“The Lorax” is easily Dr. Seuss’ best story and has been my favorite for years (with “The Butter Battle Book” being a close second).  It opens with a young boy in a desolate world who meets a shut-in named The Once-ler.  He tells the youngster a tale of how lush and colorful the world used to be before greed and blind industrialization turned it into a grey wasteland.  And he does it all in Seussian rhyme.  Then he shoots his seed off the balcony and down into the boy’s hands…

For years fans of “The Lorax” have had to settle for 1972′s twenty-five minute TV special if they wanted to see the title character tromp his way through a decimated Truffula forest.  Now though the creative team behind last year’s CGI animated hit Horton Hears A Who! has set their sights on this story of ecological devastation and redemption.  Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul wrote the screenplay for Horton and will be repeating that duty on The Lorax as well as co-directing.  And of course, as required by recent CGI law, the film will be in 3-D.

Another law of CGI filmmaking is the minimum celebrity voice quotient so the question becomes who will voice the title character and his nemesis for the movie?  Eddie Albert narrated the 1972 short with Bob Holt voicing the twin forces of good and evil (The Lorax and The Once-ler).

The Lorax is set for release on March 2nd, 2012.

What do you think of The Lorax? Which Seuss book should be made into a movie next?