Halloween Is Grinch Night

Parts of this special is really good and other parts are way too odd. It seems they could have created a better story than this one for the Halloween season but it's not a total snore either. The parts that are good are good - very visually stimulating!!

Hans Conried did The Grinch's voice in this one... he's OK but does not have the menacing voice that Boris Karloff gave in his performance in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". I realize Karloff was Karloff and his voice is very hard to replace but I'm sure they could have found a voice more befitting of the Grinch in this Halloween Special than Conried's (his voice sound too nice).

6/10

A strange wind blows into Whoville, making all the inhabitants stay indoors. They know the wind means the Grinch will be in a foul mood and out to do harm. However, young Eukariah decides to confront the Grinch.

Written by Dr. Seuss but not really up to his usual high standards. The creativeness and imagination are there in terms of strange animals, names for things, narration and general wordplay but the plot is so-so.

Entertaining enough but a bit disappointing too. Certainly not in the same league as How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

"Halloween is Grinch Night" is another of the Dr. Seuss animated films based on a Theodor Seuss Geisel children's story. This cartoon short aired as a TV half-hour special in 1977 on ABC.

The comedy isn't as clearly presented here to ameliorate for the fright factor. Dr. Seuss introduces some new creatures at the edge of Whoville. They are awakened when the sour-sweet wind descends in the fall. Gree Grumps awake from their sleep in the tree trumps. Their growling stirs the water of Punker's Pond. And that awakens the Hacken Cracks whose yowling reaches to the peak of Mt. Crompet. That, in turn, stirs the Grinch into action.

The old Grinch meets his match in a young boy, Euchariah, who stumbles upon him after being blown away from home by the sour-sweet wind. It's a fun cartoon story that most kids should enjoy - those of us from two to 92.

Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This twenty-five minute television special is a sequel to HOW THE GRINCH STOLE Christmas but of course this doesn't feature Boris Karloff's voice sadly. As far as the film goes, this time out the Grinch decides he needs to return to Whoville and make sure they don't have any fun at Halloween time.

HALLOWEEN IS GRINCH NIGHT certainly isn't the masterpiece that the original film was but to be fair one really shouldn't turn this on and expect it to be. For the most part this is a mildly entertaining special that will probably keep the kids a lot happier than their parents. Once again we're treated to some wonderful animation and there's no question that the Grinch character is one of legend. The major problem that I had with the film is that I didn't really care for any of the musical numbers. They were decent but just not good enough to hold my attention throughout the running time.

Halloween is Grinch Night is not going to appeal to everybody, people will find it hugely entertaining and others will find it bizarre. I do belong in the former category, but I can certainly understand the latter opinion as well. It is not as good as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but is still very impressive. The animation is very good, it is full of colour and the Paraphanelia Wagon sequence is memorably trippy. The music is wonderful, I love the jauntiness of the incidental scoring and the songs are very catchy. Max also sings and his song I found touching as a child and still do at 20. There are more faithful Dr Seuss adaptations out there, but the rhymes that form the dialogue are witty and elegant at the same time, while the story is briskly paced and bewitchingly oddball. The characters are ones you engage with, The Grinch himself will live long in the memory, and the voice acting is superb especially the soothing then terrifying narrator/Grinch of Hans Conreid, a worthy successor to Boris Karloff. So all in all, a great and underrated special. 9/10 Bethany Cox