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UNIVERSAL

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Ron Howard
Cast:
Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski
Writing Credits:
Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman

Synopsis:
On the outskirts of Whoville, there lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans on ruining the Christmas holiday for all of the citizens of the town.

Box Office:
Budget
$123,000,000.
Opening Weekend
$55,082,330 on 3127 Screens.
Domestic Gross
$260,044,825.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English Descriptive Video Service
Spanish Dolby 5.1
French Canadian Dolby 5.1
Castillian Dolby 5.1
Dutch Dolby 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
German Dolby 5.1
Italian Dolby 5.1
Japanese Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French Canadian
Castillian
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Arabic
Danish
Finnish
Icelandic
Norwegian
Swedish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French Canadian
Castillian
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Arabic
Danish
Finnish
Icelandic
Norwegian
Swedish

Runtime: 105 min.
Price: $22.98
Release Date: 10/17/2017

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Director Ron Howard
• “Spotlight on Location” Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Outtakes
• “Who School” Featurette
• “Makeup Application and Design” Featurette
• “Seussian Set Decoration” Featurette
• “Visual Effects” Featurette
• Music Video
• Trailer
• DVD Copy


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Deluxe Edition [Blu-Ray] (2000)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 23, 2017)

Before it hit movie screens, I couldn’t decide if the 2000 live-action version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas sounded like a disastrous idea or if it looked like money in the bank. On one hand, the movie would tamper with an acknowledged holiday classic, the original animated TV special animated TV edition from the 1960s.

Remakes usually work best when they take on somewhat-forgotten properties. Since millions of folks grew up on yearly viewings of The Grinch, the film would enter dangerous territory.

On the other hand, those millions of people opened up a ready-made audience who felt familiar with and fond of the material. In addition, many of those who watched it as children grew up and produced kids of their own.

Because the TV version first hit the airwaves in 1966, lots of little ones emerged in the years between its debut and the feature film in 2000. As such, a new take on The Grinch could encounter an audience of folks and their progeny with positive attitudes toward it, especially since it seemed like a flick that could be enjoyed by the whole family.

In addition, The Grinch attracted Ron Howard, a very successful director over the years, and it would feature Jim Carrey in the title role. The cartooniest actor in existence, Carrey felt highly appropriate for this part, and his casting lent a strong level of credibility and star power to the project.

Despite my doubts, the second half of this equation dominated. The Grinch emerged as a serious hit during the 2000 holiday season, as it eventually took in $260 million and grabbed the spot as the top-grossing movie of the year. Apparently no one felt upset with the new direction taken by the classic.

I intended to check out The Grinch during its theatrical run, but I never got around to it, so I didn’t see it until home video. Although I like the animated version of the story, I don’t feel any great attachment to it or defensiveness about it, so I figured I’d not be bothered by any liberties taken. After all, the movie runs roughly four times as long as the TV show, so clearly they’d need to open up the story to a great extent.

That they did, and the result is something of a disaster. I definitely don’t like The Grinch, though my disaffection has less to do with the padding added to the tale than with the crude alterations in tone and spirit. The film version of The Grinch takes a warm and witty holiday tale and makes it an obnoxious and grating piece of noise.

At the start of the film, we meet the denizens of Whoville, a burg that apparently exists inside of a snowflake. The Whos adore Christmas, and they obsess about it virtually all year long, so when the date finally approaches, the folks enter a state of mania.

However, all’s not perfect in Whoville, as little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) seems to have lost that Christmas spirit. Her mailman dad Lou Lou (Bill Irwin) appears sympathetic but confused, and her mom Betty Lou (Molly Shannon) cares too much about producing the most garishly decorated house in the neighborhood to take much notice of this concern. Betty appears particularly fixated on topping the display mounted by snooty neighbor Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski).

Lurking in the background in his mountaintop cave is the Grinch (Carrey), a bizarre furry green dude who loathes the Whos and Christmas with equal passion. He exists as something of a town bogeyman, and folks are terrified to even approach his territory.

After a brief encounter with the Grinch, Cindy starts to wonder about him, and she interviews townsfolk to learn more about his past. At that point we see a flashback to his childhood and find out why the Grinch became so nasty. We also get some backstory about Martha May, town mayor May Who (Jeffrey Tambor) and their connection to the Grinch.

Cindy makes it her mission to reintegrate the Grinch into Who-ciety, so she campaigns to get the people to choose him as the “chairman of cheer” at their “Whobilation”. To the dismay of the mayor, she succeeds, and eventually she convinces the Grinch to come to the big celebration.

Inevitably, things go awry - mainly due to the mayor’s obnoxiousness - and the Grinch becomes more bitter than ever. As such, he determines to ruin Christmas for the Whos, and he steals all of their presents and holiday doodads.

Nearly an hour into its 105-minute running time, this is the point at which the movie finally links to the TV show. Until the Grinch decides to steal Christmas, the film exists on its own, but the final act much more closely hews to the plotting of the original.

Of course, it still takes some liberties, but I’ll leave those unspecified so that I omit any potential spoilers. The ending stays in the same ballpark as the TV program, though, so don’t expect any radical differences other than those caused by the film’s unique characters like the Mayor, Martha May and Lou.

