The following is a movie review “The Grinch” by Marc Primo.
Release date: November 9, 2018 (United States)
Director: Scott Mosier, Yarrow Cheney
Language: English
Production companies: Universal Pictures, Illumination
Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy
Depending on which decade you were born, the mere mention of “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” and “screen adaptation” in the same sentence will either conjure images of Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones or Canadian-American funnyman Jim Carrey.
The former was the producer of the first adaptation, a 1966 television special entitled “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” that starred horror maestro Boris Karloff, while the latter played the role of the Grinch in the 2000 effort helmed by Ron Howard, bearing the same title as the previous offering some 34 years earlier.
Suffice it to say, this latest remake can only be targeted at Gen Z, none of whom existed back in 1966, not even in the form of atoms and molecules, and were too young and engrossed with Teletubbies to care when the second adaptation was released in 2000.
Safe to assume that everyone who follows my blog is of age to know who the Grinch is, so allow me to skip the nitty-gritties of the plot and share my key takeaways after watching this mandatory holiday season family film.
At the risk of sounding like a Grinch myself, I have sat through far more entertaining movies than this 2018 retelling, which also happened to have green characters in the leading role. The Incredible Hulk, The Mask, Shrek… all three brought something unique to the big screen, be it one-liners, visual gags, or fairy tale parodies.
Sadly, I can’t say the same for The Grinch. While its heart might be in the right place with a well-timed Christmas message, I couldn’t help but silently laugh to myself that the Grinch I was watching on screen was green… green with envy over other, more memorable characters with the same skin color as his own.
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