“Bleeding hearts of the world unite”
Many people have mixed feelings about this film and it is typically hated or loved. I am in the love camp. After re-watching this film for the first time in a couple of years, I noticed so much that I never did before. This film actually has a lot going for it.
Most of us know the story of the Grinch. We have read the book, seen the half hour animated special by Dr. Seuss himself, but this is something far different.
The film is extremely creative and inventive. The Grinch could never make it as a feature-length film all on its own, and so the creators of the movie would have to be really imaginative.
The movie gives us the Grinch’s back-story—why he is the way he is. It all expands on the Whos themselves and it is really quite good.
The Grinch was Dr. Seuss’s version of A Christmas Story with an added theme of anti-consumerism. The film is still both of these things but expanded.
It starts out with the Whos specifically Cindy-Loo-Who and her family. Turns out, the Whos actually were the happy little consumers obsessed with gifts and decorations that the Grinch always thought them to be. The Grinch, at his most basic, is just a bitter, angry cynic who views the world thru jaded glasses (somewhat appropriate since he is green and all—trust me, the pun was accidental).
Cindy is unsure of what Christmas is all about and so the movie gets into Charlie Brown territory (esp. concerning the commercialization of Christmas but also about the quest for the true meaning of Christmas). She is depressed by the thought that Christmas is only about buying presents and after a run in with the Grinch who seems to be not as nasty as everyone thought, decides that if she can get the Grinch to be part of the town’s Christmas festivals, that maybe she can understand what Christmas is actually about.
When then see into the Grinch’s past and he did not have the best of childhoods. I am not entirely convinced that the reasons given are good enough for running away but they are certainly good enough excuses for hating Christmas. Besides, at least we are given reasons why the Grinch is the way he is.
The movie makes the Grinch a likable and character that the audience sympathizes with and in actuality; he is not the real villain. He is an anti-hero of course, but the real villain is the mayor. The Grinch has he is reasons for being the way he, the mayor is just a bully and a jerk.
Out of this comes the potential subplot of racism. It is very subtle and only touched on briefly but it is there, adding even more socio-politically redeeming value to it.
Like this actual movie, people have mixed feelings also about Jim Carey, I among them. I admit that I feel several of his movies are completely stupid but those feelings aside, I do recognize he is very good actor. I think is does an excellent performance as the Grinch and really fleshes out the character past what Seuss had wrote but at the same time, stays true to the character Seuss described.
There is another problem that people have with turning Dr. Seuss books into live action movies—the atmosphere. Dr. Seuss really had a brilliant, whimsical, warped universe where all his books take place, which everyone who likes Dr. Seuss loves. These concepts do not always translate when limited by our universes laws of physics especially when special effects can only go so far. However, I think the film does a fairly decent job at this.
The movie is pretty funny with some jokes and references only the adults in the audience will get making it a great candidate for family movie night. The film does have redeeming value such as what Christmas is really about and what it is not about, as well as a touch on racism and accepting and loving people that are different even if we do not understand them. The effects for the most part are good and the acting is great. Furthermore, the movie is narrated by Anthony Hopkins!!!!
I really do enjoy this film and I therefore give The Grinch 4.5 out of 5 stars for fun, entertainment, and the messages it has. As far as a Christmas movie goes, it gets 4.8 stars for it reminding us that Christmas is not about “stuff”
On a side note, The Grinch is a thousand folds better than the live action movie of Cat in the Hat, which I really do not like.
One last thing, I noticed today that someone found this review by searching on Google for where the Grinch lived so I thought I’d give a direct answer in case others come looking: The Grinch lives in the whimsical universe created by Dr. Seuss—more specifically he lives in a cave near the top of a mountain called Mt. Crumpit located in the small town of Whoville. I hope this answers your question.
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