How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

***How the Grinch Stole Christmas!*** (also known as ***Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!*** and simply ***The Grinch***) is a 2000 American animated Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The TBD Disney animated feature film, the film is directed by Ron Howard, Ron Clements and John Musker and written by Chuck Jones (in his final work before his death in 2001), Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 book of the same name, it was the first Dr. Seuss book to be adapted into a full-length feature film. The film is narrated by Anthony Hopkins and stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen (in her feature film debut), Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin and Molly Shannon.

Walt Disney first attempted to adapt *How the Grinch Stole Christmas!* into either an animated film or short film during the late 1960s, but was unsuccessful. During the success of the Disney Renaissance era, Walt Disney Pictures decided to adapt the story upon Dr. Seuss' widow Audrey Geisel giving the film rights to them. Because the film is based on a children's short story, many additions were made to the storyline in order to bring it up to feature-length, the backstory of the title character and reworking the story's minor character Cindy Lou Who as a main character. Most of the rhymes that were used in the book were also used in the film, though some of the lines were to some degree changed and several new rhymes were put in. The film also borrowed the iconic 1960s song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" which was originally written for the cancelled 1960s project.

*How the Grinch Stole Christmas!* was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 17, 2000. It was a huge commercial success nonetheless, grossing $363 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest grossing film of 2000, received widespread critical acclaim for its story, animation, voice acting, Carrey's vocal performance of the titular character, and James Horner's musical score, though criticism was drawn toward innuendos and inconsistent tone.

## Plot

All the Whos of Whoville enjoy celebrating Christmas. The Grinch, a misanthropic green creature who lives in a cave on nearby Mount Crumpit, hates the holiday, and the Whos dislike him because of his mean-spiritedness, especially during the holiday season. Six-year-old Cindy Lou Who believes that everyone is focusing on the gifts and festivities instead on the personal relationships. She encounters the Grinch at the post office and later discovers he has a tragic past.

The Grinch arrived in Whoville as a baby and was adopted by two elderly sisters. He was a timid child and not as cruel as he would later become. In school, the Grinch had a crush on Martha May Whovier, a beautiful girl in his class who seemed to like him back. Bully Augustus MayWho, however, was jealous that Martha liked the Grinch more than him and started picking on him. That Christmas, he made a Christmas angel as a gift for Martha, but accidentally cut his face while trying to shave due to MayWho claiming he had a beard. When MayWho and his classmates saw his cut face the next day, they (except Martha) teased him, causing him to lose his temper, declare his hatred for Christmas, and flee to Mount Crumpit, where he has resided since.

Cindy nominates the Grinch to be the town's "Holiday Cheermeister", outraging MayWho, now the mayor of Whoville. Cindy climbs to Mount Crumpit to invite the Grinch to the celebration and he eventually accepts, realizing that Martha may be there and he could finally upset MayWho. As Cheermeister, the Grinch participates in several events and begins to have fun, but MayWho ruins everything by giving him an electric razor as a present, reminding him of his childhood humiliation which started his hatred of the holiday season. MayWho then publicly proposes marriage to Martha, giving her a gaudy engagement ring and a new car. Enraged, the Grinch berates the Whos for their materialism by telling them that Christmas is only about gifts that they will ultimately end up throwing in the garbage, which is dumped on Mount Crumpit near his home. He burns down the tree with a makeshift flamethrower (the Whos, however have a spare) and goes on a rampage before returning home.

Finally fed up with the Whos' Christmas, the Grinch vows to crush the Whos' Christmas spirit by stealing all of their presents, decorations and food while they are asleep. He disguises himself as Santa Claus and dresses his pet dog Max as a reindeer, then descends into Whoville. The first house he enters is Cindy's, and when she catches him stealing their tree, he lies to her in order to allow him to escape. The Grinch continues stealing all of the gifts, decorations and food and stuffing them all in a large sack, before climbing back to the top of Mount Crumpit to destroy it all by pushing the sack off the side. Upon awakening on Christmas morning, the Whos are horrified to discover the theft and Mayor MayWho blames Cindy for enabling the Grinch to ruin the holidays for the town. However, her cheerful father, town postmaster Lou Lou Who, comes to his daughter's defense by explaining to the mayor and all of the other Whos that he has finally figured out what Cindy has been trying to tell the whole town — Christmas is mainly about being together with family and friends, not just gifts and fancy decorations. The Whos agree with Lou and start singing Whoville's Christmas carol.

Before the Grinch can push the sack of stolen gifts off the top of Mount Crumpit, he hears the Whos singing and realizes that he has failed to prevent Christmas, but then has an epiphany and finally realizes the true meaning of Christmas, causing his heart to grow three sizes. The sleigh full of gifts then begins to slide over the edge of the cliff along with Cindy, who had come to spend Christmas with him. The Grinch gets the strength to lift the loaded sleigh and carry Cindy to safety, and they ride down the mountain to return everything.

The Grinch apologizes for his pranks and the burglary before surrendering himself to the police, who accept his apology and deny the mayor's request to arrest and pepper spray him. Martha even turns down MayWho's proposal and returns his engagement ring to him, declaring that her heart belongs to the Grinch. Afterwards, the reformed Grinch joins in the Whos' celebration feast and carves the roast beast himself in his cave.