The Grinch – The Grinch (2018)

Directed by: Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mosier | 90 minutes | animation, family, comedy | Dutch voice cast: Carlo Boszhard, Kee Derwig, Ilse Warringa, Murth Mossel, Karin Bloemen, Matheu Hinzen, Roman Derwig, Viggo Neijs, Fedja van Huêt, Julia Wolda | Original voice cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Seely, Rashida Jones, Pharrell Williams, Tristan O’Hare, Kenan Thompson, Sam Lavagnino, Ramone Hamilton, Angela Lansbury, Scarlett Estevez, Michael Beattie

Christmas, the time of cheerfulness, happiness and togetherness. But not for everyone. There are people who really hate Christmas. In addition to the miser Ebenezer Scrooge from ‘A Christmas Carol’, created by Charles Dickens, they also know another great anti-Christmas hero, especially in the US: The Grinch. The furry green creature was conceived in 1957 by children’s author Theodor ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel for his picture book ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ and has been immensely popular ever since. In the book, Dr. Seuss, after whom The Grinch is said to be partly modeled, explains in great detail that Christmas is more than just lavishness and gifts. In that respect, the message is still relevant, more than sixty years later. The Grinch was brought to life in 2000 by Jim Carrey, in director Ron Howard’s live-action film ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. The film was received with mixed reviews, but grossed nearly $350 million, so eighteen years later, according to the folks at Universal, it was time for a new film adaptation.

It became an animated film by the makers of the ‘Despicable Me’ series and ‘Minions’ (2015) among others. Illumination, because we are talking about that cartoon giant, previously released ‘The Lorax’ (2012), also based on a book by Dr. seuss. For a new film adaptation of The Grinch, directors Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney don’t seem to be turning their backs. So far, ‘The Grinch’ (2018) has already raised around $470 million, making it the most successful Christmas film of all time after ‘Home Alone’ (1990). The widow of Dr. Seuss, Audrey Geisel, gave her endorsement and even acted as executive producer (she previously did ‘The Lorax’ and ‘Horton Hears a Who’ (2008)). Audrey Geisel passed away in December 2018 at the age of 97. Heir interference usually means that the film adaptation remains as faithful as possible to the original, and that is certainly the case in the case of ‘The Grinch’. The story may be familiar: Christmas is coming and all of Whoville is rolling out for the most wonderful time of the year. Presents are bought, trees are decorated and people visit each other. Everyone joins in the celebration, except The Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in the original and Carlo Boszhard in the Dutch version), a green creature who hates Christmas. He lives with his docile dog Max on a high mountaintop overlooking the village and he is annoyed. When the mayor of the village also announces that the party will be three times bigger than usual this year, The Grinch devises a nefarious plan to ruin the Christmas party.

The animation is fine in ‘The Grinch’. The figures are funny and charming and will certainly capture the imagination of the youngest viewers. Illumination features the characters of Dr. Seuss refreshed, without compromising the prints from the original book. The refresh is also continued in the choice of music, with a hip-hop-oriented soundtrack that makes room for Tyler, the Creator and Run DMC. In the original version, the – incidentally still very strong – verses of Dr. Seuss nominated by Pharrell Williams; in its Dutch-language counterpart, that role is reserved for Fedja van Huêt. Those who mean evil can use this version of Dr. To dismiss Seuss’ time-honored Christmas classic as unoriginal, uninspired and unnecessary. Because ‘The Grinch’ doesn’t have a lot of ‘personality’. But the film is mainly aimed at young viewers and for them there is plenty to enjoy. The green Christmas hater as Illumination portrays him here is sour and grumpy (a simple daily shopping trip yields the best scene in the film!), but by no means scary or inhumane. In fact, quite early in the film we discover how he ever became so sour, because immediately makes him a lot more humane.

“The Grinch” may be a pretty brave and safe film adaptation of Dr. Seuss, for an afternoon at the cinema with the little ones, it is perhaps for that reason an excellent choice.