The Grinch (2018)

The Grinch (2018)

5/10

Starring the voice of

Benedict Cumberbatch

Rashida Jones

Kenan Thompson

Directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney

Staying close to the source material, this 2018 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is produced by Illumination, the studio behind the Despicable Me franchise.

This is the third adaptation of the book, and for me, it’s too bland. It never finds its own rhythm—or any rhythm at all. Yes, the Grinch’s heart was two sizes too small, and so was the fun this CGI animation delivered.

The 2000 live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey was a masterpiece of Christmas fun. It created its own story, added plenty of humor, and became a movie you could watch every Christmas alongside Home Alone.

The plot of this version goes like this: After a horrible childhood (of which we only get a glimpse), we meet the Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), who lives in the mountains above Whoville. The Grinch is mean, cruel, and very unlikable. What he hates most is the holidays, especially Christmas. He despises the singing and joy so much that he’d rather no one celebrate Christmas at all.

In Whoville, the town below, the residents have decided to make this year’s Christmas celebration the best ever—three times bigger than last year’s. The Grinch discovers this during a trip to town for food and decides to do everything he can to stop it.

His plan is to steal Christmas from the town, replacing happiness and cheer with gloom on Christmas morning. To do this, he dresses up as Santa Claus, but instead of giving presents, he plans to take them all.

Everything would have gone perfectly according to his plan, and his heart might have stayed its small size, but then she showed up. The “she” is Cindy Lou Who, a little girl who wants to give back to her mother by asking Santa for a special gift.

The voice acting is on point, and the animation style is familiar to what we’ve seen from Illumination’s previous films. Pharrell Williams serves as the narrator, but the musical score could have been better. While the animation will likely be a box office success, for me as a viewer, it wasn’t as enjoyable as I had hoped.

When it comes to the Grinch, the Jim Carrey version is still the one that stands out. For years I have been wondering if a second part will ever get done, but since the release of this, I doubt it.