Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

If there is ever a tribute to the Hollywood hype machine it’s the Grinch. Everybody who lived in America probably got Happy Wholidays stamp on all their letters. Last year everywhere you looked at the Grinch on it from cereals to toys the Grinch was everywhere. So how was the movie behind it all, unfortunately it’s average at best. Here’s the gist.

Everybody’s either read the book, or seen the animated short of Dr. Seusses how the Grinch stole Christmas. Unfortunately the book uses less words then the Cat in the Hat, and the short is barley 20 minutes long so in order to fit it into a feature length movie they had to add a lot of stuff to it.

And add they did, they added Cindy Lou Who searching for the true meaning of Christmas, the whoville Christmas festival, including the festival cheer meister, and a flashback to the Grinches past. With all these additions the actual story of the book of the cranky Grinch steeling everything in whoville and learning that Christmas isn’t about materials is lost.

The new story goes like this.
It’s Christmas in whoville and every who likes Christmas, but the Grinch north of whoville did not. So after the Grinch saves Cindy Lou she decides to bring him to one of there holiday festivals my making him the cheer meister, this backfires and the cranky Grinch decides to steal Christmas. I’ll leave those who haven’t read the book to figure out what happens next.

We also learn in flashbacks that the Grinch was born on Christmas by flying baskets, but seeing how all the who’s where having party’s no one heard him and he was left outside all night. Then he was ostracized has a kid by the present mayor of whoville. My problems with the movie aren’t with the additions, there actually kind of nice to see how they added extra things to the book, my only problems is that the actual book gets buried with all the new additions.

So why do I think this is a mediocre movie.
It isn’t that the movie had no thought put into it. Everything in whoville looks like it came out of the doctor seuss books, everything from the houses to the pencils have been done to look like an illustration out a Dr. Seuss book. This includes the ridicules looking who noses.

Is it Jim Carrey has the Grinch
Nope Carrey pulls off the Grinch rather well. With enough makeup on that you can’t really tell it’s him, he brings the cranky Grinch to life wonderfully. He even includes jokes on the books, when the actual book story begins about an hour into the movie. He says the first lines of the book and stops and asks himself why is he rhyming. My only problem with Carrey is that he seems to be constantly restraining himself to keep this a kid’s movie.

So what really brings the movie down
BAD CHILD ACTING. Cindy Loo Who only had three lines in the book, and that’s all she should have had in this movie. The girl who plays Ciny Loo really needs to talk her parents into buying her some acting lessons she’s awful. Everytime she says a line that’ supposed to make you go Aaah and bring a tear to eye, will make you go AACK and bring nausea to your stomach. To make matters worse she has more screen time in the movie then the Grinch. She really brings the whole movie crashing down into medocrity.

Recomendation.
Despite all the work remaking, rewriting, and retelling this dr.seuss classic it unfortunately falls into mediocrity. It’s worth a rental but I wouldn’t spend more then that to see it again.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12

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