However, much about the movie The Grinch does seem very different from the TV show, and probably the most significant alteration occurs due to the tone of the lead character himself. In the TV program, the Grinch appears as a nasty piece of work with no backstory.

Grinch hates everything and everybody, and that’s that, so we don’t bother with much context. The movie, however, attempts to give us a psychological background for the character, as we learn how he came to be so bitter.

This choice significantly harms the product. In the TV show, the Grinch’s change of heart comes across as a big revelation and it supports the “true meaning of Christmas”.

Here, however, we feel sorry for the Grinch well before this happens, and that undercurrent makes the overall result less compelling. The background almost makes the Grinch a victim, and it’s much harder to take him seriously as a vicious ogre when we’ve seen his soft side. Sure, this creates a more well rounded character, but a cartoon story like this doesn’t need that kind of depth, and the extra dimension feels awkward and useless.

On the surface, Carrey seems like the perfect choice to play such a broad character. After all, he shows a cartoony personality in much of his comedic work, so who better to portray this sort of role? Unfortunately, Carrey’s hammy tendencies get the best of him, and he comes across as more over the top than usual, but with less charm.

A lot of the problem stems from Carrey’s particular talents. He’s a grand physical comedian, and his expressive face brings much to the table.

Unfortunately, the Grinch costume buries Carrey under layers of makeup and prosthetics, and the actor’s skills rarely emerge. If anything, he tries harder than usual to make a physical impression, and these attempts come across as overbearing at times.

The remaining actors fare little better, though it’s hard to imagine how endearing they could become since they’re also submerged under creepy makeup. Boy, does that “Who” look seem unappealing!

Granted, it feels like an interesting touch to make the performers so closely resemble their animated predecessors, but the results seem very off-putting. It’s hard to look at them without constantly thinking about the ugly makeup.

The Grinch features some good performers in supporting roles, but the movie’s really all about Carrey, so they get little to do for the most part. Irwin seems excessively bland as Lou, and he fails to make any impression.

Ironically, Baranski looks better than ever as Martha May. Personally, I think she got the part because she already resembled a Who, but whatever the case, she appears more attractive than normal. Unfortunately, she’s unable to add any spark or personality to her role.

Tambor comes across like nothing more than a bland baddie, and his character feels more out of place than the others. Actually, he only appears odd in the context of the original program, as unfortunately, he fits in all too well in the “new” Whoville.

In the TV show, the Whos were uniformly kind and pleasant. Initially the Grinch thought that they were cold and materialistic and that he could subvert their holiday celebration simply through the elimination of its tangible assets. He developed as a person only when he learned that the Whos really didn’t care about all of that and they were more concerned with the spiritual meaning of the day.

In the movie, the Whos get to the same point, but it seems much less palatable, largely because of characters like the mayor. Granted, he takes the negativity and self-obsession to an extreme, but most of the Whos come across as being stuck on the holiday doodads. They’re showy and obsessed with superficial things, and unlike TV Whos, they appear plenty ticked off when the Grinch steals Christmas.

Of course, the movie tries to bring about an ending that resembles the one in the TV show, but it feels forced and artificial. Indeed, The Grinch embraces all of the things that the original tried to negate.

The film seems cold, crass and crude, and it feels like it exists just to move merchandise, so any attempts to support the “true meaning of Christmas” come across as patronizing and tepid. The Grinch wants to have it both ways, but it can’t, and only the obnoxious, showy side wins.

As the only Who who tries to plumb the depths of the holiday, Cindy seems just as fake. It doesn’t help that Momsen offers a child actress straight out of a catalog, and she appears to exist simply to push the plot.

In the original, Cindy made only a brief appearance when the Grinch broke into her house. Here she’s turned into a leading character, and the expansion creates its own problems, a lot of which revolve around the bland and saccharine performance by little Momsen. She looks cute but nothing more, and she adds no spark or personality to this pivotal part.

Cindy feels like padding, as does much of the movie. Like I mentioned earlier, the movie lasts more than four times as long as the TV show, and it needs to bring a lot of extra material to the table.

Unfortunately, all of this footage feels like the filler that it is, so the film tries to expand the tale but it doesn’t offer anything interesting. Overall, the new scenes come across as persistent repetitions on the same themes, as we watch endless shots of Carrey’s vamping and goofiness.

The Grinch also suffers from the snide attitude that pervaded many films of its era. Rather than actually attempt genuine emotion and feeling, The Grinch goes with a satirical presentation much of the time.

It wants desperately to be wicked and pointed, but it consistently falls flat. The characters break the “fourth wall” on many occasions, and lots of other self-referential material appears. It all seems forced and gratuitous.

As does The Grinch itself. I went into the film with a reasonably positive outlook: I didn’t expect to be bowled over by the movie, but I thought it’d be an entertaining and witty experience.

Unfortunately, the flick brings us nothing more than a crass and pointless exercise that leaves me actively disenchanted. How such a strong roster of participants could produce such an unpleasant and witless enterprise seems unfathomable.

