‘Blu-ray or Bust’ - THE GRINCH

‘Blu-ray or Bust’

THE GRINCH (2018, PG, 88 minutes, ILLUMINATION/UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

It felt kind of weird, watching this film in February. I live in Maine, so yes, there is still snow on the ground, which lends to my surroundings a wintry air. But it is no longer Christmas—the snow that falls now isn’t the same you wish for in order to have a more befitting holiday. It’s the kind that you dread a little, as in “still have another month of shoveling”, or “this outta make for a fun walk to work today”.

In other words, the Christmas spirit is understandably lacking. It would probably help to watch DR SEUSS’S THE GRINCH in December, when that most treasured of holidays—especially from the retail point of view—is within reach. But the lack of a brightly lit and passably decorated tree in my living room doesn’t mean this is a film you should ignore. Remember what Ron Howard attempt in 2000? The one with a poorly cast Jim Carrey as The Grinch? With all the creepy looking Who’s in Whoville?

Well, Universal Studios decided to give us something to replace that odd, dismal film. Instead of allowing a classic twenty-six-minute television cartoon to be turned into a movie four times that long, they have offered the world a tale told like the classics which precede it. You’ve listened to me whine about the unnecessary length of some of the recent animated features before, but Universal keeps this one under an hour and a half, and it is the tight, imaginative storytelling which saves this film. That, and the incredible animation. 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 that prior attempt. 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 there are points it falls flat.

The special features are a bit lacking, however. There are three new animated shorts from Illumination: two featuring the Minions, and one with Max, the Grinch’s loyal dog. None of them are entirely necessary, and only one of them provides consistent laughs. Meaning they all feel sort of out of place here. The other special features—making of docs—are short, and light on information. They mostly feel more like commercials than they do behind-the-scenes featurettes.

So yes, do purchase this on Blu-ray. The detailed animation and the great soundtrack necessitate the higher quality format. But please, do watch this when the snow outside is of the more festive variety. Your holiday spirit can thank me later.

Film Grade: B+

Special Features: C

Blu-ray Necessary: Absolutely

- T.S. Kummelman