The Grinch review

THE GRINCH:

THIS CG-ANIMATED UPDATE WILL BRING YOU HOLIDAY CHEER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

The Grinch and Max must stop this Christmas from coming in The Grinch

            Everyone’s favorite green-haired, Christmas hating grump is back in The Grinch, the new CG animated film adaptation of the beloved Dr. Seuss classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Like The Nutcracker, The Grinch has been a tradition for many every Christmas, children and even adults still read Dr. Seuss’ book and watch the equally timeless 1966 animated special by Chuck Jones each year including myself.

            In fact, the book and TV special were so popular that they even spawned a live-action film adaptation in 2000 directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey as the titular character. Despite the live-action version earning a mixed critical response, it was a huge box-office success and went on to become the second highest-grossing Christmas film behind Home Alone.

            Now eighteen years after the release of the Jim Carrey film, Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind the Despicable Me franchise and the 2012 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax brings the world of Whoville to life in CG animated form with this new retelling of The Grinch. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of their Lorax adaptation, I was still interested in seeing their take on The Grinch and to Illumination’s credit, they have a clearer understanding of Dr. Seuss than Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

            I can gladly say this is by far the best theatrical adaptation of the book, though it doesn’t quite live up to the Chuck Jones special. Unlike the Jim Carrey film, the colors are more vibrant, the Whos are not corrupt with commercialism, and it stays true to its moral that Christmas doesn’t come from a store and maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more, with no dog butt kissing required.

            The film takes place in the small town of Whoville, the home of the Whos as they prepare for Christmas with holiday glee. But The Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch-Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Marvel Cinematic Universe), who lives just north of Whoville hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season with a heart two sizes too small.

            Whatever the reason behind his hatred for Christmas, The Grinch anticipates all the noise, feasting, and singing that will occur that day and gets a wonderful, awful idea. To disguise himself as Santa Claus, dress his loyal dog, Max up like a reindeer, and ride a sleigh down into Whoville and steal Christmas.

            Meanwhile, little Cindy Lou Who (voiced by newcomer, Cameron Seely) has plans of her own to seek out Santa Claus to thank him for helping her overworking, widowed mother, Donna Lou Who (voiced by Rashida Jones-The Office, The Social Network, The Muppets (2011)) every Christmas. As Cindy Lou and The Grinch’s plans unravel, they might even learn the true meaning of Christmas along the way.

            The film also features the voices of Kenan Thompson (All That, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Saturday Night Live) as Bricklebaum, Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins Returns) as Mayor McGerkle, singer, Pharrell Williams (Despicable Me franchise, The Voice, Popstar: Never Stop, Never Stopping) as the narrator, and Sam Lavagnino (Bravest Warriors, We Bare Bears, Summer Camp Island) as Ozzy.

            Overall, The Grinch doesn’t really add much new to its source material but has a better understanding of it than the 2000 adaptation. The animation is colorful and imaginative, the story remains faithful to the book with the right number of updates added to it without sabotaging its timeless moral, and the backstory of The Grinch is much stronger in this version and it doesn’t make the Whos look like “Who-rrible” creatures.

            Obviously since this is an adaptation, there are some differences with the story, for starters The Grinch really isn’t all that mean in this version, but rather a little grumpy and misunderstood. Unlike the book and previous adaptations, he slowly learns the true meaning of Christmas as the movie progresses, whenever he’s reminded of Christmas, he flashes back to when he was a sad and lonely little boy in a gloomy, old orphanage, and it’s done quite well.

            Benedict Cumberbatch portrays The Grinch well, though I doubt he’ll make as big an impression as Boris Karloff or Jim Carrey. He plays the role closer to Karloff than Carrey and despite being as cuddly as a cactus, he remains a likable character whereas Carrey’s Grinch may need to explain his other actions other than stealing Christmas to gain redemption.

            However, this isn’t a perfect adaptation and has some flaws, some of the side characters aren’t developed very well and you almost forget they were even in the movie. The mayor of Whoville just has a few lines, The Grinch and Max befriend a fat reindeer named Fred only to vanish from the rest of the movie until the climax, and a group of Cindy Lou’s friends and classmates help her in her plan to find Santa, but they’re forgotten about by the time The Grinch steals everyone’s presents, but those are probably just some nitpicks I have.

            This is a more faithful adaptation of The Grinch than the Jim Carrey film, but I don’t think it will leave as big an impact as that one. It hasn’t exactly aged well, but there’s some huge nostalgia goggles on that movie for kids who grew up in that era and unlike Cumberbatch, Jim Carrey had to do a little more than just provide The Grinch’s voice.

            In terms of capturing the book’s spirit, this new Grinch blows the Jim Carrey one out of the water and should be entertaining enough to make any Grinch’s small heart grow three sizes. If you’re looking for something that will get you into the Christmas spirit, don’t flinch, go see The Grinch.