3.5 stars. Rated PG, for no particular reason
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 11.9.18
Dr. Seuss purists who still shudder at the memory of 2000’s live-action Jim Carrey fiasco can rest easy.
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| Once the Grinch decides to ruin Whoville's Christmas once and for all, he realizes that stealth infiltration will be most successful if he's disguised as Santa Claus. Cue a furious sewing session on an elaborate machine powered by his dog, Max. |
Illumination — the animation studio that brought us the Minions — has done well by its 21st century revival of the modest 1957 picture book, which took a savvy poke at Christmas over-commercialization … eight years before Charlie Brown and his little tree.
The Grinch retains most of what was important about both that 69-page children’s classic, and the 1966 Chuck Jones adaptation that remains must-see TV every December. It’s evident from this film’s opening montage: a swooping camera shot that descends — accompanied by a gentle instrumental cover of the familiar “Fahoo Foraze” — from snow-covered mountains into the heart of Whoville.
The little town bustles with the expectation of Christmas, only a few days away. Decorations spring up on homes and in streets, thanks to elaborate, marvelously crazed, physics-challenged Seussian gadgets, doohickeys, widgets, doodads, gizmos, thingamajigs and thingamabobs: everything from wobbly garland hangers and improbable candy cane twirlers, to a Zamboni-esque contraption that scoops up snow drifts and excretes neatly stacked pyramids of perfectly formed snowballs, for young Whovians to throw at each other.
By which point, we viewers can’t help smiling.
Our appreciation redoubles as the narration begins, with scripters Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow retaining and expanding upon the original book’s text, the new material capturing the same Seussian rhyming scheme.
Such enhancements feel reasonably organic: Little Cindy Lou Who (voiced by Cameron Seely) now is the daughter of a hard-working single mother, Donna Lou (Rashida Jones), who also rides herd over rambunctious infant twins; and the scowly-growly Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) must contend with his nearest neighbor, Bricklebaum (Kenan Thompson), an ebullient, joyous, irrepressible fellow who — insufferably! — believes that they’re good friends.
In so many ways, producer (and Illumination founder) Chris Meledandri, directors Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, and their massive animation team have done their best to honor the source material. No surprise, since Illumination also delivered 2012’s delightful adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
