The Grinch (Disney version)

The Grinch, also known as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, is a 2022 American animated Christmas heist comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The third screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss' 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, following the 1966 television special and the 2000 live-action feature-length film. The film was directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska (in their respective feature-length directorial debuts), and produced by Roy Conli and Yvett Merino, from a screenplay written by Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler. The film stars the voices of Sandler as the title character, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Demi Lovato, Anna Faris, Darby Camp, Patrick Warburton, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, and Olivia Colman. The plot follows the Grinch and his pet dog Max who plan to stop Whoville's Christmas celebration by stealing all the town's decorations and gifts.
After the critical and commercial success of Peyo's The Smurfs (2016), Disney picked up the rights of Dr. Seuss Enterprises in October 2016. Plans for the adaptation of Dr. Seuss book begin in February 2019, with Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri confirmed as an executive producer and the working title How the Grinch Stole Christmas, later shortened to The Grinch, and Sandler was cast as the titular character, while finishing voices Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018), with Mike Rianda was set the direct the film, before Drymon and Kluska a former crew member of SpongeBob SquarePants and Adventure Time, respectively, were confirmed to be the film's directors in September 2020, while the inspiration for the film's animation style came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021), the film is predominantly CGI, the film does incorporate 2D animation from Randy Haycock, with additional 2D animation by Eric Goldberg and Mark Henn in certain scenes, and much of the technology used for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was reused for The Mitchells vs. the Machines to achieve this while new tools were created. They cited inspiration of The Cable Guy (1996). John Debney composed the score, marking his third collaboration with Disney animation following with The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005), a song written and performed by Tyler the Creator. The film was noted for introducing Walt Disney Animation Studios' first openly LGBTQ lead character, leading to the film being pulled out for a theatrical release in some regions.
The Grinch premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on November 15, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 23. The film received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the animation, screenplay, subject matter, music, pacing, emotional weight, entertainment value, and the vocal performances (particularly from Sandler). It grossed over $591 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time, as well as the highest-grossing Dr. Seuss film adaptation. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 95th Academy Awards, 80th Golden Globe Awards, 50th Annie Awards, and 28th Critics' Choice Awards, losing all four awards to The Smurfs 2, another Disney film that was released the same year. But it was won Best Villain for Sandler at Kids's Choice Awards. The film was dedicated to Seuss's widow Audrey Geisel, who died on December 19, 2018.
== Plot==
In the town of Whoville, the human-like people called Whos are filled with excitement about celebrating Christmas. However, the only one who is not thrilled is the grumpy, cantankerous and green-furred Grinch, born with a heart being "two-sizes too small". He lives in his cave with his dog, Max, and only goes into Whoville to buy groceries and harass the Whos.
One day, 6-year-old Cindy Lou Who notices her mother Donna is overworked trying to take care of herself and her twin infant brothers, Buster and Bean. Cindy Lou initially decides to send a letter to Santa Claus to help her mother, but after an encounter with the Grinch — who sarcastically tells her that, if the matter is so urgent, she will have to talk to Santa face-to-face about it — she decides to go to the North Pole to talk to Santa himself. When Donna tells her that a round trip to the North Pole would take a month, she instead decides to try trapping Santa with the help of her friends.
With Christmas approaching, an attempt by the Grinch to ruin a tree-lighting ceremony goes wrong, resulting in him having a flashback about his disjointed childhood spent alone and unwanted in an orphanage. Unable to bear these memories, the Grinch soon decides that he will steal Christmas from Whoville to assuage his distress. He and Max acquire a fat reindeer, whom the Grinch calls Fred, and steal a sleigh from his neighbor Bricklebaum. After a test run, the Grinch and Max discover that Fred has a family, and the Grinch emotionally agrees to let Fred go home with them.
