Christmas is right around the corner and what better way is there to get in to holiday spirit then to snuggle up and watch a Christmas movie?
Illumination Entertainment just produced its eighth fully animated feature,The Grinch, which is based on Dr. Seuss’ popular holiday classic. The PG-rated, family friendly movie not only incorporates Dr. Seuss’ unique storytelling style but it also incorporates current popular culture in the soundtrack, graphics, and story plot.
This is Illumination Entertainment’s second Dr. Seuss film after the Lorax in 2012.The film is narrated by rapper Pharrell Williams and is enjoyable for all ages. With a slightly altered plot, the movie aims to teach a lesson to the audience, to learn and realize that Christmas is more than just greed and presents but it’s about the holiday too.
The original 1966 Grinch film was a television special, directed by Chuck Jones and is only 26 minutes long. In 2000, Imagine Entertainment produced a movie version that was 1 hour and 50 minutes long, five minutes longer than the newly animated film, The Grinch.
The Grinch was originally scheduled for a November 2017 release date but due to Christmas movie competition with Sony Animation’s movie The Star, The Grinch’s release date was moved to a year later.
Because the Grinch was an orphan as a child, he lacked appreciation for Christmas because he had no family to celebrate the holiday with. He became jealous and envious of the people he grew up with who ended up celebrating Christmas with their families each year.
Around Christmas time, the Grinch realizes he has no food in his house and is forced to visit Whoville to grocery shop. During his visit, he finds out that Whoville is trying to make Christmas three times bigger this year than normal, which immediately triggers him. The Grinch attempts to ruin everyone in WhoVille’s Christmas by stealing their presents because he feels that Christmas is all about greed and unnecessary gifts. To his surprise, after successfully snatching every single present in the town, he realizes that the Whos aren’t as upset as he expected them to be.
The movie takes a heartwarming turn after the Grinch meets Cindy Lou Who, who changes his perspective of Christmas. The Grinch learns that not everyone wants presents for Christmas and that this special little girl wanted more, which was happiness for her hardworking mom. After hearing this, the Grinch decides to reconsider his actions and eventually apologizes for stealing everyone’s presents and Christmas. The movie ends with a cute and friendly twist where the town forgives the Grinch and he’s invited to Cindy Lou Who’s Christmas dinner. It was a good choice to make this story into an animated film because the plot would not have been able to be achieved without the colorful, complex, eye catching graphics.
My favorite part of the movie by far is the soundtrack. It features the original “You’re a Mean one Mr. Grinch” song written by Dr. Seuss and Albert Hague but the song is sung by Tyler the Creator, a popular rapper and producer. In addition to movie narrator Pharrell Williams’ music, musical hip hop group, Brockhampton’s music is also a part of the soundtrack. The incorporation of popular music in the plot makes the film appealing to all ages.
The film is a cute, heart warming story filled with humor. The only con about the movie is its length. Because the plot is so predictable, the movie drags at some points and seems too long but overall, the movie is definite holiday must-see.
