The Grinch

The Grinch (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch) is a 2018 American computer-animated Christmas fantasy comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Based on the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss, it is the third screen adaptation of the book, following the television special from 1966 starring Boris Karloff and the live-action film released in 2000 starring Jim Carrey. Directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier (in his directorial debut), written by Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow, and narrated by Pharrell Williams, the film stars the voices of Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely, and Angela Lansbury. The film premiered at Regency Village Theatre on October 22, 2018 and was released in the United States on November 9, 2018, in RealD 3D, IMAX, IMAX 3D, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX theaters.

It is also the final film adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book during the lifetime of Seuss's widow Audrey Geisel, who died on December 19, 2018, and was an executive producer of the film.

Plot
The Grinch and his loyal dog, Max, live a solitary existence inside a cave on Mount Crumpet. His main source of aggravation comes during Christmastime when his neighbours in Whoville celebrate the holidays with a bang. When the Whos decide to make Christmas bigger and brighter, the disgruntled Grinch realises there is one way to gain peace and quiet. With help from Max, the green grump hatches a scheme to pose as Santa Claus, steal Christmas and silence the Whos' holiday cheer once and for all.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The main problem with the film is that all of the character writing is all informed instead of being shown, which, once again, is a mixed bag: notably how the Grinch is written to be a terrifying grump who outright hates Christmas because of his past experiences with it, but his backstory and personality hardly make it look like he outright hates Christmas, as the former just shows him having to miss out on Christmas instead of being scarred by it and the latter makes him too normal to be seen as if he's a terrifying grump.
 * 2) *The movie, similar to the infamous live-action Grinch film adaptation released in 2000 by Ron Howard, also has a pointless backstory that is generic and predictable and doesn't even properly elaborate more depth onto why the Grinch legitimately hates Christmas (although this backstory doesn't take up much of the film thankfully).
 * 3) The Grinch's design, while beautifully animated and faithfully translated from the book and the animated special, feels more soft than menacing. Max's design also looks out of place and feels like a lost background dog from mh:greatestmovies:The Secret Life of Pets, another film produced by Illumination.
 * 4) *On the related said topic, the Grinch's design also goes against the iconic song; "You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" by Tyler, the Creator. For example, when one hears the lyrics; “You have termites in your smile,” describing how disgusting he is, they’ll see that his teeth are perfectly molded and white.
 * 5) While the voice acting is good overall, it can be seem rather off.
 * 6) *While Benedict Cumberbatch (who played Doctor Strange) does a pretty good job as the Grinch, his voice sounds way too normal for the role and he sounds more like someone who is mildly peeved than someone who has no soul and is the physical embodiment of evil. He is not even that cruel, or presented as a real bad guy, just a misunderstood loner who's reclusive but doesn’t want to be alone, coming off as a knock-off of Gru from mh:greatestmovies:Despicable Me.
 * 7) **He even goes back and forth from liking Christmas to not, despite the narration using exact lines from the book about how much he hates it. This is not only inconsistent with the character, but also inconsistent with the goal of giving the Grinch character while being faithful to the original story.
 * 8) *Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who sounds more like a little boy's voice instead of a girl's voice.
 * 9) *Pharrell Williams as the narrator can be kind of bland and kind of unfitting.
 * 10) *Angela Lansbury as the Mayor of Whoville only appears for one scene and that's pretty much it, making her seem like wasted talent.
 * It, once again, runs into the same issue most of these adaptations run into the length. The film is an hour and 28 minutes long and the changes instead consist of way too much padding and filler without properly enhancing its narrative, just so they could have an excuse to make a film out of the book.
 * 1) The new moose character, Fred, is just a pointless comic relief character who shows up for a few scenes and then shows up at the end to finally do something.
 * 2) Mediocre comedy including the use of internet memes such as the "Screaming Goat" being used randomly as a joke, when the Grinch was trying to find the moose and all the goats were ran away.
 * 3) All of the new characters created for this film, especially Cindy Lou's friends, are pretty much pointless and forgettable.
 * 4) The rap song version of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" performed by Tyler, the Creator was very poorly done attempt at being hip and cool.
 * 5) The scene where the Grinch gets fat when he has emotional eating is uncomfortable and gross.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Amazing animation, which is a nice step-up for Illumination films. The art style itself is at least somewhat very accurate to the Dr. Seuss books, although it still has some out of place designs and the lazy reuse of assets that make it rather distracting.
 * 2) *In fact, one shot in the film where the Grinch looks down on Whoville looks visually stunning.
 * 3) *The concept art for the film is also fantastic at least, even if the film ended up being bland.
 * 4) *Likewise, even though Max's design is out of place, it does look cute and faithful as well.
 * 5) Good voice acting, a particular highlight being Kenan Thompson as Bricklebaum and Benedict Cumberbatch as The Grinch as mentioned before.
 * 6) It isn't nearly as insulting and mean-spirited as the previous attempt at a Grinch adaptation, as the film is a lot more lighthearted than the 2000 live-action adaptation, for example, it lacks the scene where the Grinch saves Cindy, but the former regrets doing so and wraps Cindy in gift paper, as well as throwing the dark atmosphere out of the window in favor of a happier tone that fits Dr. Seuss better.
 * 7) *Depending on your opinion, the movie actually has the Grinch treating Max nicely in some scenes, which (again, depending on your opinion) is a nice change from the original 1966 special and 2000 film.
 * 8) Unlike Illumination's previous Dr. Seuss adaption The Lorax, it doesn't have as much pop culture references (if at all) and is more faithful to the book and the special it is based on.
 * 9) Danny Elfman's score is amazing, as always. In particular, the song are catchy, except the rap song version of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" performed by Tyler, the Creator.
 * 10) Some scenes can be pretty funny, such as Grinch getting hit by a rubber Santa while taking a walk, the setups to the Grinch's cruel acts to the civilians of Whoville and one of Cindy-Lou's friends holding a candy cane like a cigarette.
 * 11) The Grinch's backstory, despite being completely pointless, is depressing for what it is and it doesn't take up most of the film.

Reception
The Grinch received average reviews from critics and fans of the original book and special, with praised the animation, heart, Danny Elfman's score and the vocal performances (particularly Cumberbatch's), but criticized its screenplay, humor, and felt the film added little or nothing new to the source material. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 189 reviews and an average rating of 5.97/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Grinch gives the classic Seuss source material a brightly animated update that's solidly suitable for younger viewers without adding substantially to the story's legacy.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 83% positive score and a 75% "definite recommend".

Box office
As with most Illumination films, The Grinch was a box office success, earning $511.6 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing holiday film of all-time, as well as the highest-grossing Dr. Seuss film adaptation.

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Trivia

 * Because Warner Animation Group decided to make more Dr. Seuss movies, this was the last film to produced by Illumination.