How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Plot synopsis:
On a tiny snowflake floating through the air, exists the town of Who-ville, home of the Whos. The town is joyously preparing for the coming of Christmas.However, of all the Whose, a little girl named Cindy Lou Who is feeling depressed, and not at all in the holiday spirit. When her brother and his friends return from climbing Mt Crumpit and claim they saw the Grinch, Cindy Lou grows curious as to the Grinch, who she learns does not like Christmas. While in the Post Office with her Father, Cindy takes some mail to a backroom, and finds the Grinch trying to cause havoc in the mail room. The Grinch scares her, and causes Cindy to fall into the mail sorting machine. To her surprise, the Grinch rescues her.Cindy then decides to investigate more into the Grinch's past, and interviews several people, including two elderly women who cared for the Grinch, as well as town socialite Margaret May-Who and the Mayor, both of whom were classmates with the Grinch.From the information she collects, the Grinch as a child actually liked Christmas, and even had a crush on Margaret. However, the Mayor as a child, taunted the Grinch about this. The Grinch tries to create a hand-made present for Margaret and shave off his facial hair, but the bad shaving job causes the class to laugh at him, finally causing him to hate Christmas. After that, he ran away to Mt Crumpit.As Christmas approaches, the Mayor announces the upcoming Who-bilation, where the town nominates a Cheer Meister. While the Mayor looks forward to another unanimous vote for himself, Cindy requests that they nominate the Grinch, feeling he deserves it the most.With enough votes, Cindy gets the Grinch a nomination, and climbs up Mt Crumpit to deliver it to him. The Grinch does not believe her at first, but reconsiders when he finds out he'll be receiving an award, and that Margaret May-Who will be attending. The Grinch agonizes over the decision to attend (partly believing this is a trick), before appearing to the Who's.While at first apprehensive, the Grinch appears to be getting into the Christmas spirit, until the Mayor proposes to Martha May-Who, and offers her a car. The ostentatious gift rouses the ire of the Grinch, and he then begins to wreck the celebration, causing mayhem and burning down the Christmas tree. Cindy feels terrible that her plan to make the Grinch feel better has been ruined, and the Grinch returns to Mt Crumpit.The Grinch feeling worse then ever, decides that this year, he'll stop Christmas from coming, by dressing as Santa, and stealing it. Fashioning a sled, he and his dog Max return to Who-Ville, and make off with all the gifts and festive trimmings. Taking everything to the top of Mt Crumpit, he plans to drop it all over the edge.Back in Who-ville, everyone is sad and distraught, with the Mayor blaming the whole thing on Cindy for inviting the Grinch. Cindy's father proclaims that he actually is proud of his daughter, because he's seen that Christmas is not about presents and decorations, but about being together. Soon a number of other Who's join in and begin singing.This sound causes the Grinch to pause, wondering how they can be so cheerful. As he watches, the emotion gets to him, and his once shrivelled heart grows 3 sizes. The Grinch then returns the presents to Who-ville, and apologizes for his misdeed. At the same time, Margaret May-Who tells the Mayor she is rejecting his marriage proposal, and that her heart belongs to the Grinch.In the closing of the film, the town feast is held, with the Grinch carving the Roast Beast.

Tags: cult, comedy, psychedelic, fantasy, sentimental

Review:
I have just read the lead comment for this film that is on the front page with the voting results and cast run down.Why is it that some people can not take a film for what it is supposed to be.This film is supposed to be a light hearted, tonge in cheek, family comedy, things to make the kids laugh and things for the adults, and that is exactly what this film does.I laughed my nuts off at this film, I thought Carey put in a great performance and the whole film (if watched at Christmas) really give you a bit of festive cheerSo to all of you film reviewers stop trying to sound like film students and knock every film because it is not "Taxi Driver" or "The Godfather" and take films for what they are supposed to be, entertainment!!.
Being a huge Jim Carrey fan, I easily saw how he could morph himself into Seuss' Grinch and make the character his own.
I already have visions of my young daughter sitting down year after year to watch this remake on video, and I undoubtedly will watch with her and laugh as I did the first time I saw it.Clearly, this movie has Jim Carrey written all over it, and I do not believe that it would have come together without him.
A young girl from Whoville sets out to befriend the Grinch and help him find his love of Christmas but, when it goes wrong early on, the Grinch becomes even more rotten and plans to ruin it for everyone.I have never read the book or seen the original animated version of this story, but I do enjoy a bit of Dr Seuss and was worried about how such imagination would be filled out on the screen.
