All my life, the Grinch has been synonymous with the holidays. When my dad was young, he started the tradition of watching the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas animated featurette from 1966 every Thanksgiving night; that was how he kicked off celebrating the Christmas season. He has continued that tradition all the way up to this year, and I am sure he will continue to do so for the rest of his life. Because of this blessed tradition, I have watched the OG Grinch movie every year for eighteen years straight. I eventually watched the Grinch movie from 2000 and I have just recently watched the one that came out last month. Needless to say, I am very happy to have a Grinch "trilogy" to watch every Christmas season from here on out. Because I am such a Grinch fanatic, I thought I would write out my opinions on each of the three film adaptations of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
1. 1966 TV Special
The one that started it all . . . The grandaddy of the Grinch trilogy.
Okay, so for me, the animated Grinch featurette is the best, but that is mostly because of sentimental reasons (as I said before, it is the epitome of the family holiday tradition in my house; there is really no other tradition we stick to so strongly).
Except for the cutting out of a few lines and the addition of wonderfully made up words (such as tartinkers, gardinkers, and tumtookers) and short musical numbers, this film adaptation follows the book perfectly.
In this version, Boris Karloff narrates the tale and voices the Grinch; Boris was a star of the horror movie film industry at the time, so it makes perfect sense that he would be chosen to first give voice to this dastardly Christmas villain. Plus, this short film brought us the wonderful song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, which has thankfully, but not surprisingly stood the test of time. So if you are looking for some classic, nostalgic vibes this Christmas season, this version of the Grinch is definitely worth the try!
2. 2000 Movie
So, this movie took some time to grow on me. It was very different from what I had grown up with, so I did not really love it at first . . . but then as I got older, I realized that this movie is honestly a gem.
First, it's Jim Carrey and he is, in my opinion, the best version of the Grinch hands down. His facial expressions, body language, and comedic delivery are priceless! Plus, this movie has the great vocal addition of Anthony Hopkins as narrator, which I did not truly appreciate until a little while ago.
The live-action version of the Grinch story did a fairly good job sticking to the original storyline while adding just enough new content to make it distinctive; the addition of backstory was appreciated and I found it interesting that they chose to give the Grinch a love interest (though I do wish they had dressed Martha May a tad bit more appropriately). This movie also has some fan-flippin-tastic quotes, most of them - if not all - from the Grinch, of course. My favorites being:
"Even if I wanted to go, my schedule wouldn't allow it. 4:00, wallow in self-pity. 4:30, stare into the abyss. 5:00, solve world hunger . . . tell no one. 5:30, jazzercise. 6:30, dinner with me; I *can't* cancel that again. 7:00, wrestle with self-loathing. I'm booked! Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9:00, I'd be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear?!"
And
"Brilliant!!! You reject your own nose because it represents the glitter of commercialism. Why didn't I think of that?!"
Overall, the movie is amazing! I think teens and adults are the target audience, which is a-okay. It's not necessarily chalked full of warm, nostalgic Christmas feels, and it is more comedy than classic. But if you haven't seen this masterpiece, you definitely need to for Christmas this year. (It is on Netflix, by the way.)
3. 2018 Movie
Cute! That is honestly the best word to describe Illumination's adaptation of the Grinch story. It has the feels of the original story, but this Grinch has definitely been re-invented for a new generation.
The Grinch is more comedically grumpy rather than evil, cunning, or mischeivious. Lending his voice for this third installment, Benedict Cumberbatch gives us a Grinch that is especially suited for a very family-friendly film! This Grinch definitely relies on gadgets and gizmos more than the prior Grinches, and I think that was a cool twist. I think literally the one and only dislike I had about this movie was the remix of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch; there was nothing inherently wrong with the song, just didn't fit my personal taste in music, but that's alright.
This film, while it did have nuances of prior films, was very much its own, and I liked that. If it had been any more like the previous adaptations, then what would be the point? It would be a copy or a remake, not an individual take on the original book. If you're looking for a great movie to see with the entire family this Christmas, I can very highly recommend Illuminations The Grinch!
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