24 movies Guaranteed to make you feel Christmassy

December 7th - The Grinch

Year : 2000 Director: Ron Howard Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor.

The Grinch

The Grinch lives up in a cave above Whoville. He used to live in Whoville when he was young, but his mischievous ways did not make him popular, and following an incident when Christmas in which he was humiliated, he flees Whoville. He sets up home in a cave above the town, deciding that he hates Whoville, and all its residents, and he hates Christmas. Cindy Lou, a young child, tries to get the Grinch to attend a Christmas celebration, he reluctantly agrees, but, again, becomes the focus of further humiliation. Back in his cave he plots his revenge on the who's - to hit them where it hurts most - he will steal their beloved Christmas.

Hmmm. Ron Howard and Jim Carrey to bring to life the Dr Suess classic - not perhaps the most inspired piece of casting in the history of cinema is it. But the film actually turns out to be a rather good attempt to extend the short story into an extended film. Firstly the film is visually stunning, and the big budget is used well in bringing the story alive so well. Jim Carrey reprises his "The Mask" persona and adapts it to the Grinch, and, whilst the performance is both atmospheric and energetic, you begin to wish that either Carrey could have taken the Grinch character somewhere else or, better still, someone else had been cast in the role.

It is interesting to note how much the film might have been improved further had the originally considered director's schedule made it possible - that director was Tim Burton - who I think you will agree would have directed the film in a more sympathetic way to the original vision of the story than Ron Howard did. But hey the film was the top selling movie of 2000 so he must have got something right.

I think many people actually would cite the 1966 animated cartoon "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (voiced by Boris Karloff) as the superior version of this Dr Seuss story, but running at only 26mins it doesn't qualify as a proper movie, but I suspect a lot of the good will for the remake came as a result of the animated version (and the original book obviously).

But if you are looking for the best Dr Suess film get Cat In The Hat - its a modern masterpiece and Mike Myers is much funnier and much less annoying than Mr Carrey.

The Grinch is placed at December 7th on our Christmas movies guide (USA edition).

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