Watched as part of a session brushing up on 'Grinch' related media ahead of a podcast. i'd always been kind of dismissive of 2018's 'The Grinch'. After being quite let down by the Jim Carey reimagining, I honestly couldnt think of a more unholy union than 'Illumination' taking elements of the 60's original and the Carey version and slamming them together. it felt obscene.
But! tonight I actually sat down and watched the film for the first time, and y'know what? Its pretty alright...it has its problems, but for the most part, whats presented here is just a relatively solid modernisation of the original 'Grinch' story, with maybe a few extra bells and whistles thrown into the mix and some of the deeper messages softened a bit to make it more accessable to contemporary audiences.
The plot this time is split down the middle, with half the film following the traditional 'Grinch who stole christmas' plot of the curmudgenly green fellow getting riled up at the 'Whos' down in 'Whoville' for their capitalist gorging on gifts and roast beast. And deciding to take matters into his own hands to rid the town of christmas once and for all (Complete with a new backstory which basically explains he was 'forgotten' as a child at christmas while everyone else celebrated, leading to resentment)
While the B-plot more fully centers around Cindy Lou-Who, who in this film is a fully animated rambunctious little tyke who's on a mission to make her mother happy in time for christmas, and when traditional letter writing fails, she resorts to setting in motion a plan to trap santa on christmas eve in order to ensure her request is heard.
Realistically? I have very little to complain about with this feature. The script has a very strong opening and closing act in terms of pacing and tone. it does sag a little in the 2nd act with some scenes introducing and then dropping elements or repeating the same gag with slight variation a few times. It's got plenty of padding, particularly in the Cindy-Lou B-plot which I felt REALLY outstayed its welcome during the 2nd act. I think it pulled things back on track by the finale, but Cindy-Lou as a character was never really meant to be expanded on that much...by and large shes supposed to be an alagory for the wonderment and uncynical joy of the humanist condition. she's supposed to be the analogue opposite of the Grinch realistically, and the oddity that causes the Grinch to re-evaluate its life goals.
Here? Cindy is pretty well rounded as a character, but elongated sequences of her planning her santa traps, riding around town and having idle chatter with her mum just, really didnt do much for me. The same can also be said for the Grinch in some of its scenes, such as when they go reindeer hunting or when the grinch is padding about his cave looking for something to kill time...they make the idea of the grinch killing time to get to chrismtas LITERALLY a way for the movie to kill time.
These are of course some minor quibbles however, the plot itself is pretty solid, the elements they take from the original are largely the better elements, the Jim Cary portions are equally some of the better parts of that movie, and a few portions from the Cary version have even been tweaked/reframed/retrofitted to work much MUCH better than they did originally.
I also greatly appreciated that they expanded on the moment the Grinches heart grew over any other version of this story, making it feel like much more of a reward than other films which seem to almost downplay the Grinch turning good for some reason...
On that note, probably my biggest gripe about this incarnation of 'The Grinch' is that he really just...isnt mean,smelly and nasty enough. he gets to do some *kind of* mean stuff in the opening of the film, but for the most part he just comes across as a bit grumpy and passive aggressive with a dash of snark. Its a shame really because it means that the journey this character goes on doesnt quite feel as dramatic a change as the older versions. It didnt quite hit the same as the others 'redemption' arc pieces which really showed a drastic transformation.
Here? our slightly grumpy character just transforms into...a slightly awkward and less grumpy character...and, thats about it. I feel had they leaned a bit harder into the mean-ness, made him look a little less fluffy and approachable and maybe played up more physical traits. it would have had a more powerful resolution than what we got.
As for the comedy? I think it hits more than misses...but there are clearly a LOT of gags in here that have been recycled from other 'Illumination' features. Topical gags that are already starting to show their age a bit and some stuff here is a little 'lowest common denominator' in terms of tone. Like I say, I laughed out loud a few times across the runtime on this one...But its inescapable to me that 'Illumination' do kind of a have a 'one size fits all' approach to these kinds of animated movies.
That being said, the dialogue was relatively strong throughout, I felt the finale explaining that 'Christmas is more than just stuff' was poigniant and handled in a way that modern audiences would likely better absorb. I had no major issues here truthfully.
Outside of that, theres very little else I can say. The direction and animation art style suits the works of Dr. Seuss down to the ground, and other than the aforementioned issue of making the Grinch look a little less presentable and cute and more rough around the edges and intimidating, I really dont have a lot to say about it, they reallly nailed the bried. it looks fabulous.
the performances are all pretty solid as well, with Pharell Williams excellently delivering as the narrator, and Benedict Cumberbatch bringing an animated and lively delivery to proceedings. All the cast members really bring their A-game to this film, with barely a weak link in the chain. if there ever was a fault with the cast here, it was more likely a dodgey joke or ropey line, rather thant he delivery itself.
The scoring is a bit strange, on the whole I liked it. But I have the sneaking suspicion that its going to age like milk in terms of the original pieces being VERY bedded into mid 2010's style music and culture. it already sounds dated as of 2024. LORD knows how it'll hold up 20 years from now...I liked it...but for how long? Who can say?
On the whole? While I think i'll probably stick to the original, this is a rock solid attempt that...while imperfect, is still just a really fun modernising and refreshing take on the much loved childrens classic. Definitely recommended for kids of (most) ages and the rest of the family. This take could have VERY easily gone VERY wrong...but instead it delivers a heartfelt picture that tries and *mostly* succeeds in bringing the true spirit of christmas to the season. Its hearts very much in the right place and I highly recommend it!
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-grinch/
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