When it comes to Christmas specials, I think one that everyone loves is the 1966 classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it's Dr. Seuss, Chuck Jones and Boris Karloff, we love the characters, message and music. It really is one of the most perfect holiday specials there is, and while I would love to talk about it, at 25 minutes, it does not qualify as a feature. However, there were two attempts to make a feature film of the 50 page children's book, one in 2000s with Jim Carey, which was live-action so it's not on my table, and one in 2018 by Illumination. Oh boy, Illumination, my least favourite animation studio, I would say that I was not expecting anything great when this movie was announced, but let's be fair here, nobody was. I don't think there was one single person who watched this movie that expected it to be great, honestly I doubt half of the people who watched it thought it was gonna be good. It seemed like another Illumination movie that was harmless but not much else. Well, it's Christmas, so I may as well give it a watch.
The story follows the basic premise of the book, all the Whos who live in Whoville really love Christmas, but the Grinch does not. So, one night he decides that he's gonna steal Christmas, the gifts, the lights, the lot. To flesh and pad things out, they want to give The Grinch a reason he hates the holiday, but it's glossed over, to the point where it probably could've been cut out. I do appreciate they wanted to show the actual planning of the holiday heist, but the movie is still pretty... meh? I can't say it's really weak, because the only thing that makes it weak is how they handle the scene where the Grinch's heart grows. In the original, him pulling up the massive sled is symbolic of the power of the true spirit of the Holiday, but here, he gets outside help. However, I will concede that maybe, they wanted to try a different theme with this interpretation, a theme about love, kindness and friendship. Okay, I'm not against that on principle, I just don't think it's done all that well. I should also mention the B-Plot with Cindy Lou Who, which is... okay. I admire it tackles he subject of overworked parents, which is especially rough around the holiday, but it doesn't really get solved. Cindy blames herself for Christmas being stolen, but the actual issue is not really addressed, at no point does she tell her mom that she thinks she's overworked.
The characters are mostly just there, not really the most memorable, not really leaving a massive impact. The Grinch's characterization in this version does leave some people a little frustrated I think, because, what was just a sour, grumpy, mean jerk, has his edges sanded down and became much softer. On principle, I'm not against this change, one of my issues with the original story is that The Grinch just goes from mean to nice with no real transition. I remember Cellspex calling this version of The Grinch a "Tsundere", and honestly I think Cellspex covers why this version of The Grinch just doesn't work as a character the best. The rest of the cast is... fine, I guess. I didn't hate them, but I was not eager to see more of them. The voice acting isn't bad though, we've got an Angela Lansbury cameo, which is always pleasant, and most of the cast like Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely and Rashida Jones do a good job, Benedict Cumberbatch is... okay, he does just kinda sound like that generic nasal voice anyone can do, like Herman from The Simpsons, and Pharrell Williams as the Narrator is wholly unnecessary. The original had narration because it was 25 minutes, this is over an hour, it did not need narration.
The animation is... trying. It really wants to look like a colourful Christmas movie with all the lights and stuff, but the actual colour is kind of washed out, and what we're left with is a lot of white, blue and brown tones, I think spectacles like the lit up town at night, and the lighting of the tree were meant to look really colourful and festive, but they just don't, they look faded and the actual colour gets over taken by other bright lighting. The actual animation is fine, it moves nicely and I didn't notice any obvious flubs, but it really isn't that visually appealing. Plus it puts a lot of scenes full of nothing but "thrilling" movement, and again it's just unnecessary, I'd take less of unfunny slapstick and chase scenes, and more character development scenes, or a scene where Cindy Lou's story actually gets some kind of resolution, and I mean a real resolution.
I think the sad thing about this movie is, I can't say it's bad. It tried, it tried to be something, which... I think is worth something. I'd rather a movie try and fail, than not try. Like is this movie "good"? I can't say that, but is it better than something like Duck Duck Goose or Open Season? Definitely, yeah. I think the big problem is that, they wanted to carve their own identity in something that is already iconic, it's like that version of A Christmas Carol on Netflix from 2022, I enjoyed that movie, but it had the same basic idea. The Grinch and A Christmas Carol are iconic stories, and putting ones own spin on them is a risky venture, sometimes we'll get a Muppet Christmas Carol, but other times we'll get a 2009 Christmas Carol. Do I recommend this movie? That's a difficult one, because I don't want to say it isn't worth seeing, it's not, but like I can see really young kids getting into this movie. It's these kinds of movies that are toughest to rate for me, because what good is a movie that only one specific audience can enjoy? But on the other hand, that does mean someone still enjoys it. Plus, it's not like this movie is straight up harmful or anything, so... I'm going to go Slight Recommendation on this one. If you have really little kids, they might like it, but this is a "If it's on streaming and you want something easy" recommendation.
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