Universal's DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
© 2001 Universal

Related Links

0

DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

Those Thomas Hardy-loving, Godard-praising folks at the Village Voice or any City Paper failed to see the true beauty of this film, because it has true beauty and isn't about some person trying at life and failing. Forget Lynch, forget Kubrick, forget Araki and their cold world views, this reviewer, and the general population, worship at the altar of director Ron Howard and other such dream makers who keep our hopes alive, no matter how ludicrous, with minimal repercussions for actions that in reality would land one in jail, and rightfully so!

DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS starts with a bang and never lets up. We first encounter the Grinch (Jim Carrey, ONCE BITTEN) as four young Whoville teens scale the mountain where that Filthy McNasty lives, only to have the dickens scared out of them by one of that lovable rapscallion's booby traps a huge monstrous head. Back in Whoville little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen, WE WERE SOLDIERS) meets the dastardly title character - who almost kills her, until his loveable dog Max forces him to have a change of heart. Soon little Cindy becomes intent on bringing the Grinch into polite Whoville company, conducting a series of interviews, loosely inspired by CITIZEN KANE, that allow the audience to find out the motives of the questionable jerk on the hill.

Unlike Dr. Seuss' book, where no such backstory was provided, the new movie tells the tale of an unpopular, with the boys, different-looking child but at least he's not fat who was discovered one night after a particularly saucy key party by a couple of old maids. They raised the boy as one of their own, but the child's violent streak, inability to think things through, and drastic actions eventually land him alone on top of a hill. If only he would have known that the cutest girl in school liked him instead of the fat kid all would be different. Of course the town could be partially responsible for the kid's isolation by their failure to search for the missing child, instead of just letting it go. (The residents of Whoville have been punished in my fan fiction classic, already posted in many chat rooms: HOW THE GRINCH WON A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FOR NEGLECT.)

Eventually the whole materialism issue concerning Christmas is brought into question and little Cindy Lou Who who is cute and therefore can maintain audience attention and win hearts, instead of say, an ugly kid starts to lose faith in the holiday. (Actually, what does Christmas mean in Whoville? They don't have a Bible; they have the Book of Who. Do they celebrate the birth of Whosus Christ?) As all this goes on, the Grinch sits high in his mountain home and makes references to other movies which seems odd considering I noticed no television or movie projecting system in his house. Perhaps he reads the trades.)

Eventually Cindy Lou Who convinces the Grinch to come to town and the results are disastrous. Since this occurs at the middle of the film, one expects a second chance for redemption will occur. Will it? See DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS and find out!

What an improvement over the haggard classic, with its boring concept of a person being won over by the inherent goodness of the human soul: this new version instead shows the ravages of unpopularity on the human psyche and that it is never too late for redemption as long as people can remain strong in spite of such a person repeatedly spitting in their face. (One verse of "Welcome Christmas" after your house is ravaged by burglars will no doubt have said criminals returning all your goods while dressed in Santa outfits.)

Knowing that more people were familiar with the Grinch from the 1966 television cartoon classic, the film incorporates two key songs from that piece "Welcome Christmas" and "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch" and provides narration by an actor famous for playing a ghoul himself (Boris Karloff, 1966; Anthony Hopkins, new version). In order to pad out the short story and still maintain audience interest, the scriptwriters Jeffrey Price (WILD, WILD WEST) and Peter S. Seaman (TRENCHCOAT) looked to the John Hughes "dork wins the day" plot device. Kids will now learn a valuable lesson: as long as you're not corpulent, unpopularity is usually the result of the popular ugly kids being jealous.

Ron Howard must have loved ALADDIN, for he directs Jim Carrey to play the Grinch as a pop culture-referencing fool, much like Robin Williams did in that cartoon "classic." (Then again, that seems to be Carrey's shtick anyway.) The film itself is the basic slapped-together Carrey vehicle, the Grinch the perfect character to let that actor go full bore. The movie, though 104 minutes in length, manages to abridge the Dr. Seuss classic leaving out some scenes and choice dialogue. The ultimate question though is: "Is this film entertaining?" Well, yes. Carrey, with his rubber-faced antics, continues to please. Children will love the colorful sets and the residents of Whoville who look like Mickey Mouse minus the ears. The commentary on the commercialism of Christmas is typical of contemporary Hollywood and the sentiment is appreciated, even if it is questionable considering that the film itself is a commercial product. This may not be Dr. Seuss done faithfully for that the 1966 cartoon is the true gem but for a nice way to entertain the children, this is pleasant viewing.

Two versions of the disc are available: full frame and widescreen anamorphic. The widescreen version is in the 1.85:1 theatrical aspect, and is the version viewed for this review. Picture quality is superb, as is the transfer. Sound is available in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround.

There are a plethora of extras available on this disc.

There is a "For Kids" section in which children can do such things as dress the Grinch in various outfits, play a rhyming game, sing-along with songs from the film and read a special new Grinch story by Max the dog or have Max the dog read it for them oddly the dog speaks perfect English.

The disc includes many making-of segments, including "Make-Up Application and Design," "Seussian Set Decoration," "Visual Effects" and "Spotlight on Location," the titles of which speak for themselves.

There are deleted scenes and outtakes, though unfortunately neither features a chapter menu. The deleted scenes demonstrate the beauty of editing and none of the scenes including one that is straight from the book would have done much except slow the film down. It's a one-view extra. The blooper reel (a.k.a. outtakes) is notable in not being particularly amusing, just a bunch of people screwing up lines and a few crazy moments from Carrey.

There is a preview for a Grinch video game that looks like it was rush-released and on the DVD-ROM portion you can play a sample version. The music video for Faith Hill's "Where Are You Christmas" is here and I'm sure there are some people who'll like it. Included is a text segment called "Wholiday Recipes" for those who want to make generic Christmas snacks and treats and are too lazy to buy a cookbook. Biographies of cast & crew are also to be found along with the obligatory theatrical trailer.

Sadly, there is no commentary track from any of the participants, but, hey, you can't have it all.