By Tatsuya King
Illumination’s 2018 The Grinch is a masterfully composed animated remake of the 1999 Jim Carrey classic, itself an adaptation of the 1966 popular Grinch animation based on the well known Doctor Seuss book. This movie depicts a Christmas-hating green monster, the Grinch, in his attempt to steal Christmas from the homogeneous fur-covered idealistic society of Who-people. Unlike its predecessors, this movie adds the storyline of Cindy-Lou, an adventurous young Who-girl who teams up with her size-diverse group of friends to help her mom through a difficult time.
The Grinch’s story begins with him having to go into Who-ville to restock on food. In town, he is tormented from all sides by carol-singing, joy-mongering Who-people. We are also introduced in this scene to Cindy-Lou, on her way to deliver her letter to Santa. After being hit by her tube sled, the Grinch tells Cindy-Lou that her letter is pointless, causing her to later try and trap Santa and talk to him in person. Cindy-Lou’s character in this story is used to contrast the Grinch: she is young, caring and always looks on the bright side while the Grinch is old, mean, and chooses to stay grumpy even when everyone is nice to him. Later on, it is this contrast that causes the Grinch to become good.
Eventually, after a beautifully directed story with all the traits of a Pixar film, Cindy-Lou teaches the Grinch to have feelings, making his heart grow to what looks to be sixteen times bigger. With the fun, rhyming narration that’s inserted every ten seconds, the plot of this movie becomes so blatantly clear that anybody who understands English will be able to follow it. This is a good thing because the target age group for this film is six and up, although people of all ages can enjoy it.
After finding out about a massive tree being brought in for the Who-ville pre-Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the Grinch becomes infuriated and plans to take it down. However, instead of lighting it on fire or cutting it down, he builds a catapult and tries to throw a big snowball at it. This logic error can be excused, however, because it leads to the next important part of the story where the Grinch’s plan fails, and instead of launching the snowball, he accidentally launches himself and lands right in the middle of the festival. In the midst of this horrible nightmare of happiness, the Grinch is forced to relive his childhood trauma.
In this flashback, we realize why the Grinch hates Christmas so much. It is not because he hates happiness or a certain aspect of Christmas, but instead, it is the fact that it makes other people happier than him. For once, the narrator doesn’t spell it out for viewers. He explains that the Grinch hates Christmas because no one cared about him when he was younger, which is a valid reason, but older viewers can dig deeper into the meaning and into the more subconscious reasons the Grinch hates Christmas. Younger viewers can simply enjoy the feel-good message of the story. These different levels of understanding add a depth to this movie that is often not found in movies of a similar caliber. If you read between the lines in this scene, you can assume that the Grinch hates Christmas because it rubs in the fact that he is alone, something that the Grinch himself doesn’t realize is the cause of all his sadness until the end of the movie. After remembering his sad Christmas memories, the Grinch hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Who-people, hopefully, also stealing their happiness.
After the greatest scene in all of cinematic history, where the Grinch uses his plethora of gadgets and gizmos to steal decorations and presents from the people of Who-ville, he finally arrives at the house of Cindy-Lou. There, Cindy-Lou traps the Grinch and confronts him with her wish (to help her mom). In this scene, Cindy-Lou sees the Grinch as this all-good person (Santa) and treats him accordingly. At this point, the Grinch thinks that she’s treating him this way only because she thinks he’s Santa. Little does he know that even after he reveals his true form, Cindy-Lou will still see the best in him and even go as far as inviting him to dinner. After pleading her case, Cindy Lou lets the Grinch, now touched and moved, go home. The climax comes when the Grinch, now enlightened, returns all of the Who-presents to the Who-people after closing his eyes and feeling emotions, advice given to him by Cindy-Lou. After slumping home in shame, the Grinch feels bad… until he’s invited to dinner by Cindy-Lou with no consequences.
The Grinch is a wonderful movie filled with great jokes, great messages and a soundtrack composed by Tyler the Creator. Even though all the symbolism and themes in this movie are “borrowed” from its predecessors, it does a great job of showing them to us again. For young kids who have probably never read and will never see any of the original “Grinch” stories, this movie is a great way to introduce them to an old classic. Whether or not the Grinch story is the most deserving of a remake is up to debate, but in a sea of “Emoji Movies” and “Bee Movies,” the Grinch is a pretty good change of pace for childhood stories. If you are looking for a movie where you can fall asleep and wake up later, not missing a beat, or a movie that requires two brain cells to enjoy, the Grinch is the movie for you. Also, if you don’t like it, it’s probably because you aren’t six years old.
Photo Credit: https://sinfullycinematic.com/the-grinch-everything-you-missed-easter-eggs-references/
This is the funniest thing I have ever heard.