The plot is stretched out to the running time and could have easily been shorter and punchier, but at heart it is a good little moral that is good from Christmas time.However, aside from the look of the film, the main reason that the film works is Jim Carrey.
In this movie Jim Carrey plays a grumpy green guy who hates Christmas, but then at the end finally gets into the spirit.
Today we'll be looking at a very great family adventure, also one of the best Christmas films, THE GRINCH.
Big budget remake of the classic cartoon about a creature (Jim Carrey) intent on stealing Christmas.I had rather low expectations for this one...
If you went to this movie to see some huge academy award presentation...oh well..but if you wanted to see a funny delightful adaptation of an old classic, you will love it..Jim Carey was incredible as usual.
Othewise, "The Grinch" (Jim Carrey) cracks so many jokes you can't keep up with them all, ranging from sexual to cultural to insider-Hollywood to racial.The film is very colorful and looks great on DVD.
Ron Howard is known for making such dramatic films like Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and many more, but before those two adaptations of Dan Brown's novels, he adapted the original book of the same from Dr. Suess, a remake of the 1957 cartoon "How The Grinch Stole Christmas".The premise, like the cartoon, is the same: The Grinch plots to steal Christmas from all of Whoville, but learns that Christmas comes from the heart.
While this movie stayed true to the spirit of the book (and despite it's crude and inappropriate humor but has a few good jokes) Jim Carrey, although over-the-top, did a perfect job as the Grinch.
The rest of the cast did great especially Taylor Madsen as the lovable Cindy Lou-Who.I show some empathy for fans of the book who hated this adaptation, but as for me, I'm recommending this Christmas classic to others highly.Rating: 8.3/10.
But, if you don't want to be annoyed by the Whos, or blinded by the slightly overdone sets and costumes, watch it for Cindy Lou, or, if you don't like 'cute' movies like me, but like Jim Carrey's raunchy, slapstick, Marx Bros.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a great movie with a well written storyline and a good cast.It certainly made a few mistakes with adapting the classic Dr. Seuss book in to a live action movie,there are just certain elements to it that certainly could have been improved upon.It is a film lots of people like to watch at Christmas,and while I'll admit it is a fun movie,it dosen't really put me in to the Christmas cheer the same way movies like Its a Wonderful Life or the Santa Claus do.However,Jim Carrey as the Grinch is certainly a highlight,he's completely unrecognisable in this make up,but the characters personality and mannerisms remind us that it really is him under all that.I remember reading a review by Roger Ebert a few years ago in which he said that this movie focused too much on the meanness of the Grinch,and I would have to agree that this was a problem as we are suppose to feel sympathy for him,but it's hard when all we are seeing is why he's a bad person and seeing very little moments of kindness.It certainly made a few mistakes,but How the Grinch Stole Christmas is still a fun movie that brings the creations of Dr. Seuss to life,and I would recommend it to a family looking for a nice Christmas movie.
I have seen this movie 5 or 6 times and every time I see it the only character that was funny was Jim Carrey as the grinch.
So if you haven't seen this movie yet see it if you like Jim Carrey because he did a fantastic job playing the grinch in this movie..
For those who really liked the cartoon growing up--personally I never missed it--this movie gives mental images to the Grinch that you don't want.
Ron Howard, if your reading this, please please make another one but you got to use Jim Carrey as the Grinch again, he was extraordinary.
Jim Carrey, who on paper seems like he would be perfect casting, overplays to the hilt, creating exactly the opposite effect to that inspired by the original droll creation of animator Chuck Jones and actor Boris Karloff.
The only positive attribute Carrey could have brought to the film, that rubber face with which he could have created any number of comic moments, is buried underneath heaps of prosthetic makeup.This is a foul, terrible movie, and I can't believe that anyone could possibly like it.
Just be truthful and instead say "it's dog drool and the Doc is spinning in his grave like a rotisserie--BUT MAN WILL YA' LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY THEY GAVE ME?!?!?!??".I base this on the basic fact that the entire message of the book and wonderful TV special is: The GRINCH HATES XMAS and the People of Whoville know the REAL reason and joy of the holiday.
So, if you haven't seen the cartoon or read the book, this could be a nice film to watch....but if you HAVE and loved them like I did as a child, the film is an insult..
