El Grinch

Very colourful, and beautiful visuals. I DESPISED the Hip Hop soundtrack though.

Anyone who gave this a bad rating clearly is just upset because, they don't like a modern Grinch because they grew up with the original classic Grinch cartoon. This movie was one of the most adorable and fun feel-good animated movies I've seen in a long time. Benedict Cumberbatch killed it as the Grinch and, all the gadgets and grandeur of the grinches holiday heist scene is so creative and colourful and fantastical! This is one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time up there with Nightmare before Christmas. This movie was a joy to watch and if you couldn't find joy in this movie maybe, you're the Grinch.

If you've seen the trailer you've seen the whole movie. It's funny, yes, but the trailer ruins it as it has included every single joke from the movie.

I know this will upset some folks, but the 2000 version of Dr. Seuss' classic, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" was an abomination. First, the entire message of the original story was lost...and was, in fact, the opposite of Seuss' story. Second, the story was all about Jim Carrey and his mugging for the camera....everything else seemed secondary. Because of this, I was terribly disappointed, as I loved the original story and the great 1966 cartoon. Because of this, I was very reticent to watch this 2018 incarnation. But, in hindsight, my fears about the latest film are mostly unfounded.

Because the film is about an hour and a half long, I already realized that the story had to be padded and include some new material...this is just inevitable. However, I was surprised how much I liked this material...such as the Grinch's cute reindeer. It was very pleasant and all contributed to the story instead of distracting from it. And, as far as the story goes, it stuck pretty close to the book--even using many exact quotes from the classic tale.

As far as the quality of the film goes, it's a mixed bag but mostly good. The animation was eye-popping and wonderful. It really is great on the big screen and the 3-D effects were magnificent. I also liked that they made the Grinch a hater of Christmas but NOT a hateful or evil character. He was kinder and more sweet at times....even though he hated the holiday. The only things I wasn't thrilled about were the narration by John Legend and the voicework for the Grinch himself by Benedict Cumberbatch. I had the distinct impression that BOTH were used simply because the studio could get them--not because they were appropriate for the film. Legend is apparently a nice guy...but his nice-guy voice wasn't what you'd want or expect from a narrator. The same for Cumberbatch--who DID sound very different from his usual English accented voice but still was too 'normal' a voice for a character such as the Grinch.

Overall, despite my voice talent complaint, the film is a great family film...one that honors the book and 1966 film instead of ignoring it like the 2000 incarnation. Well worth seeing and amazingly heartwarming...especially at the end as well as when the Grinch is interacting with his dog and pet reindeer.

This was the first movie theater experience for my 3 year old son. At 1 hour and 30 minutes he did get a tad restless in the later half of the film, which is to be expected. But he did love the film and the experience. As for me, nothing will top the classic cartoon from my childhood. And bits of this felt a bit more stretched out than needed be. But overall I found it cute, lighthearted entertainment that managed to capture the spirit of the original. The voice acting and a animation were solid. The songs, while not as good in my 43 year old eyes as the original tunes, were still serviceable.