On Christmas Eve, after making a Santa Claus disguise and crafting dozens of gadgets to help him with his plan, the Grinch and Max, who pulls the sleigh in Fred's place, go down to Whoville to steal the decorations and presents. He soon encounters Cindy Lou after falling into her trap. Her request to help lighten her mother's workload and her advice about listening to the Whos' singing to alleviate his sadness touches the Grinch's heart. Despite this, the Grinch continues his mission, unable to let go of the loneliness Christmas brought him.
After stealing every Christmas present and decoration, the Grinch and Max head back to Mount Crumpit to dispose of them. The Whos wake up and are shocked and disappointed to see that the presents and decorations are gone. Cindy Lou believes that she is to blame because of her trap, but Donna tells her that Christmas is not centered on presents and that Cindy Lou is the best thing that ever happened to her. The Whos join together to sing "Welcome Christmas", rendering the Grinch puzzled to see that they are celebrating Christmas despite his thefts. Seeing Cindy Lou and remembering her guidance, he immerses himself in their singing, causing his shrunken heart to blissfully triple in size.
Afterwards, the sleigh begins to fall off Mount Crumpit, and the Grinch attempts to save it. He succeeds when Fred and his family come to his aid. After securing the sleigh, the Grinch and Max slide down back to Whoville in order to return the stolen items, and the remorseful Grinch admits his actions and apologizes to the Whos before returning to his cave.
Feeling sorry for the Grinch, Cindy Lou later invites him and Max to celebrate Christmas at her house which he awkwardly attends. When seated for dinner, he realizes that it was not really Christmas he despised, but being alone and his bitterness over being neglected. With this, the Grinch finally accepts the Whos' friendship and enjoys Christmas with them giving a toast.
==Voice cast==
*Adam Sandler as the Grinch, a grumpy, cave-dwelling, green-furred creature who hates Christmas
*Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Lou Who, Cindy's clumsy yet good-natured uncle and Donna's younger brother. Ben Stiller was up to voice him, but dropped out.
* Demi Lovato as Lucy Gordon, the captain of the Legacy cruise, and Grinch's love interest
*Darby Camp as Cindy Lou Who, a kind-hearted young resident of Whoville
* Anna Faris as Donna Who, Cindy Lou's overworked mother.
* Sam Rockwell as David Mitchell, Donna's love interest.
* Patrick Warburton as Bricklebaum, a jolly citizen of Whoville who lives near The Grinch
*Dennis Quaid as Jaeger Who, Lou's father and Cindy's grandfather.
*Gabrielle Union as Meridian Who, Ethan's mother, and Lou's wife
*Jaboukie Young-White as Ethan Who, Lou's 16-year-old son
*Lucy Liu as Callisto Mal, the leader of the exploration
*Mel Brooks as Mayor Augustus, the retired Mayor of Whoville
*Olivia Colman as Mayor McGerkle, the Mayor of Whoville who oversees the tree-lighting ceremony
*Iain Armitage as Groopert, Cindy Lou's best friend
*Sam Lavagnino as Ozzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends
*Ramone Hamilton as Axl, one of Cindy Lou's friends
*Sadie Sandler as Izzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends whose mouth is mostly wrapped up in a scarf
*Michael Beattie as a store clerk
A recording of Pentatonix' "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen" is used for the Who-Carolers that stalk the Grinch.
Georgia Toffolo provides the voice of Mrs. Toffee Apple (a customer who was trying to reach a jar of "Christmas chutney") in one scene in the UK release. Bill Farmer voices Sam, a bus driver.
==Production==
===Development===
Following the critical and commercial success of Peyo's The Smurfs (2016), Walt Disney Pictures picked up the rights of Dr. Seuss Enterprises for Walt Disney Animation Studios in October 2016. By November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri had been brought on board as an executive producer. In February 2019, Disney was developing a 3D animated feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book, with the working title How the Grinch Stole Christmas, later shortened to The Grinch. His frequent creative partner Chris Williams also involved the project before leaving Disney in November 2018 to direct the Netflix Animation film The Sea Beast (2022). Mike Rianda was initially to directed after doing The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021), but in September 2020, Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, a storyboard artist on the first two Hotel Transylvania and The Smurfs sequels and a former crew member of SpongeBob SquarePants and Adventure Time, respectively, were confirmed to be the film's directors replaced Rianda. Rianda still stayed on the project for additional sequences director. The original design of The Grinch was originally more like the book than the final design we got. Overall, the budget of The Grinch was approximately between $135–180 million. The film draw the inspiration of The Cable Guy (1996).
