WARNING, SPOILERS GALORE
Starting off, let me just say that one of the reasons he's so loved by myself and many many others (seriously this guy is so popular) is because he's attractive. At least to us teenage girls ;) I mean just lookit that face~
There are three different sides to Once-ler in the movie. (Sorry couldn't think of a better word) Old Once-ler, Young Once-ler, and Greedy Once-ler.
So lets start off with young Once-ler.
When you first see him at his young age, (I'd say 19-20 years old) he's setting off to find a material to make this invention he created called a Thneed. Right away, you can tell that his family, mostly his mother, are not supportive at all. They poke fun at him, saying he's never going to be successful, but despite this, he keeps a good attitude and leaves hoping to change their mind.
Moving along, eventually he gets to a valley full of Truffula tress. After cutting one down and summoning the Lorax, he eventually promises to stop cutting down trees, because he realizes that he could potentially harm the valley. The fact that he promised this, even at the risk of it getting in the way of his goal, says a lot.
After he creates his Thneed, (its basically something that does nearly everything, the word is actually a combination of "Thing" and "Need", because he says its "a thing everyone needs") he attempts to sell it, and eventually people catch on to how great it really is.
So then a crowd of people come, pretty much demanding he make more. This causes him to call in his family.
When they get there, you start to realize just how much he wants to impress his family. His mother suddenly seems to love him, saying how her telling him he "wouldn't amount to anything" was just "modivation", causing him to express that her saying that always hurt his feelings. You suddenly realize just how bad his family life must have been, and that all he's really trying to do is get accepted and loved by his family.
Now, I'm going to add a side note here. At one point, while he's sketching factory blueprints, he pauses and says to himself, "I am so proud of me." And basically, you see that he feels like he's actually done something right, because I'm sure the poor guy grew up feeling like a failure. And then his mother makes it go from good to bad.
She tells him he needs to start cutting down trees, because picking just the tufts takes too long and that he needs to do it for her. By the expression on his face, you can tell he really doesn't want too, but he really wants to make her proud at the same time. And so he tells her it's okay.
This causes things to go downhill. Big time.
Not only did he break his promise, but he soon seems to not care about the trees anymore. He gets swept up in the attention from his family, the money, and the fame. And it turns him into a bit of a jerk.
And then it shows him walking to his office. And it's really hard to tell, but he looks tired, exhausted really. Like maybe its more work than he'd planned. And to be honest, he kind of looks depressed.
And then the Lorax comes in, reminding him of who he once was, reminding him of broken promises. So Once-ler gets angry. You can tell he's in denial. He doesn't want to admit to himself that he's doing something bad, because he's finally feeling like he's worth something. So he snaps at the Lorax.
Then the last tree falls, meaning the end of his Thneed making, and the end of his business. And as soon as that tree falls, you can just see the look of guilt and realization on his face, it finally sinking into him that he messed up. But now it's too late.
Soon his mother comes up to him, telling him he failed and he's no longer her "favorite". His expression tells you that he finally realizes she never really wanted him, she just cared about his fame. And so then he realizes he was living in denial the whole time. Of course, by now it's far too late. Everyone leaves him. His family, the Lorax, the animals. Leaving him in regret and sorrow.
And then it goes back to old Once-ler. That's when you realize, he's been sitting there, alone, regretting his choice, wishing he hadn't broken his promise. And you forgive him. (Actually I forgave him the moment the last tree fell but that aside) You realize that he's not a bad guy. He was just a guy who got swept up looking for love and worth. And you realize just how relatable he is.
Old Once-ler says many things about how he regrets it all, and how he wishes it had never happened. And you realize just how bad he feels.
The way he's portrayed throughout the whole movie just makes you realize that he's just like anyone else. I mean, he really is.
I'm not saying what he did was okay, because it's not. But, I forgive him. I forgive him because he realized he was wrong and he was sorry.
There's a lot more complicated details that I'm honestly too lazy to go into, but I just wanted to say, I really really care about this character. He's so well done that you can't help but get attached to him, and I'm not lying when I say he's one of the best, or even the best, developed characters I have ever loved.
So hopefully now you understand why everyone loves him so much. Maybe you already do. But that aside, I'm just glad I actually saw the movie, because I had no idea such an amazing character was in it.
Thank you for reading, and thanks for putting up with my current fangirling~
