How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The holidays mean big money for the shopping malls. There’s nothing more then companies love then a family that needs to spend money on expensive gifts. It doesn’t matter if it’s for their second cousin three times removed, or if it’s just for themselves; Wall Street sees Christmas time as the greenest holiday. But these people become so wrapped up in their wallets, that they often forget that their succumbing to one of the biggest misconceptions about the time; materialism. Most people see this time of the year as their reward for the hard work they’ve put in. But don’t they realize that their true reward is to see the people they love and spread joy that should be lasting a year?
Dr. Seuss crafted a great tale about materialism in his story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It is something of a staple of children’s literature that teaches children that Christmas is all about love and not presents. It has been published millions of times and everyone knows that famous cartoon from 1966. Come 2000, and a live action version of the story came from the brainchild of Ron Howard. Without out even reviewing the movie, I give credit for attempting to expand on a story that is barley twenty pages long.
Inside the brightest snowflake is the town of Whoville. The town is full of humanoid creatures that have long noses and buildings that have no straight lines. Everything is wacky and more colorful then our world. Christmastime is here and the whos are getting ready by decorating the place in the craziest ways possible. As quoted by the movie’s narrator Antony Hopkins, “All the whos down in Whoville loved Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not” This creature lives at the top of Mount Crumpet.
Rather then going straight into the stealing, the movie expands on why the Grinch (Played by Jim Carrey) hates Christmas. As a child, the who children made fun of him (he’s a green monster, what child would not bully him), but the boiling point came when the children laughed at his gift to his crush. Occasionally pulling pranks, The Grinch isolates himself in the mountain with his dog Max. Every who fears him except for young Cindy Lou Who (played by Taylor Momsen). She’s been questioning the true meaning of Christmas as the Grinch plans to make his famous heist.
Most people are very mixed about the movie version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Some people praise it as a Christmas classic while others say it is an insult to Dr. Seuss. I’m in an in between stance. I like the casting as Jim Carrey, because even in a bad performance he can be entertaining. Though I would have actually would have wanted Anthony Hopkins to also play the Grinch as he’s supposed to be a grumpy man and not an improv actor. The movie’s greatest strength is the production value as everything I saw looked exactly like it was ripped from a Dr. Seuss book.
I’ll give this four faces of the Grinch out of five. Though the animated adaptation is far superior, this movie still entertains me, mostly for Jim Carry and not the