I didn't think it was THAT bad


Carrey's ramblings as the Grinch were a bit too much, though. It's on Christmas night every year on ABC. I know there are so much better Christmassy movies they could put on for us to enjoy. They could put on "Elf", "Bad Santa", "Jingle All The Way", or even a Christmas variety special. They insist on keeping showing this movie. It's Christmas. It by no means gives us the special feeling in our hearts like the 1966 cartoon does, but it works! It's NOT Ron Howard's best work, but i give it a 7 score. It could have been soooooo much better!! If we wait another 10-15 years, someone will do another movie version of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", and perhaps it will be cuter, and a hit. I never understood why people who HATE a movie choose to write stuff in the movie's IMDB message section about it, criticizing it, hating on it, etc. If you don't like a movie, or if you HATE a movie, don't post anything about it. Just forget about it, and post on message boards of movies you DO like.

Now, about the person who said he was FORCED to watch it 5 times, and hated it everytime, what country is he from??? Is he from a communist country, where he had a gun to his head, and was forced to watch it? I can't believe that someone was forced to watch ANY Christmas movie. Did he have a pop quiz on the movie afterwards, where he had to answer questions on it, and he had to get them all right, or he was murdered in cold blood? Geez! Give us a break! You were not EVER *FORCED* to watch this movie!




reply

Pretty sure this was the first time ABC showed this film on Christmas night......it was cool that they played the classic cartoon right before the movie started.

They are working on a 3D animated version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' - currently set for a 2017 release. Illumination Entertainemnt (who makes the Despicable Me movies and The Lorax) will be doing the film. Inevitably, when that film will be released, people will most likely say it's better than the Jim Carrey one but not as good as the classic cartoon......just because people can't help themselves to compare I guess. And the Jim Carrey one seems to get an unfair bad rap. Nothing compares to the classic cartoon, but it doesn't mean I still can't enjoy other adaptations.

You say it could be "soooooo" much better, but it also could have been "soooooo" much worse. People seem to be ignoring the immense challenges of doing a film like this in live-action. Given the exceptional challenges of trying to make a cartoon come to life in a live action film (and one of the most beloved, iconic cartoons of all-time at that), I think they did an exceptional job.

reply

You're kidding right. This movie is far superior to Elf, Jingle all the Way, and I won't even mention Bad Santa.

reply

I actually prefer this version to the old cartoon. Never liked it. The animation is annoyingly basic for a story that takes place in an alternate universe that should immerse you and I didn't enjoy the constant narration.

This film isn't a masterpiece or perfect but I think it is definitely good and far superior to the movies previously mentioned. Not sure what rating I'd give it but I felt immersed in the world with its vivid art direction and set design, loved the performances and characters, laughed at a majority of the funny moments, felt sentimental at the touching moments (shout out to the scene with Cindy Lu's dad confronting the mayor and when the Grinch realizes the true meaning of christmas), cared about what was going on, loved the soundtrack (except the song Cindy Lu performs)and think film succeeds more than it fails.
Most people i know agree with my analysis, granted I've met people of the opinions that it was rotten or average, but I'm pretty confident the film's reputation will improve with age. Films like this usually experience a backlash and contemporary audiences are hesitant to give them too much praise because they are so far removed from the perception of high art. However, if you look at what movies typically endure, they are more in the vein of this one as oppose to Dallas Buyers Club or Precious. The movie is escapist and whimsical and why we go to the movies.
Again, is it a masterpiece? No. Do i think it's a Christmas classic that audiences will or can enjoy for generations to come? Yeah.

reply