The Grinch gets outdone!

Rating: 9/10 (4 November 1999)

This is a personal favourite. Although credited to Henry Selick, Burton's fingerprints are all over this, and like most Burton films, it gets better with repeat viewings. My only quibble with the video version is the opening narration. I can't remember exactly, but the narration on the soundtrack CD is by Patrick Stewart, and is vastly superior and more extensive than what is contained in the VHS version, and I seem to remember that Stewart's narration is contained in the theatrical release. Oh well, it doesn't detract too severely from the film, which is so subversive and twisted as to make "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" look like a fairy tale. Here we have a dark protagonist who wants to appropriate Christmas not because he wants to make the world as miserable as he, but because he thinks he can make it better. His misguided attempts to bring Christmas to the masses in his own unique way are so blackly funny, and such a refreshing change from the commercialistic style of the Santa Claus myth, that when he is ultimately thwarted, we feel sad that he didn't succeed; not because we're sick and degenerate, but because the current children's Christmas myth is so stifling, we all feel it could use a good kick in the pants. The Grinch cops out on this level and turns into a complete cheeseball. Long live Jack Skellington, and may his follies cause us to reexamine our own Christmas traditions.