How The Grinch Stole Christmas

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

Rating: B
Let me start off by admitting I'm not exactly sure what the title of this movie is. The poster simply calls it The Grinch. I think the film itself gives the title as Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Elsewhere in the media I've seen the title without the "Dr. Seuss" tacked on. Whatever. It's the new movie with Jim Carrey as the green guy we're talking about here.

On this project, director Ron Howard was handed the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg on a proverbial silver platter. The cartoon version of The Grinch is a holiday favorite of just about every human on the planet. If you don't like the Grinch, you might as well tell me you don't like popcorn or pizza either. Take this humongous pre-sold audience, offer them a live-action version just in time for Christmas, and it would be impossible for the movie not to make a bazillion dollars, no matter who directed it. Add to this the fact the cartoon serves as a perfect half-hour animated storyboard of all the right approaches to take to every scene, and the filmmakers' work is practically done before the words "Fade In" hit the first page of the screenplay. I doubt even George Lucas could have screwed this one up.

So do Howard and his collaborators pull it off? Well yes, but not without stumbling badly in some scenes. Stretching a 30 minute cartoon into an almost two hour movie obviously requires adding some filler material. So we're treated to scenes of the Grinch as a school lad in Whoville, and learn how he was picked on as a kid. We also learn that the Whos aren't really nice people at all - at least not some of them. Unfortunately, both of these elements are almost exactly wrong in terms of enhancing the existing story. The humorous appeal of the Grinch is his through-and-through rottenness. He's mean for no other reason than that he's a grinch, for crying out loud, and that's why he's so funny. On the other hand, a strong part of what makes the ending of the cartoon work is that the Whos are lovable people all along, and the Grinch finally realizes this. Having a subplot where the Whos "discover" that Christmas isn't about commercialism just distracts from the Grinch's own storyline. Also, cinematographer Don Peterman, who has proven his skills on many previous films, chooses to light many of the sets rather darkly and blandly here. For settings such as the Grinch's cave, the darkness is appropriate, but in many of the Whoville sets it detracts from their appeal. After all, shouldn't Whoville be a magical place full of light and sparkle?

Perhaps the most grievous sin committed by monsieur Howard and company is their treatment of the sequence where the Grinch ransacks the Whos' village and steals all their presents and decorations. The magical "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" song is reduced to a pale shadow of the original. Although many of the shots from the cartoon are reproduced verbatim (such as the Grinch skittering across the floor on the tips of his fingers and toes, and his plucking the sugar plums from the Whos' dreams), there are just enough scenes missing to render the sequence a disappointment. Perhaps worst of all, the scene where little CindyLou Who (who's no more than two) catches the Grinch trying to abscond with her family's Christmas tree is almost completely ruined by the fact the two have met previously in the film.

Fortunately, the movie also has many strong points. Rick Baker's makeup for the Grinch comes closer to realizing the rubbery expressions of the cartoon character than you might have thought possible. This is no doubt aided considerably by Jim Carrey's performance, which generally succeeds in being funny in all the right places. The Grinch's actions are often wickedly clever, whether they concern mailing jury duty notices as Christmas cards or leaving an outgoing message dripping with vitriol on his answering machine. CindyLou Who (Taylor Momsen) is very much in evidence throughout the story, and in spite of the aforementioned scene, some of her scenes with the Grinch succeed in being heartwarming. Overall, the film is a bit of a letdown after such a tremendous publicity buildup, but it has enough laughs to be enjoyable in its own right.