Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas

View Date: November 18th, 2000

Cast :

Writer: (original story) Dr. Seuss (screenplay) Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman

Director: Ron Howard 

I would like to personally extend my thanks to Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and especially Jim Carrey, for unceremoniously robbing me of one my last remaining childhood memories of Christmas.  Every year, even now, I looked forward to my viewing of the Grinch cartoon, and reliving the special magic and memory that it holds for me.  When I found out that it was being made into a movie, I cringed slightly, but remembered that I should be fair and give it a chance, because not all remakes become financial bastardizations done solely to capitalize on a name for profit.  Then, after seeing the previews, my wary nature crept in, wondering if they were indeed going to do justice, and introduce the Grinch to a new generation, or just take the idea and drive it into the ground.  I am sorry to say that the latter is the case, and now the legend and memory of this wonderful story, which my generation holds so close to its heart, has been destroyed.  Amidst the wonderful makeup and visual effects, featuring a stunning recreation of Whoville, an original look of the Who’s themselves, and updated narration by Anthony Hopkins, lies not a modified retelling, but an outright sacrilege, perpetrated by Jim Carrey’s over the top performance and Howard’s overstuffed, darkly crude direction and screenplay.  The Grinch was a dark story that took a positive moral turn, as most of Seuss’s stories did (Cat in The Hat focused on the dangers of kids left home alone and the Butter Battle Book dealt with the fears of war).  Howard took this dark side and dwelled on it, and even the morally correct feel good ending cannot save this being a dark day in the lives of anyone who ever changed their outlook on Christmas based on this story.  The story is established as a sort of urban legend or boogeyman amidst the denizens of Whoville.  The mysterious green man, who kids dare each other to visit, and of whom many tales are spun, is given a reason for why he is the way he is which in any other movie would given the conclusion a bit more power.  But for all of the creativity and originality that it took to bring this fantasy to life, the ultimate downfall lies squarely in the laps of Carrey (for his performance) and Howard (for allowing him to get away with it)

Carrey’s makeup was indeed incredible.  Master artist Rick Baker, he of the Star Wars characters and such, created a vision of the Grinch that made you forget that there is an actor underneath it all.  But Carrey’s actions more than remind us whose movie this is, and ultimately who is to blame for the films failure.  Carrey was the wrong choice to do this character, not because he couldn’t handle it as an actor (The Mask showed he can overact and fit in, while Truman Show and Man on The Moon showed that he just flat out act).  The Grinch was a character who stood out on his own, a representation of all those Scrooge’s who shun the Christmas season due to lack of understanding, but upon enlightenment, open their hearts and embrace it.  Carrey was beyond being just a mean one, he was a rude, crude and disgusting one.  Even his background information, focusing on his shunned childhood and bad yuletide experience, were forgivable, but handled incorrectly in the grand scheme of things.  Why did have to do it for the love of a girl, what does love and romance have to with the giving nature and appreciation for what we have in life.  That is what the story is about, this is just a tale of a disgusting green thing that gets cast out of society, and only returns based upon the pleadings of a persistent, adorable little girl.  My suggestion would have been to corral Carrey’s energy, so that we didn’t know it was him behind the mask (believe me, you will and do, by his actions only, the makeup is definitely award worthy, down to the most minute facial tic) But the incessant stereotypical Carrey ministrations (bending over talking, crude bathroom humor, horrendous over acting) steal away from the magical vision and whole new world that Howard has created.

Ultimately, The Grinch is a tale that should have been left alone, or at least should have been tamed down a bit in order to get its actual message across to a new generation.  The potential was there, the external factors were there, but the magic, spirit and subtly gentle touch that gave Seuss’s story its magic was grossly erased by the presence of Carrey.  There are some things which should be left for each childhood to have for all their own, some memories and stories which simply should be left alone to stand on their own merit.  The Grinch is one of those tales, and somewhere Mr. Dreisel is sitting on Horton’s back, having tea with the Cat and shaking his head at what could have been, as opposed to the current incarnation which is only a  shell of his former story. ($$ out of $$$$)

Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments?

Tell Me Here

Also see my reviews at:

Cast information and links courtesy of

Go To Reel Rambling Page