THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
It’s crazy to notice a story can be timeless you wouldn’t care too much if told differently because the message is still intact by the end of it. No example couldn’t be anymore obvious when Illumination made their own animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. PLOT
Narrated by Pharrell Williams, the 2018 film follows the titular green figure who lives in Mount Crumpit with his pet dog. He hates the infamous holiday Christmas that’s celebrated annually in the city of Whoville due to having no one to celebrate it with when he was an orphan. Sadly for him, he visits the town for the sake of groceries and does his best in avoiding every Who that comes his ways. In the twin, six year old Cindy Lou Who wants to send a letter to Santa Claus, wishing for her mother Donna (Rashida Jones) to be relieved of the overwork after taking care of her and her twin brothers (Buster & Bean). When she encounters the Grinch, he sarcastically tells her to talk to Santa Claus face to face if the wish is so important to her, which she takes serious. Knowing it would take too long to reach the North Pole, she plans to capture him with the help of her friends. After a failed attempt of ruining a tree lighting ceremony, he is reminded of the loneliness he’s had since childhood. Tired of beating such memories, he vows to steal Christmas from Whoville to end his personal distress. He steals a sleigh from his jolly neighbor Bricklebaum and only acquire a single fat reindeer he would name Fred. The reindeer however would not take part of the heist when the Grinch discovers he has a family to tend to. With enough gadgets, the mean one is able to pull off the heist with Max alone to pull the sleigh. As they steal every decoration and present they could find, they end up encountering Cindy and fall into the trap she’d been planning. The Grinch would be moved of Cindy’s wish to lighten her mom’s workload but still goes with his plan and keep his ruse. He and Max reach the top of Mount Crumpit by Christmas morning and at that point in time, everyone would wake up in shock of losing all their belongings. Cindy would feel responsible since she trapped who she thought was Santa, but Donna reminds her Christmas is not about materials and tells her she and her brothers are the best thing to happen to her. All the Whos would then sing together and accept the happiness they have in each other. The Grinch would see this from afar and be so moved of this he would regret what he’s done. Just upon the epiphany of Christmas coming from inside, the sleigh would start to fall off the mountain. Thankfully with the help of Fred and his family, he would prevent that from happening. After securing the sleigh, he would slide down to Whoville, confess of his actions and apologize to everyone for it before returning to his cave. Feeling sorry for him, Cindy chooses to invite him for Christmas dinner. He shows up and welcomed by everyone else, he realizes it was loneliness he hated over Christmas. The film would end with him having a toast of his newfound friendship with the townsfolk of Whos.
THOUGHTS
I was very skeptical of getting an animated do-over of this iconic story since I was fine with what was done with the 2000 live action adaptation. However, I’ve come to accept not everyone will like the same thing in my generation and it was logical to have companion update. Admittedly, I still don’t think it’s better than what was done before but movies about Christmas are never about one upping the past. Since Illumination has a style much different from what other studios, you know the whole setting of Whoville in this film is going to be as unique as Seuss’ books are. Does the story go word for word on what was done in the book? No and that’s a good way to make it your own. I say this because the directing duo of Scott Mosier & Yarrow Cheney succeed in reminding us Christmas is all about the joy you have with your loved ones, not the gifts which is honestly an optional part of the tradition. This message is executed very well thanks to an unexpectedly entertaining leading voice performance. No one is ever gonna top what Jim Carrey did in 2000, so there were big shoes for Benedict Cumberbatch to fill in the voice alone. Thankfully, he holds his own from beginning to end as he makes the role his own. He nails it in making the mean one a cantankerous figure whose figure comes from past neglect. Because he had no family to celebrate the holidays with, he hated how everyone else had such a blessing. In all honesty, I relate to that emotional eating montage severely because I’ve had my fair share of emotional days, which is funnier than how rude he was at the grocery store or threw a snowball at a kid. Before he had his epiphany that he could never steal Christmas no matter how hard he tried, all he had was Max, an adorable & smart companion who loved him unconditionally and when he encountered Fred, it was paving the way for him to accept it’s never too late to let people in. Truthfully speaking, he would never have come around had it not been for him meeting the most selfless kid ever written. While Cindy Lou was never a bigger role in the book, it was a blessing for that to change when getting to see her in the live action iteration. The one thing that was done there and remained the same here was how big her heart is. She thinks about others before herself and in this case, she wants her mom to relieved from the stress. That is the most humble wish I’ve ever heard onscreen, making me ashamed I never thought of that myself. This is what moves the Grinch the most and helps him accept he’s making a poor decision. And although she’s making such a sentiment decision, even she came to accept to appreciate family the way they are no matter how complicated they could be. There’s no sugarcoat in knowing feeling sorry for the grinch is the only reason she invited him for Christmas dinner after confessing what he did. To be honest the whole town does because they never asked him how he felt, nor did it ever feel like they ever tried. Because of that, they continue to do right by letting him in now instead of never. Although the whole town did right by forgiving him quickly, there was one guy who was very open no matter how gullible. Bricklebaum was the only new character that caught my eye because Kenan Thompson was great in making him so jolly I would mistake him to be Saint Nick himself. He didn’t know anything about the Grinch, yet he still tries talking to him because he had no reason not to. It would only be quite heartwarming for them to officially be friends by the end of it because that is all what both sides wanted deeply, even though the green one wasn’t really sure at first. With the past finally being behind everyone, I’m sure the Grinch will have a whole generation of Christmases to anticipate and he proved that when getting Max a new toy for the occasion. This movie was admittedly a delight, but that ain’t gonna change the handful of issues I picked up on and made me prefer the live action film. Going from the top, why does the Grinch have an alarm clock where every radio station is bound to play Christmas music? It’s like he’s asking for some suffering until he deals with it. And ain’t it odd for him to depend on the wind to close the door when he leaves the cave? If he did that during the summer, that’s paving the way for someone to break in the way he does later on. He even has cool gadgets to rob all the homes, yet he doesn’t use any of them when he and Max have a long walk to Whoville. It’s not like he cares about exercising since he likes to stay in. Cindy for the most part is a smart kid, so why would she wait just a week before Christmas to send a letter? That is one heck of a time crunch she’s working with. And in all honesty if Whoville is such a nice place, how come no one adopted the Grinch? If everyone knew he was in adulthood and weren't afraid of him then, I don’t see a reason to not adopt him. I also don’t understand why bother grabbing a reindeer like Fred when the whole point of taking Santa’s place to rob Whoville is to not be seen. Since he has gadgets on him to pull off the heist, I’m surprised he didn’t add cannons to the sleigh to fly to the top of the mountain. I then am surprised no one in Bricklebaum’s house party sees the Grinch steal the sleigh when he was in the house for at least a second dealing with the dog. And when he did make the map when he spent a long time getting the sleigh? I mean if he had that years in advance, that should be clear to know. Lastly, I was quite uncomfortable with Cindy going to Mount Crumpit on her own. She doesn’t really know the Grinch, so he could’ve surrounded the path to his home with traps if he wanted to. Other than that, this movie is fine for what it is. To wrap up, 2018’s The Grinch is a solid animated film for being straight forward with it’s heartwarming message of opening your heart before you close it for good. If you grew up reading the book and whether or not you saw the live action classic, this one is actually worth the time.
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