Review of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) by Jake M — 21 Dec 2017

How the Grinch stole Christmas (2000) - at first, started out with negative reviews from both critics and fans of the original 1966 animated special. Despite it's cold reception, the movie over the years found its redemption from the many young fans who have grown up watching this movie every holiday season. It has gained so much of a cult following that it has now surprisingly become a staple of the holidays but in my mind I always keep asking myself. is this movie as good as people make it out to be?

The Story: does at least try to find good ways to stretch and expand upon the original book's source material to fit the runtime, but a lot of the added ideas often seem oddly confusing or really misplaced. I'll give credit that somethings like the grinch's backstory and the troubles of modern christmas do sound like interesting ideas to be explored. The problem is that they do it in such an awkward and over the top way that it really makes it hard to sympathize with whatever is happening. It also doesn't help that the film really likes to have fun with it's nasty humor and it's mean spirited tone. It often makes most of the characters look unfriendly and unlikeable and it sadly does hurt a lot of the movie. On the bright side, some of the humor can be pretty funny and I can't deny that sometimes they do actually manage to get some things right with capturing the magic and feel of the book and the animated short. Even though it was trying in some ways, I still personally felt like the movie really misunderstood what made the book and the animated special so meaningful.

The Characters: are handled really poorly and none of them stuck out to me in terms of charm or likability. The only exception is Jim Carrey as the Grinch. Carrey feels like the only person that's ever really trying and His dedication into making his character lovable can really pay off. His comical take on a beloved Dr Seuss character is fun to watch. It's a more over the top tone but Carrey's energy really helped in bringing the nasty hairy green monster to life. Cindy lou who may also be another exception. Despite being a kid at the time, Taylor Momsen does pull of a rather charming performance and honesty, might be the only who in whoville that has some freaking common sense. The rest of the Characters are either portrayed as midless or just plain mean. I wouldn't mind the extra characters they used in the movie if they had some personality but they are really just one dimensional stereotypes with nothing interesting about them. The parents of Cindy are too dumb, Martha is bland female character and the Mayor is such a jerk both to his people and the Grinch. I want to be able to sympathize with as many characters as possible, but it's just so hard when everyone (With the exception of the Grinch and Cindy Lou) In the world of Whoville are completely despicable with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

The Cinematography: is undeniably pretty good especially for the time period this movie came out. I really appreciated how the people wanted to get the movie to look like the book by adding the oddly designed buildings and mechanisms that you would usually find in the Dr Seuss world. The Grinch's cave can also be impressive in how big and unusual a place it is for him to call home. The makeup on the Grinch is super impressive and the way Carrey manages to express emotion under all that latex is just fun to watch. Even the digital effects can really hold up and I like how they only use it when they really need to. Sometimes the faded colors and the musty look can be pretty distracting, The fast paced editing might be too much over the top and the who makeup is pretty freaky at points but everyone still did a very soiled job in making this movie as visually interesting as possible.

The Music: can have its moments of beauty especially when it comes to the song "Where are you Christmas" by Faith Hill. Sometimes I like to theorize that the whole movie was made just to advertise that song. It is downright beautiful and a great allegory to how commercialized Christmas has become over the years, and how we should all remember what Christmas used to be like back in the day. As for the orchestral track, it attempts to capture the tone of movie and for the most part it succeeds, though admittedly it's not quite as impressive.

Final verdict: It does fail in capturing the overall feeling and the core messages of the original source material but it surprisingly isn't the worst thing ever made. Heck, it's not even the worst christmas movie ever. The positive things i've discussed in this review are pretty much the saving graces of the entire movie. Despite its unnecessary mean spirited tone and some bad jokes I did find enough things that were good enough to save it from being a complete disaster. I will stick to watch the original animated special but if you still love the Grinch even despite all its flaws then all power to you. I'll enjoy the the the version I love and you guys can enjoy your version. (C-).