Footnote: when I first saw the film in 2001, my negative assessment of The Grinch was shared by one of my dogs. Whenever the Grinch himself appeared on screen, Biscuits started to yap and growl at the screen. Good judgment, puppy!


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio B+/ Bonus B-

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with an appealing transfer.

Overall definition looked good, with an emphasis on accurate imagery. A little softness crept in at times – usually during effects-connected shots – but the film generally appeared well-defined and concise.

I saw no jagged edges or moiré effects, and the image lacked edge haloes. No print flaws impacted this clean presentation.

As expected, Grinch went with a palette heavy on reds and greens, all of which it displayed well. These gave off a warm, rich tone.

Blacks looked deep and dense, while shadows showed nice clarity and smoothness. The image brought out the movie in an appropriate manner.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundfield of The Grinch often stayed with a distinct forward emphasis. Within the front spectrum, the elements seemed to be accurately delineated and clearly placed, and they moved between channels well.

Panning was smooth and clean, and the effects blended together well. The score demonstrated good stereo imaging, and some dialogue appeared from the sides as well, though most of the lines remained anchored in the center.

As far as surround usage went, much of the time the track stayed with general reinforcement of the music and effects. However, this improved on a number of significant occasions, and when appropriate, the rears added some solid information to the mix.

Probably the showiest scene in the film took place when Martha May used her Christmas light gun to decorate her house. This meant the rat-a-tat of the tool fired all around as the bulbs flew into place and the track provided some excellent use of the split surrounds.

Some additional positive elements arose, especially during the movie’s climax. The level of involvement remained relatively light, but the soundfield of The Grinch worked well for the most part.

Audio quality appeared to be solid. Some louder dialogue displayed minor edginess, but overall the speech sounded natural and distinct, and I detected no problems related to intelligibility.

Music showed good brightness and depth at all times, while effects also displayed a reasonable punch when appropriate. Those elements always sounded clean and accurate, and they showed good low-end response at times. In the end, this felt like a solid “B+” soundtrack.

The Grinch debuted on Blu-ray in 2009. I never saw that version, but apparently it suffered from drab, bland picture quality.

Universal produced a remastered Blu-ray in 2015, and this 2017 “Deluxe Edition” reissues that version. If you already have the 2015 Grinch, you’ll not find any changes for the 2017 Blu-ray – heck, the disc still reads “2015” on its face!

We get a mix of extras here, and these open with an audio commentary from director Ron Howard. He offers a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, set design and visual choices, bringing the cartoony world of Seuss to live-action, visual effects, music, and connected domains.

For the film’s first act or so, Howard brings us a reasonably informative and likable chat. However, he fades after that, as he provides fewer useful comments and insights. Howard still chimes in enough to make this a passable track, but he sure loses steam after a good beginning.

A circa 2000 featurette called Spotlight on Location runs seven minutes, 18 seconds and offers info from Howard, producer Brian Grazer, set decorator Meredith Boswell, special makeup effects Rick Baker, costume designer Rita Ryack, visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack, and actors Jim Carrey and Taylor Momsen. “Spotlight” looks at the source story, cast and performances, set design and makeup, and visual effects. A few good nuggets emerge, but this remains a promo piece without much depth.

Six Deleted Scenes fill a total of nine minutes, 28 seconds. These tend to offer expansions of existing sequences, with more of the Grinch’s surreptitious visit to Whoville and extra footage of the segments where he “steals Christmas”. They’re consistently forgettable.

We also get some Outtakes. This compilation lasts three minutes, 17 seconds and concentrates on the usual silliness and goofs. However, a few improv moments emerge, and those add some value.

Four featurettes follow, and we open with Who School takes up five minutes, 43 seconds and includes Howard, stunt coordinator Charles Croughwell, producer Todd Hallowell, and actors Molly Shannon and Bill Irwin. “School” discusses the elements necessary to bring the Whos to life. It’s a short but informative clip.

During the six-minute, 57-second Makeup Application and Design, we hear from Baker, Howard, Grazer, Carrey, and makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji. As expected, we learn about character design and execution. It turns into another fairly educational reel, and I especially like the glimpse of abandoned Who makeup concepts.

Seussian Set Decoration goes for five minutes, 15 seconds and involves Howard, Boswell, author’s wife Audrey Geisel, property master Emily Ferry and production designer Michael Corenblith. Inevitably, this one covers the movie’s sets. Along with ample concept art, this becomes a solid synopsis.

Finally, Visual Effects spans 10 minutes, 50 seconds and provides notes from Mack. He discusses the movie’s effects as we see examples. The program digs into the subject matter well.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get a Music Video for “Where Are You, Christmas?” by Faith Hill. It’s a sappy song and the video seems pretty dull, as it sticks with the usual “lip-synch/movie clip” combo. And hat’s with her ultra-crimped hair? Did that actually look sexy at the turn of the millennium?

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Grinch. It includes the same extras as the Blu-ray.

A big hit back in 2000, I suspect someone out there views Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas as a classic, but I can’t imagine why. Crass, unfunny and irritating, the film flops. The Blu-ray offers very good picture and audio as well as a fairly positive collection of supplements. Stick with the animated version and skip this terrible live-action adaptation.

To rate this film, visit the original review of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main