Since seeing Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I have been trying to come up with alternate titles to describe how I feel about it.
I live action film based on Dr. Seuss's book would have been a good idea, if it had been executed better, and by a director more skilled at this type of movie.Ron Howard is not an untalented director, but this is not his type of film.
Ultimately tho, for all his effort, Howard's attempts to make all the disjointed parts of this film work falls short.The main flaws with this film lie in the script by Jeffery Price and Peter Seaman, and Jim Carey's misguided performance as the Grinch.
The expansion of Cindy Lou Who's character is an admirable attempt to create a focal character at the other end of the spectrum from the Grinch, but by the end of the movie, despite the admirable attempt by Taylor Momsen, Cindy Lou Who has become a fairly annoying and irritating character.However, the true failure of this film lies in the hands of Jim Carrey's dreadfully awful portrayal of the Grinch.
Almost 180 degrees from the character's origins, the sullen, grumpy Grinch of the book and cartoon is replaced with a wise-cracking goofball who just happens to hate Christmas and the Whos.
I don't think so, but what is out there today!If you want a holiday movie to get you in happiness tears and reminders of your childhood watch the original Grinch.
If you want a great holiday laugh, watch Ron howards How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
The film is filled with bad jokes, Jim Carrey being annoying with one of the original messages getting completely jumbled up.
Too bad Ron Howard didn't have the cohones or good sense to rein in Jim Carey's WAY OVER THE TOP performance or to get a better script.
With this live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, for instance, we have a movie that, like the original cartoon, tries to launch a thinly veiled attack on the American consumer culture.
They don't how to take a short animated feature and extend it to the length of a movie, and in adding to the story, they add garbage and ruin it.Adding to that is Jim Carrey once more forgetting he's supposed to be playing a new character (the Grinch) and instead repeats a performance from his past (the Mask).
The Review: Big budget remake of the beloved Dr. Seuss cartoon about a grumpy green creature intent on sabotaging Christmas by stealing it from the unsuspecting, kindhearted townsfolk below.I'm going to take a quote from one user's post:This is a very good film.
"The Grinch" is a far inferior live action remake/adaptation of the beloved Dr. Seuss character where it's lead character is an obnoxious buffoon, it's Jim Carrey in green makeup.
How some people seem not to like this movie is amazing.This movie for me shows Jim Carrey at his best, his acting as the Grinch was flawless, I actually believed that this man hates holidays.The movie is based on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and to me is the best adaptation i have seen.
And it was a financial success, although critics seem not to like it.The movie is directed by Ron Howard who was responsible for Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and the Da Vinci Code (2006).Jim Carrey plays the Grinch, who develops a plot to steal Christmas and ruin the whole holiday for everyone.Every other cast in this movie were a little lost to me, but i didn't seem to care, the Grinch was it for me.
"How The Grinch Stole Christmas" is a funny movie.
I know the late Dr. Suess would be sorely disappointed.In the movie I felt like I was watching Jim Carrey in a green suit rather than the Grinch.
The classic line "The Grinch hated Christmas/ The whole Christmas season/ Now don't ask why/ No one quite knows the reason" is spoken in the film (by Anthony Hopkins, who does a great narration of the story the way it should be told), then contradicted entirely by a very clear summary of the Grinch's life.
I AM HONEST ABOUT THESE FILMS.The beloved book and animated special gets turned into a a mega budget movie directed by Ron Howard starring Jim Carrey.
Stick to the cartoon and book, which are timeless classics.Most kids love this movie (do they know any better?
I think Jim Carrey was kind of odd and stupid in as the Grinch, but quite liked the clothes and the background made out by Custom Design and Art Direction and I found out that the Christmas meaning is not only the presents.
I like Jim Carrey movies.
Oh, good, Ron Howard and Jim Carrey are getting together for a remake of the Grinch!
How The Grinch stole Christmas is very colourful, with great set design, and an unrecognisable Jim Carrey was terrific as the Grinch, he was actually really funny, not like Mike Myers who was miscast as the cat in Cat in The Hat. Everyone else was fine too, particularly the girl, and while he is no Boris Karloff Antony Hopkins does a good job as the narrator.
Director Ron Howard and his artists have really captured the visual essence of the classic show, and one couldn't possibly hope for a better-looking movie based upon a Seuss story.
