Tag: The Grinch

Categories
Movie Review

Christmas Movie Weekend – The Grinch (2000) Movie Review

Director: Ron Howard

Writer: Jeffrey Price, Peter S Seaman (Screenplay) Dr Seuss (Book)

Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon

Plot: On the outskirts of Whoville, there lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch (Jim Carrey), who plans on ruining Christmas for all of the citizens of the town.


Tagline – You Better Watch Out! 

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Dated Christmas Movie

Story: The Grinch starts as we head to Whoville a small town in the snow covered mountain range, the whole town loves Christmas working all year around to get the most out of the season, with decoration you could see from space, above the town lives a grumpy outcast known as the Grinch (Carrey) who hates Christmas.

When a young Who Cindy Lou Who (Momsen) meets the Grinch and learns about his story, she decides to nominate him for the Christmas award, against the wishes of the town Mayor Augustus Maywho (Tambor), which he reluctantly accepts, going against all his own hatred for Christmas, here the Grinch gets embarrassed once again and comes up with a plan to steal Christmas from the whole village.

Thoughts on The Grinch

Characters – The Grinch is a Who that has lived above the town like an outsider who has always hated Christmas, he always looks for small ways to ruin the season, but this year he will steal everything from them and learn that his constant play for revenge has only ever held him back from enjoying his life. Cindy Lou Who is the little girl that is brave enough to stand up against the town in hopes of inviting the Grinch back into the town, she sees the good in him and wants everybody to be included in the Christmas spirit. Mayor Augustus Maywho has always seen and wanted to keep the Grinch out of the town, he believes he can destroy Christmas.

Performances – Jim Carrey is front and centre here, he is very hard to watch in this role because his turns into one of his routines, with unnatural energy for the role. Taylor Momsen as the young girl is the next strongest out of the whole cast, but if we are honest, most of the cast barely get any time to shine.

Story – The story here focuses on a community of Who’s that love Christmas and the one outsider Who that hates it and decides to get his revenge this year, despite a young girl trying to help him find his Christmas Spirit. This is a Dr Seuss book, so we know that everything is going to be very colourful and over the top with world created, at the heart of this film, we are looking to teach to accept everybody in life no matter how different they are. The problem with this comes with the fact that most of the film is Jim Carrey doing his comedy routine to an audience that isn’t even there, we just don’t get that magical feeling the film is trying to create.

Comedy/Fantasy – The comedy in this film does seem to focus on Jim Carrey’s routines, which just aren’t entertaining enough, while the fantasy side of the film shows us the world where the Who’s live in.

Settings – The film does build a nice setting of the town in the shadow of the city, this does help us learn more about the world we are entering.

Special Effects – The effects are used to turn Carrey into the Grinch, mostly all make up, but it ends up looking creepier rather than different.


Scene of the Movie – The door doing the right thing.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy just gets boring.

Final Thoughts – This is a Christmas movie that just doesn’t get out of trying to be a comedy routine for Jim Carrey, losing the message it is trying to give us.

Overall: Sloppy Christmas Film.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Animation – G – The Grinch (2018) Movie Review

Director: Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mosier

Writer: Michael LeSieur, Tommy Swerdlow (Screenplay) Dr Suess (Book)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Seely, Rashida Jones, Pharrell Williams, Tristan O’Hare, Kenan Thompson, Sam Lavagnino

Plot: A grumpy Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) plots to ruin Christmas for the village of Whoville.

Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: True Christmas Message

Story: The Grinch starts as we head to Whoville as they are preparing for Christmas the happiest time of the year for the town, only The Grinch sits above the town hating the holiday and everything about it with his dog Max.

AS Whoville is trying to have the biggest Christmas of all time, he plans to destroy Christmas once and for all, while a county Who Cindy-Lou is looking to ask for the simplest gift, help for her mother Donna that has been raising the children alone.

Thoughts on The Grinch

Characters – The Grinch is the grumpy who that lives above the town with Max the dog, he hates Christmas the most, he decides that this year is the year that he steals Christmas from the rest of the town, because of his own hate, this is a more cunning plan than the live action film gave us. Cindy-Lou is the one of the youngest members of the town, she wants to wish for help for her mother who is raising her siblings alone while working. She has a plan to try and capture Santa to make this wish in person. Donna is the single parent that has been raising her children alone, while working nights, she does well keeping things together without letting it show too much to her kids. We do have the other young whos that are helping Cindy, and we get Max who gets plenty of laughs with Grinch.

Story – The story here follows the Grinch who decides he wants to steal Christmas from the town who are always rubbing it in his face, while a plucky young girl wants to ask for something more than just a present. This is the second film version of the book I have seen, it is clearly a lot better than the Ron Howard version, holding together the clever dialogue Dr Seuss was famous for, it does ditch the personal back story of the Grinch which does help show him to be a wacky villain always planning, while giving the story a big heart with how the little girl wants what is best for her mother, this is a joy to watch because it is true to what Christmas is really about.

Fantasy/Family – The family message in this film is clear, this is the highlight of the film which is a joy to see, being together is important, whether it true family or people you can call family, while the fantasy side of the film is the world we are thrown into, which does work for the film.

Settings – The small town is always going to work for the film, it shows the unity within one town over the isolation of the Grinch that he is feeling.

Animation – The animation looks wonderful through the film which helps make the film more enjoyable, being able to give us the wacky moments and slapstick working in a way only animation can pull off.


Scene of the Movie – The present.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not knowing the book, so not sure if it is closer or not.

Final Thoughts – This is a joyful Christmas film that could be enjoyed by all, it hits the right marks through the film with ease and gets laughs whenever you need it.

Overall: Christmas Joy.