feature film canvas.
• SEUSS IT UP!— A great tutorial on how to draw the Lorax, a Humming-Fish and a Bar-ba-loot in the unique Seuss style.
• TRUFFULA RUN—The player moves left and right to avoid obstacles while attempting to pick up berries with modes for easy, medium and hard.  As difficulty increases, the player will have more obstacles to avoid. 
• “LET IT GROW” SING ALONG— Karaoke-style sing along to the end credit version of Let It Grow.
• FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH CO-DIRECTORS CHRIS RENAUD & KYLE BALDA
• ONCE-LER’S WAGON— While the Once-ler is away peddling his wares, the curious forest creatures have fun with his belongings.  Users can select an item for the creatures to mimic or play with and then watch the adorable antics of all the forest friends.

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVELY ON THE BLU-RAY^TM:

• GET OUT OF TOWN—In this game, the player must help Ted navigate through town on his scooter in order to make it to the Lerkim and meet the Once-ler.  At the end of each level, Ted must solve an obstacle puzzle to advance to the next section. There are three levels and three puzzles to complete to win the game. 
• O’HARE TV— Watch the Lorax with hilarious commercial interruptions courtesy of O’Hare TV.
• EXPEDITION TO TRUFFULA VALLEY—Explore and navigate within the Truffula Valley to learn more about how the characters and creatures come to life.

Now, we have not had a chance to try out ALL of these features just yet, we have watched a few- particularly the mini movies! Our favorite was Wagon-Ho, my son was literally falling on the floor laughing so hard at this one. It was great to see more of the adorable characters featured in the movie, but whom we didn't see as much of. They were also followed by an explanation of why the mini movies were created which was really neat to see as well. I'm one that likes to see all the behind scenes footage and get a better idea of how movies were made, as well as why the filmmakers did things the way they did. I'm sure I'm not completely alone in that! This bluray is packed full of these amazing features, and I look forward to checking out more (once my son lets me watch something OTHER than the movie itself!!)




If you'd like to purchase your own copy, you can do so here.

(Once again, a copy of this movie was provided to our family free in exchange for this honest review. All thoughts are my own.)