Ron Howard, nee Opie, made some pictures before,But the Grinch, as a movie seemed just one big bore.Replete with great make-up and various sets,It lacked of a plot and then there's my regrets.It could be perhaps that the writers, obtuse,Used only the plotline of old Dr. Seuss.But I think that the most likely reason of allWas Ron Howard, nee Opie can't do comedy at all.But whatever the reason, whether script or direction,I found myself hating the production conception.For instead of creating a more tender storyWith pathos and heart, it seemed almost gory.The Grinch, well, Jim Carrey, ate metal and glass,Befriended by dog and dimensionless lass.And there in the theatre I sat with chagrinAghast at the plodding Grinch plot that was thin."I have wasted two hours!'-this at the conclusion."The Grinch stole my life's blood-I need a transfusion."Then I grumbled Grinch hatred at the loss of my time."What they've done to this story is simple a crime.It's not a Who story of some greenish Scrooge,There was no great redemption, not smallish or huge,Because all of the characters just lacked sympathySo cheered and inane or with great misery."And so in the aftermath, when all's said and done.It was not the Grinch who is said to have won,It was not the watchers and, no, not our planetBut the people with money, who burn it and fan it..
In the original story, and in the cartoon that faithfully followed, almost no time goes by before the Grinch is cutting out his Santa outfit and trying to steal Christmas.
As the Grinch, Jim Carrey gives it his best, but he is hampered by unfunny lines and Ron Howard's stiff direction.The first half hour of the film lacks any magic or laughs; Howard doesn't seem to know how to unfold the story and instead relies on the twisted scenery and often grotesque makeup of Whoville and the Who's to give a sense of an imaginative film.
Great makeup and creative props and sets, but the writers couldn't decide whether "Grinch" would be a children's Christmas movie or a pandering money-maker.
'Grinch' is a mess, drowned in special effects and gaudy production design, and it completely misses the point of the original story.Howard does something here I would never have thought possible: He makes Jim Carrey unfunny.
Mr. Grinch he is called...look, well..the movie doesn't entertain that much when it is more about Christmas spirit and taking care, than a lovely Grinch grinning and sniffing like a angry dog or something.
They neither knew nor cared if it was any good.Why so bad?Because it manages to insult (1) Dr. Seuss' wonderful original book and (2) Chuck Jones' wonderful 1966 TV cartoon special.Because, in this ostensible children's movie, there is an early scene where the Young Grinch watches the adult marrieds of Whoville have a "wife-swapping key party."   VERY Dr. Seuss.
(I don't blame Jim Carrey...in fact I'm a pretty big fan)  This movie was made without any love and that's too bad.
How can you call this film `Dr Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas' when that plot doesn't start until an hour into the show?
I have to agree with some that say that this film is a bit too crude for kids, but btw it's a great and funny romp especially since the Grinch (an unrecognisable Jim Carrey in green outfit) appears.
And Carrey is perfect for the role of the Grinch, not like Mike Myers as the Cat, and Anthony Hopkins does a great job as the narrator.However, this movie has many great moments that I strongly recommend it to watch it, especially during the Christmas season!.
I think I can relate.But in all seriousness, it's a heartwarming movie done right by Ron Howard, and Jim Carrey is amazing at his role.
Jim carrey plays the Grinch in this film and he truly owns the role in this film, he is in allot of makeup but it shows in his great physically hilarious performance that is hard not to enjoy.
I found "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to be a fun film to watch.
Grant it, this is not a best-picture film, but Jim Carrey's performance as the Grinch is top rate.
It wasn't until Jim Carrey met her and 'became the Grinch' that she allowed them the rights to the movie.
I think this will become a classic, and I'd better see Oscar nominations for make-up, costumes, set designs, and possibly Carrey for this movie.....He was the Grinch!.
the grinch was a wonderful film with intense visuals and great acting...although jim carrey was a little overacting (one reason i never liked him in the first place).
I promise not to.I remember being excited to hear that there would be a live action version of `The Grinch' starring Jim Carrey, and I also remember being disturbed to hear that it would be directed by Ron `Opie' Howard.
I'm sure Jim Carrey did what he could with it, but "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is one story that shouldn't have been made into a full-length, non-animated movie.
In the hands of director Ron Howard and star Jim Carrey, "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas", is a loud, obnoxious, excessive, CHARMLESS bore.
When I was a kid, I love to read the book about " How the Grinch stole Christmas.
The original "Grinch" is one of the funniest and most well-made Christmas movies ever.
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE Christmas (Ron Howard, 2000) **1/2.