Review of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) by Drew O — 21 Dec 2012

Christmas films aren't without their flops. There is a countless number of them. One of the biggest flops during the holiday season happens to be this poor and boring adaptation of everyone's second favorite childhood Christmas story (first, of course, is The Night Before Christmas). There is so much that goes wrong in this film that it's unbelievable.

First off, it's really not funny. The most it got out of me was a brief little chuckle. There's so much slapstick humor that it gets boring real fast. It's also so stupid and ridiculous that not even the fact that it's a Dr. Seuss story can justify its stupidity. The one saving grace I will give the film is Jim Carrey, who actually does a decent job as the Grinch and is the only one that managed to get those little chuckles out of me.

It baffles me every time I remind myself that Ron Howard directed this mess. Ron Howard. The man that brought us films like A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 managed to make a film as bad as this. I understand that most directors have a slip somewhere in their careers (even Spielberg's track record isn't perfect), but not on the level of this from a talent like Ron Howard.

Christmas and the Holidays can make for some classic films like It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th street, but How the Grinch Stole Christmas is far from one of them. There's much better ways to spend time during the holiday season than with this weak excuse for a film.