How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has been adapted for the screen before. Boris Karloff voiced the furry green grump in 1966. Jim Carrey at his charmless worst starred in the horror-show 2000 live-action movie. Now, comes another animation that takes up the book’s message that you can’t buy Christmas and tops it up with noisy, wacky capering, squishing and flattening Seuss’s universe into yet another kids’ movie. This film is more plush, posh and upscale!!
Benedict Cumberbatch with an American accent does a decent job voicing the Grinch. He lives on a mountain high above the gingerbread-pretty town of Whovillle where festive goodwill is spreading like an epidemic. Like that other noted Christmas-hater, Scrooge there’s an explanation for his shriveled heart that’s rooted in the Grinch’s backstory. He grew up unloved in an orphanage where Christmas came not even once a year.
To destroy the fun for everyone else, this year the Grinch is still impersonating Santa to steal the town’s presents. At the same time, cute-as-a-button Cindy Lou (Cameron Seely) devises a plan to trap Santa as he comes down the chimney. She wants to be doubly sure her Christmas wishes come true.
As the narrator, Pharrell Williams delivers Seuss’s sing-song rhymes beautifully and the animation is tip-top. There are also a couple of scenes that put Cumberbatch to work. In the best of them, the Grinch ventures into town to do his grocery shopping. He's stamping on the town folks Christmas cheer and merriment with malicious glee.
More bah-humbuggery – which is his rational response to the wall-to-wall Christmas shoppers – and less zany antics here would have done the job better. As it is, the movie may leave you feeling as if you’ve been standing on an escalator for 90 minutes during the Christmas rush.
This movie is appropriate for most younger viewers with many more scenes of physical comedy than genuine peril (though there is a scene in which it looks like the Grinch will fall over a mountain but of course he's saved). Expect lots of falls from heights, catapulting through the air, speeding on sleds, etc. The Grinch ends up in his underwear in a brief scene and a naked Who is seen behind a cookie that's strategically placed to obscure anything inappropriate. Like Seuss' original, this is a story about kindness, compassion, love, and generosity being the true meaning of Christmas. 5* (I really liked this movie)
95 min, Animation directed by Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mossier and written by Michael LeSieur, Tommy Swerdlow with Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Seely, Rasida Jones, Pharrell Williams, Tristan O’Hare, Kenan Thompson, Sam Lavagnino, Ramone Hamilton, Angela Lansbury, Scarlett Estevez, Michael Beattie, Lori Alan, Carlos Alazraqui, Dough Burch, Tuck Cavadini, Tucker Chandler, Townsend Coleman, Meilee Condron, Abby Cradron, Brian T. Delaney.
Note: Imdb 6.3* out of 5* with 53,399 reviews, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Cath Clarke, RollingStone 2* out of 5* Pewter Travers, chicagotribune.com 2.5* out of 5* Katie Walsh, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen, 3* out of 5*, age 6+, 1* education, sexy stuff, language, 3* violence & scariness, 4* positive message, role models.
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