HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Rated PG - Running Time: 1:38 - Released 11/17/00
After flirting with quasi-serious roles over the last few years,
Jim Carrey returns to his high-energy, high-impact, heavy make-up,
bouncing-off-the-walls comic schtick in Ron Howard's How The
Grinch Stole Christmas, a tribute to the classic book and
TV special about those non-human Christians, the Whos, by the
legendary children's author Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. Carrey
is in top form, and although the screenplay by Jeffrey Price and
Peter S. Seaman (the team behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit
and Wild Wild West) adds
some questionable, character-changing material to the story, and
Howard's directing and all the supporting performances are designed
basically to just stay out of Carrey's way, it's still a hysterically
funny film.
Narrated almost directly out of the book by the disembodied
voice of Anthony Hopkins and featuring a host of actors made up
in freakish Who style, Grinch begins with some backstory
involving the Grinch's past in Whoville, in which he is played
by 8-year-old Josh Ryan Evans. This section culminates with a
return to the present, when the Grinch is nominated for this year's
"Christmas Cheermeister" by little Cindy-Lou Who (Taylor
Momsen). Though everyone from the town's mayor (Jeffrey Tambor)
to Cindy-Lou's parents (Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon) to the Grinch
himself is surprised and shocked by the girl's suggestion, Cindy-Lou
explains that it is in the spirit of Christmas that everyone forgive
and forget. After traveling to the Grinch's home at the top of
Mount Crumpit, she convinces him to attend, reminding him of the
lasting affection held for him by his old flame, the stylish and
beautiful Martha May Who-vier (Christine Baranski). Things go
well (and hilariously) at first, but a dubious gift from the mayor
brings back an old grudge, and the Grinch goes on a rampage, destroying
most of the town's decorations before returning home.
From this point on, the film follows the original story, with
the Grinch plotting to stop Christmas altogether, creeping into
town under cover of night using his unwilling dog Max as a makeshift
reindeer, and stealing everything — only to realize at morning's
light that the lack of material possessions has not altered the
Whos' celebration at all.
Howard and his writers have made some interesting choices in
bringing one of the most well-known American Christmas cartoons
to life on the big screen. It is clear that without Jim Carrey,
this film would go nowhere; the entire structure of the film is
designed to showcase his off-the-wall style (and it does so effectively),
but there are times when it seems like a lot of footage is being
devoted to just that, allowing him to prance around and act silly
for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time...without moving the plot forward
one iota. Also, the characters are somewhat different. The original
Grinch (and Boris Karloff's TV interpretation) was just plain
evil, but in this version, he gets flustered by attention, he
tries to please, he gets hurt feelings — he just seems much
more, um . . . Who-man. The real villain here is the mayor, who
plots to regain the town's affections for himself while the Grinch
and Cindy-Lou watch horrified at the materialism around them.
Purists may find these alterations of character unsettling, but
Carrey works much better as a bumbling nice-guy at heart than
a true villain.
The make-up is quite astounding in this film, as one would
expect; I will be surprised if Toni G (department head), Kazuhiro
Tsuji (Grinch make-up), Rick Baker (special effects makeup), and
their staff are not nominated for Oscars all around. While the
Grinch himself is padded, furry, and caked with even more green
paste than he wore in The Mask, the Whos are almost frightening
in their appearance, with their faces pinched forward and their
noses built up like that of holiday-bedecked rodents. The set
for Whoville is also impressive, as is the music, featuring the
classic number "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" sung
by Carrey himself.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas could possibly be renamed How Jim Carrey Stole The Grinch, but his performance is so hysterical, and Howard's direction so appreciative of that, that all can be forgiven. That is the spirit of Christmas, after all. ****½