“SKumm’s Thoughts”
THE GRINCH (2018, PG,
88 minutes, ILLUMINATION/UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
In the year 2000, Ron Howard reimagined the Dr. Seuss classic “How the
Grinch Stole Christmas” with a live-action film starring Jim Carrey. There has been much debate over the film’s
merit, as it stretched a classic twenty-six-minute television cartoon into a
movie four times that long (not to mention the fact that it starred one of the
most frenetic comedic actors of the time), and most viewers either loved or
hated it.
Count me as one of the latter; something about the Who’s of Whoville
brought to life really creeped me out, and I thought the casting of Mr. Carrey
seemed out of place.
So why would Universal give it another try?
Why would the same studio take a film that, despite the mixed reviews,
was highly successful at the box office, and remake it?
In short, because they could do it better.
This animated retelling may be the best iteration of the story yet—and
I’m including the Boris Karloff led Warner Brothers cartoon in that. I know, I know: blasphemy. But the wunderkinds at Illumination have
crafted a story that is touching, relevant, and extremely funny, and have
wrapped it in sharp animation that pays homage to its predecessor and creates a
sense of wonder which overshadows prior attempts. There is something glorious about seeing all those
lights in Whoville, and the attention to detail in the animation is precise and
breathtaking.
Directors Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, working from a script by Tommy
Swerdlow and Michael LeSieur, keep the pacing consistent throughout. There are no lulls in the storytelling or the
laughs, and the cast does a wonderful job in making you care about the goings
on of a tale you probably already know.
The standouts are Pharrell Williams as the narrator, whose lyrical
delivery makes you want to reread the book (out loud, and with his voice), and
young Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who. Ms.
Seely does a fantastic job capturing the nuances and attitudes of a child
(probably because she is one, but her comedic timing nears brilliance in
certain moments). Benedict Cumberbatch
is an interesting choice for The Grinch; he is confident and spontaneously
erratic (when needed), and at times seems to channel only the better moments of
Jim Carrey’s attempt at the role. Yet he
makes it his own when it comes to his delivery and his commitment to the
material; whereas Carrey never seemed to stop being Carrey, you feel the change
in Cumberbatch’s Grinch. Occasionally,
though, you wish Cumberbatch would just let loose a little more; his delivery
is, again, confident, but his it also sometimes falls flat.
The only drawback to the production is Tyler the Creator’s version of
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”. There
really isn’t any way to beat or outshine Thurl Ravenscroft’s classic baritone
voice, and the studio seems to get this by only using a brief twenty or thirty
seconds of this attempt. But said
attempt is a mumbled mess, and honestly, pairing Tyler the (I am so not writing
out his entire name again, as the only thing I think he created here is a new
way to sing with a mouth packed full of stale sugarplums) with singing children
is weird. Weird, and creepy.
The rest of the soundtrack is perfectly chosen. Danny Elfman’s score is inspired and
complimentary to the action onscreen, and never once feels presumptuous or rudimentary. If anything, Elfman’s music adds additional
layers to the animation, if that’s even possible.
This is one of those films that bears seeing twice, as there are many
details you will probably miss the first time around (including the lovely
diversity within the populace of Whoville).
And to pull it off without any low-brow humor or fart jokes just shows
the amount of respect the filmmakers have for the source material. Congratulations to Universal for allowing
Illumination to take the reins on this one, and to all those involved (except
for Tyler the Agitator) for creating a film I will definitely be adding to my
yearly Christmas watch list.
Grade: A-
-- T.S. Kummelman
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