The Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) hates Christmas. To his horror, he has emotionally eaten all the food and is forced to go into Whoville during the Christmas season. It doesn't go well and he comes up with the idea to ruin Christmas by impersonating Santa Claus. Meanwhile, Cindy Lou Who needs to talk to Santa about her wish. She recruits her friends to catch Santa.
The 1966 special is perfect. This movie tries to improve on it by expanding on the story. It's a fool's errand. It could never improve on perfection. I actually don't mind the expansion in general. There are two big no-nos. The Whos look way too human and where are their antennas? They're just people with tiny noses. If the Whos are humans, then make Grinch a human and make this a live action movie. I wouldn't recommend it but at least, that could be interesting. This movie tries to be too modern. It needs to get rid of the electronics. The Whos exist in a specific world and the closer it gets to the modern world, the worst the visual content gets. The Whos have a certain style. At some point, it's no longer Dr. Seuss. At least, it's short. As for the voice work, the original had the greatness of Boris Karloff and the iconic song with Thurl Ravenscroft. These are iconic voices like Darth Vader. It doesn't get better than the best. Now it can be argued that Karloff was not the Grinch but rather the narrator reading the Grinch's dialogue. He's still the voice of the Grinch to me and Cumberbatch is doing something less compelling. I can see how the voice fits the character but it comes off weakly. Cindy Lou Who is older which is fine but the Whos sound too modern. They lack the wide eyed innocence that is inherent in their world. Nobody is evil but there is a stress in some of them especially the mom. Finally, there is the Grinch underwear. I get the joke but I'm conflicted about the results. Overall, this is an impossible job. Unless the filmmaker is willing to take unhealthy risks, it could never achieve much more than this movie. It's fine but this will be soon forgotten.
The 1966 special is perfect. This movie tries to improve on it by expanding on the story. It's a fool's errand. It could never improve on perfection. I actually don't mind the expansion in general. There are two big no-nos. The Whos look way too human and where are their antennas? They're just people with tiny noses. If the Whos are humans, then make Grinch a human and make this a live action movie. I wouldn't recommend it but at least, that could be interesting. This movie tries to be too modern. It needs to get rid of the electronics. The Whos exist in a specific world and the closer it gets to the modern world, the worst the visual content gets. The Whos have a certain style. At some point, it's no longer Dr. Seuss. At least, it's short. As for the voice work, the original had the greatness of Boris Karloff and the iconic song with Thurl Ravenscroft. These are iconic voices like Darth Vader. It doesn't get better than the best. Now it can be argued that Karloff was not the Grinch but rather the narrator reading the Grinch's dialogue. He's still the voice of the Grinch to me and Cumberbatch is doing something less compelling. I can see how the voice fits the character but it comes off weakly. Cindy Lou Who is older which is fine but the Whos sound too modern. They lack the wide eyed innocence that is inherent in their world. Nobody is evil but there is a stress in some of them especially the mom. Finally, there is the Grinch underwear. I get the joke but I'm conflicted about the results. Overall, this is an impossible job. Unless the filmmaker is willing to take unhealthy risks, it could never achieve much more than this movie. It's fine but this will be soon forgotten.