A faithful translation of Seuss classic

You don't need a whisper-ma-phone to hear the environmental message in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

It comes through loud and clear, with voices familiar and dear, in an animated movie that faithfully translates the 1971 children's story. It expands upon it with a mother and spunky granny, a boy's quest to impress his dream girl, and a new greedy businessman who sells jugs of clean air to the people of Thneedville and spies on them, too.

The movie, released in 3-D and 2-D, has bold, candy-colored landscapes and some serviceable although not memorable songs. It offers the voices of Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Danny DeVito and Betty White, and a couple of villains, one who is purely unscrupulous and another who claims he's just doing what comes naturally as he "builds the economy."

The Lorax, in case no one in your household wears footed pajamas, is a 72-page book about a onetime paradise ruined by an interloper called the Once-ler (voice of Ed Helms).

The Once-ler stumbles upon a pristine place populated with cuddly brown bearlike creatures, Humming-Fish and Swomee-Swans and - best of all - Truffula trees. They have spindly trunks capped by pinwheels of swirly tufts that looked like pink, orange or yellow cotton candy crossed with the hair of a troll doll.

The Once-ler discovers he can turn the silky tufts into a Thneed, an all-purpose knitted garment, and he begins to cut down the trees with disastrous results.

If only he had heeded the pleas and warnings of The Lorax (Danny DeVito), a squat orange creature with a yellow walrus mustache and matching eyebrows. He is the guardian of the forest and famously speaks for the trees.

In the movie, it's a red-haired, high school girl named Audrey (voice of Swift) who longs for a real tree in her yard instead of the battery-powered or inflatable or otherwise fake ones that decorate her town of Thneedville.

Neighbor Ted (Zac Efron) decides the way to win Audrey's heart is to figure out what happened to the Truffula trees. His feisty granny (Betty White) directs him to the reclusive Once-ler but Ted also catches the evil eye of Mr. O'Hare, a diminutive businessman who has made a fortune selling bottled air to Thneedville.

Any resemblance to today's world is purely intentional, including a disregard for the environment that allows the fouling of water, air and land. A business is labeled too big to fail and consumers drive demand for the Thneeds as if they were, well, new Nikes or the latest generation of iPhones.

The tree-hugging message, however, doesn't detract from the fun factor. Director Chris Renaud and crew expertly translate the images from page to screen, present a smoggy wasteland that is scary but won't cause tears, add creative little touches and take advantage of delightful creatures such as the squeaky voiced trio of Humming-Fish.

Although the lead characters sweetly are called Ted and Audrey, real names of Theodor Seuss Geisel and his widow, The Lorax doesn't have the sort of heart in How the Grinch Stole Christmas or Despicable Me.

But it's clear the formula for success isn't turning Seuss books into live-action extravaganzas as with The Cat in the Hat or Jim Carrey's Grinch but into fanciful, full-bodied animation. "Oh, the places we'll go," with or without the 3-D glasses.

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