This is another film that I probably should have got round to reviewing last year, but hey ho I’m doing it now. ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ (2000) has become a modern Christmas classic that people, especially my age, seem to love. A quick look at the ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ score tells a slightly different story with critical opinion of the film being much more split as it sits at a 49%. Seemingly, at least in a critical sense, this film is a bit like marmite. Now, I will admit that I have never particularly loved the film. I enjoyed it enough as a kid, but it wasn’t one that I would watch a lot, and as I aged and became grumpier, ‘I think my opinion of the film got worse. But it has been a long time since I have seen it so maybe I will do a 180 with. The film tells the story of the Grinch (Jim Carrey), a creature of unknown origin who lives atop a mountain overlooking Whoville. The Whos of Whoville love Christmas. The Grinch does not. And one year when his hatred becomes too much, he decides to steal Christmas.
Well, it turns out I do like this film more than I thought I did. I don’t think it is incredible and there are definite issues with it, but there is also enough good stuff in there which allowed me to have a good time with it. I do want to start this review by talking about the Whos. They are absolute nightmares. They look like what I imagine my sleep paralysis demon would like. Now, maybe this was a creative decision on the part of Ron Howard, but I would guess that probably isn’t the case. I mean, it is a memorable design and whenever anyone mentions Whos this is what people think of, but boy are the hard to look at. As for the rest of the production design, it is all great. All the sets, costumes, mise en scene, and everything in between is all really well done and really give Whoville a sense of Christmas wonder and cheer. The film is fun visually and I can’t complain about Ron Howard’s direction either. He is an accomplished director, and this film is competently directed. Performance-wise everyone does there jobs well without blowing you away. Well, there is the obvious performance which I will get to later, but all the performances around that are decent without being outstanding. Although, that being said I do want to give a shout out to Taylor Momsen who plays Cindy Lou Who as her performance is very good, especially for a child actor. Also, I can’t not mention Anthony Hopkins who is the film’s narrator and his dulcet welsh tones were always welcome.
But there isn’t any performance that really comes close to Jim Carrey as the Grinch. To be fair, you could say that about a lot of Jim Carrey films, the man is just such a charismatic ball of energy that it is really hard to outshine him and that is the case in this film. Even through all his makeup, he manages to put in such an energetic performance, and he is a lot of fun every time he is on screen. I probably don’t find the performance as funny as some other people, but there are some golden nuggets within it and I had more than one laugh out loud moment. I have no idea why but the bit which sticks with me, in particular, is where the Grinch is umming and ahhing about going down to Whoville to pick up an award and he just exclaims ‘but what would I wear?’ It is delivered brilliantly and got a big laugh out of me. Oh, and the cat attacking the Grinch’s face, especially the second time around. Maybe I am just going mad. However, as entertaining as Carrey is when he is on screen when he is not the film does lag quite a bit. This is an issue that arises from the fact that this is an hour and forty-minute film based on a short story, so the filmmakers have had to add a lot of filler. The main narrative through-line is solid, but all the side narratives are a little weak. But it could have been a lot worse (as shown by ‘The Grinch’ [2018]) and I think a lot of this can be put down to Carrey again. You can wind him up and let him go and he will drag out scenes without making them boring.
Although I enjoyed this more than I thought I would I don’t think it is the best of films. It has narrative issues which means it does drag at times and the less I have to look at the Whos the better. But the film is definitely elevated by Carrey's performance and the film is fun when he is on screen, and I think it is his performance which has people keep coming back to the film year after year. So, does this film deserve to be a Christmas classic? Well, it’s a damn sight better than some other supposed Christmas classics so, fuck it, why not?
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