The shallow decrying of materialism does beg the question:what’s the point of this retelling? The answer (besides making money) is to “modernize” the classic story. Not only does that bring weird theological implications to The Grinch (was there a Who-Christ who was Who-cified for the sins of Who-kind?) it also makes any brief mention of the Whos’ greed ring hollow. While there aren’t any churches or Christian symbols in the film, the Whos sing carols explicitly about the birth of Jesus and the salvation he brings. Seuss’ The Grinch’s depiction of Christmas in Whoville is overtly religious. Yes, they like the presents, food, and decorations that come from their Christmas Who-bilation, but they seem to genuinely care about the Whoville community.Īdding to the more favorable depiction of the Whos is the fact that Dr. While Cindy and Donna are shown as more selfless than most, the rest of Whoville isn’t portrayed as mean or materialistic. The two subplots barely intersect until Christmas Eve, which feels a lot weaker than if Cindy and the Grinch had interacted with each other.Ĭindy’s subplot also highlights how weak the justification for the Grinch hating Christmas is. However, the film does throw in one extra subplot, as Cindy embarks on a quest to capture Santa Claus so he can make life easier for her single mother, Donna ( Rashida Jones). His story mostly stays with him preparing to steal Christmas, staying relatively faithful to the book. The Grinch isn’t really given much time to be mean, as he doesn’t interact much with the Whos. The only time the Grinch even approaches true evil is during the movie’s opening scenes. As such, the Grinch’s Grinchiness is just a front. There is even a Who named Bricklebaum ( Kenan Thompson) who considers the Grinch to be a friend. While the 2000 Ron Howard film portrayed the Grinch as an outsider who is detested by the Whos, the 2018 Grinch freely walks around Whoville without being harassed (or even noticed) by Whos. This isn’t the worst backstory, but it’s clear that the Grinch’s isolation is mostly self-imposed. Instead, the reason the Grinch doesn’t like Christmas is because he‘s an orphan, and thus has never had anyone to celebrate Christmas with. Directors Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney want to make the Grinch sympathetic, but not at the expense of the Whos. Well, except the American accent he still hasn’t quite locked that one down. While Cumberbatch’s performance is far from memorable (none of the performances go above passable), I don’t think you can pin the blame on him. Of course, all that is complicated by the incessant efforts of Cindy Lou Who ( Cameron Seely), who desperately wants to meet Santa, which threatens to blow the Grinch’s cover. Bitter about their lack of bitterness, the Grinch launches a scheme along with his dog Max and reindeer Fred to ruin their Christmas – impersonate Santa Claus and steal all their gifts on Christmas night. Seuss fable: the Grinch overlooks the happy town of Whoville, whose participants are steeped in Christmas cheer. You would be wrong – Illumination Entertainment’s (yes, the Minions people) version of the green Santa impostor is utterly toothless, lacking the nastiness of Boris Karloff in the animated original or the camp silliness of Jim Carrey in the live-action redux.įor the most part, the story plays out like in the original Dr. Seuss classic is acerbic and mean-spirited. From the ads, you would think that the Grinch ( Benedict Cumberbatch) in the 2018 incarnation of the Dr. The billboards for Dr Seuss’ The Grinch feature the eponymous antihero dishing out insults to the viewer. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Diving deep into Minions territory, Illumination’s revamp of the holiday classic sands off the Grinch’s hard edges and turns him into a blandly grumpy uncle.
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