===Casting ===
In September 2019, it was revealed that Adam Sandler was in cast as the titular character after previously voices as Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018). Ben Stiller was up to voice him, but dropped out. Anna Faris, Darby Camp, Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Warburton, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Colman and Lucy Liu joined the cast, while Jim Carrey who doing in the 2000 live-action version as The Grinch, he will play as the narrator and executive producer. Kristen Wiig was initially cast for the film before she was replaced by Demi Lovato in May 2022. 
===Animation===
The film was animated by Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California. Several software programs were used in creating the film's CGI characters including Maya, ZBrush, and Nuke as well as in-house software. The film's design was inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines, with Disney adopting a more illustrative and stylized aesthetic than their previous films predominately used 2D-style effects to mimic the look of traditionally-animated films, including the use of squiggles for fur and watercolor brush strokes for elements such as trees and bushes. The film was also inspired by anime and manga series such as Sherlock Hound and Lupin III as well as the French-Belgian animated film Ernest & Celestine, due to how it influenced the approach to the characters. A 3D CGI model of the town of Whoville through which a virtual camera could travel was crafted using Maya, ZBrush, Foundry's Mari, and Allegorithmic's Substance Painter. Disney built a shader prototype using the toonshader of the Autodesk Arnold render engine as a starter base. While the prototype was good for the test, the team knew they had to develop it further for the scale of a film. Additionally, a group of five traditional 2D effects animators to train the team were assembled, and Toon Boom Animation software was brought into their pipeline. 
===Music===
Henry Jackman was initially signed to compose the film's score, but was replaced by John Debney, marking his third collaboration with Disney animation following with The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005), when it was announced to composed the film's score. Tyler, the Creator was revealed to write lyrics and partial music to original songs. Also he wrote a new song for the film titled "I Am the Grinch". Tyler and Holkenborg collaborated on a new version of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for the film, which was featured in the final trailer, and early on in the film itself. The score and soundtrack albums were released (both digitally and on CD) and the film by Walt Disney Records.
==Release==
===Theatrical===
The Grinch premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on November 15, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 23, 2022.
Despite being theatrically released in most regions, The Grinch was not released theatrically in some regions; due to Disney's opposition to local regulations regarding theatrical windows, the company announced on June 8, 2022, that The Grinch would not see a theatrical release in France and would instead go straight to Disney+ in the region following its theatrical release in other regions. Deadline Hollywood reported that Disney pulled out for a theatrical release in 20 countries, mainly the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Russia and China; a Russian release had already been pulled due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, while Disney opted to exclude release in other regions due to the inclusion of a gay main character, Ethan Clade. This was done to prevent those regions' censorship of LGBTQ+ references, as a main storyline in the film revolves around Ethan having a crush on another boy called Diazo.
This was the first film to feature the commemorative 100th anniversary Disney logo in celebration of the company's centennial in 2023, created by Disney Studios Content and Industrial Light & Magic, which was revealed at the 2022 D23 Expo. Christophe Beck composed a new arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star", while Tim Davies conducted it.
===Streaming and home media===
The Grinch began streaming on Disney+ on December 23, 2022.
According to Flix Patrol, The Grinch was the most streamed film on Disney+ upon its release on the streaming service. According Whip Media's TV Time, The Grinch was the 8th most streamed film across all platforms in the United States, during the week ending December 25, 2022, and the 6th during the week of December 30, 2022. The Grinch was the 6th most popular film on Fandango’s transactional digital service Vudu, during the week ending January 1, 2023.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released The Grinch on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on February 14, 2023.