The Grinch Review

The Grinch is an animated and modern take on the well loved Christmas classic. It's all about greed and learning to better one's self with this release highlighting that among other problems in society. The general narrative is very similar to the live action released prior with it copying that tale while adjusting it slightly and being more whimsical. It definitely aims to have some heart, but doesn't quite achieve the same level as that release did. Here, we follow the Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he deals with a hate for Christmas.

This stems from neglect and years of anger, he definitely has problems. Things start to take an odd twist as continues to build hate for this Holiday until he arrives upon a magical idea to take it all away from these awful people. To the side of this main tale is the story of a single mother's kind daughter Cindy-Lou Who (Cameron Seely). She has no desire for gifts, but instead wants to make things easier on those she cares about. This part of the action is about capturing something and attempting to find some direct assistance. The two intertwine, though it's noticeable smaller in screen time than the last live action release being more akin to the original animated release.

The animation quality here was fine, it feels like the studio's other projects. It had a fair level of detail, with a very whimsical world. It was vibrant, colorful and the contrast of snow to everything was great. There was also some excellent snow technology here as you could clearly see it flaked across the characters or compressed as they ventures through it. They certainly had some fun with the visuals, along with some of the physical based comedic moments.

I wished they had made the Grinch's motivation a bit darker here, or at least made it come across as less towards one side. I say this without spoiling it in case you haven't seen this property in the past. It was too obvious what would happen essentially. The voice acting was solid from the cast and I thought Max was excellent here. A very fun dog, lots of character there with unique traits. I'm not sure I liked their extra evil crew member, didn't really seem to fit in. Same with the rest of the kid's included, they felt unnecessary. The pacing of the film could have been better, it felt rather long in comparison to its short run time. I had some laughs throughout, it had some decent humor though nothing too over the top there.

The Conclusion

The Grinch is fine, it's an alright animated film that tells the story you probably know once again. It didn't really do anything different from the live action and the parts they did change weren't too interesting. They something new with the characters in many places, but didn't give context as to why. I wonder about the situation surrounding Cindy-Lou Who's family as things are never really explained. Perhaps it was, but I was having a hard time fully paying attention to that or it was just noted in the background.

Like I mentioned prior, it feels long despite having a shorter run time. I didn't think the plot was anything special and it was too easy to see what was going to happen. I know the story sure, but if you haven't seen it everything is way too apparent. The animation was fine, very colorful yet nothing too amazing. I did like what was done with the snow though, very well done. This is just alright for the most part, I thought the narrative was weak and that the other adaptations were much better.

The Grinch Review at Theater with 3D AVX Viewing

Rating Overall: 5.5