How The Grinch Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Ron Howard

Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin

From: Universal

At least I got to see something while on vacation. The details are below:

I am still on vacation in Kansas. My 5 year old twin nephews don't watch a lot of films and instead it's random shows for toddlers like Team Umizoomi, Max & Ruby, and Paw Patrol. However, the previous night's showing of the film on NBC was DVR'ed so it was watched earlier today. Of course the 60's cartoon was seen on CBS by me a few times as a kid but by the time this came out I was a young adult. Why check out something I thought looked garish? Having finally seen this... yes, the movie is pretty garish, not to mention filled with moments and lines I am not sure I wanted to have my nephews watch and hear.

I knew that of course there needed to be more material added to the Dr. Seuss story in order for this to be a feature film; the Grinch being the Grinch because he was bullied because he needed to shave his face as an 8 year old and it went awry so he had small pieces of shaving tape on his face and everyone laughed at him... I did not predict that beforehand. The rest of it is what you'd expect, although Cindy Lou Who had a more prominent role.

It is easy to see why many Grinch fans don't like this, as the tone is just creepy and to be frank, many of the characters look horrifying. The twins were fine with it but it was too Uncanny Valley for me how the Whovians looked. Plus, did there REALLY need to be a romantic subplot for the Grinch? Then there was how most of them acted like real A-holes and I did not find it too appealing. Jim Carrey... definitely a bravura performance from him but how the character was written and portrayed I say wasn't right for me.

While things appear to be oddly underlit-adding to the creepy tone-at least the sets were lavish and colorful; the production design wasn't one of this film's many problems. But the entire thing is full of goofy sentimentality and I am not sure why Ron Howard thought “children's film” meant “Dutch angles”. Sure, this did show the message of how Christmas shouldn't be so materialistic (which some have said is actually an anti-capitalistic screed which attack the members of the bourgeoisie) but the book and the 60's special narrated by Boris Karloff do that too and I say those should be read and watched before consuming this bizarre, gaudy piece of entertainment.