The Grinch
By James Davidson
In 1957, Dr. Seuss wrote “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, creating the green, grumpy. Christmas-hating character we all know and love. The book has now spawned three movies, two animated and one live action, the latest being “The Grinch”; starring everyone’s favorite tongue twisting actor, Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of The Grinch.
I really love the original animated movie, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, which came out in 1966. I think it is a Christmas classic, I can’t go through the month of December without watching it at least once. It’s a wonderful Christmas tradition. I was very skeptical that this adaptation would be able to replace this beloved tradition, considering how much I disliked the live action Jim Carrey debacle.
This movie did a very good job capturing the spirit of the original Grinch. It had all of the elements that you would expect from a Grinch movie and does a wonderful job introducing this Christmas classic to a new generation. It’s a more up to date version of the classic, with updated animation and a little bit more humor added. The children in the audience seemed to love it.
I liked the movie, but I really didn’t think that it was necessary, I think the classic didn’t need to be updated or improved upon. But, if you are going to update the original, this is the way to do it. The humor was amusing and I was chuckling through most of the film which made it easy for me to enjoy some of the updated story. I suppose I’m just being a “Grinch” about Hollywood attempting to improve on an already great classic.
The filmmakers did stay pretty close to the original story, only updating it a little bit. One addition that stood out to me was that Cindy-Lou Who wants to ask Santa that her single mother be happy and have some time for herself instead of asking for material Christmas presents. I did like that they added that aspect to the story, again, I just don’t think that it was necessary. There wasn’t really anything to set it apart from other Christmas movies. It felt very generic.
“The Grinch” is a fun movie to take the entire family on a Christmas outing to see. It’s rated PG for brief rude humor and I think it is appropriate for all ages. It’s a great way to introduce children to The Grinch for the first time, but I definitely suggest that you also see the original, if you haven’t seen it.
I don’t think that this version will replace the original as the traditional Christmas season movie for me, but it is a good Christmas movie. I also don’t think that I will buy it, but if it comes on Netflix or another streaming service during the holidays, I would definitely watch it to help me get in the Christmas mood. It is funny, well done and a good way to update a classic, however, it just doesn’t live up to the original. It earns 3 out of 5 stars.
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