I was super skeptical when this was announced. The 1966 Boris Karloff cartoon is perfection, and there is absolutely not way it can be improved upon. Then I started to see some really snarky and clever Billboards across town, with the Grinch’s image and LA-centric slogans. “Seriously, another day of sunshine?”
“You’ll never make it to your yoga class.” “I put gluten in your smoothie.”
“The best thing about the holidays is everyone goes home to where they came from.” “Maybe tomorrow you’ll find a shortcut to the 405” Or my favorite, the bus ad with “Hope you make it to your audition”. My friends later told me of NYC ones “You’ll never get Hamilton tickets’ or my actual favorite “No, I will not go to your Off-Broadway play”. The point being, that maybe there would be something to this version of the Grinch that I would like.
I think we know the story of The Grinch, yeah? Green guy, lives in a cave up a mountain outside Whoville. Hates Christmas because his heart is two sizes too small, so he tries to steal the holiday from the Whos down below. Right. Same story here. Although, if you’ll recall, the Karloff cartoon is less than half an hour, so we’ve got some story expansions here. They’re mostly filler, nothing too exciting.
But the core story is very well told, and the animation is absolutely beautiful. It took me all of 20 seconds to decide that I want to live in Whoville forever, and experience Christmas with them the way they do. It was all unbelievably cute too, especially when Max the dog was involved.
Of course, what is the Grinch without a voice, which was provided by Bennedict Cumberbatch. He was perfect voice casting, with the right mix of brains and mischief.
Look, this movie is never gonna replace the Karloff cartoon, but I can absolutely see them coexisting side by side during the holiday season.
The Grinch – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n