Universal Pictures
It’s been 61 years since the classic children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas was first released, and 52 years since the classic holiday TV special was first broadcast. And it’s still aired every holiday season. Eighteen years ago, a live action movie was released as well. So unless you’re five years old or less, you have most likely seen some version of the story. The question is — do we need another version? I mean, there’s only so much you can do with it before it becomes not the original story any longer.
And that’s the problem with adapting a short book (and a 26 minute cartoon) into a feature-length movie. You have to embellish it and those additions can sometimes make the main point of the story … pointless. If you don’t know the story, it’s Christmastime in Whoville, everyone is decking their halls and getting ready for the big day. High above the town lives The Grinch, a sour creature who abhors the holiday, so much so that he intends to put a stop to it by stealing everything from the Whos while they sleep on Christmas Eve. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t dampen their spirits and their joyful singing on Christmas morning fills his heart and he returns everything and joins the celebration.
In the original story, the Grinch’s disdain for Christmas is explained simply as his heart is just two times too small. The only thing he really cares about, barely, is his faithful dog Max. Other than that, he’s just an unpleasant creature, and the songs from the original cartoon make that abundantly clear. He has no redeeming value. The 2000 live action movie gave the Grinch a backstory that gave him a reason for being so mean (he was bullied at school for being different), and the new version of The Grinch gives us a different backstory of the young, orphan Grinch, left all alone at the orphanage on Christmas. And this is where the film’s fatal mistake lies — they use the ‘two sizes too small’ explanation but then give us this story that is meant to garner sympathy and make him likable long before he makes his change. Imagine Ebeneezer Scrooge saying ‘Bah, humbug’ to Christmas but still giving money to charity, or giving Bob Cratchit the holiday off, with pay. His transformation in the end would have no emotional impact, and that is exactly what happens in The Grinch. He’s never really mean enough to garner a sense of joy in the audience when his heart grows three times as big and he lets the holiday spirit wash over him.
The movie has other issues as well. Technically, it is beautifully animated and everyone’s favorite character is bound to be Max, but there is the addition of a rotund reindeer who will also be enjoyed (and I was prepared to hate the guy but the addition to the story wasn’t as offensive as I’d expected and there is a better emotional payoff to that character than there is to the Grinch). I even enjoyed the character voiced by Kenan Thompson as someone who believes he’s The Grinch’s best friend. The design of Whoville is delightful and it’s a place I wouldn’t mind living in. That being said …
Pharrell Williams had a huge hit song from Illumination’s Despicable Me 2, ‘Happy’, but for some reason the powers that be decided to let Tyler the Creator butcher the classic tunes and turn them into some horrendous rap songs … while relegating Pharrell to the narrator position for the movie. The songs were bad enough, but Pharrell’s flat reading of the dialog that combined Dr. Seuss’ original prose with newly minted rhymes was dreadful. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Unless you know going in that Benedict Cumberbatch is doing the voice of the Grinch, you’d have no idea who it is. If you’re going to hire Cumberbatch to voice a character that’s supposed to be a bit evil, then let Cumberbatch speak in his own voice! It’s the classic trope of movies that if you have an English accent, you’re a bad guy (it’s why in classic movies, Romans and Germans are always played by Brits). Instead he uses a grating, generic American accent that is probably causing Boris Karloff to spin in his grave.
Yes, I’m being a Grinch. I’m old school Grinch, having grown up with the TV special, and I didn’t even hate the Jim Carrey movie. But this The Grinch was just wrong-headed in its execution of the story, and worst of all it was boring. I struggled to stay awake. But the preview audience and their kids seemed to enjoy it, and Universal is predicting a big opening weekend but for my money, nothing can beat the original.
Share this post
