The Grinch (2000)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon, Clint Howard

Director: Ron Howard

Time: 104 mins

I liked Dr Seuss' books when I was a kid, though I never got the opportunity to read many of them. Titles like Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat brought amusement and wonder with their cleverly crafted rhymes and puns. One of the more popular Seuss books was How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was made into a just-as-popular animated show back in the 60s. Now comes the live action version, starring the rubber-faced Jim Carrey. Though expectations were high, The Grinch has blown them all away with some spectacular box office in its first two weeks of North American release. My feeling is that though there are some entertaining moments in the film, accompanied by the typical Carrey humour, the filmmakers stretched what is really a thirty minute story into a hundred minutes. There are several scenes that go on a bit too long, potentially making one squirm if one has tired of the Carrey antics. Of course, if you're a fan of the book and/or the animated version, you will probably gaze in wonder at the recreation of Whoville and Mount Crumpit, not to mention the Grinch himself.

As the story goes, there is a town inside a snowflake called Whoville, populated by people known as the Whos and an irascible, green-furred creature known as the Grinch (Jim Carrey). The Whos love Christmas, and look forward eagerly every year to this time of feasting and gift giving. The Grinch, however, doesn't. A young Who, Cindy Lou (Taylor Momsen), thinks that beneath his gruff exterior, the Grinch actually has a heart, and sets out to find out why he is so mean. She interviews several prominent members of the town, including Mayor May Who (Jeffrey Tambor) and Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski), and even invites the Grinch to the town's Christmas Whobilation. The Grinch, however, has a dastardly plan to steal all the presents and food from the town. Will there still be Christmas? Will Cindy Lou reform the Grinch in time? Do dogs bark?

There's not much of a plot to The Grinch, but a welcome addition is a look into the Grinch's past to see how he became the Grinch today. That, and the obligatory happy ending, are pluses. The minuses come from a lengthy introductory exposition sequence and a couple of too-long moments while the Grinch argues with himself and his dog, Max. (Max, incidentally, steals the film.) The set design is good, evoking a snowy landscape and storybook alpine town, as is the make-up that transforms Carrey into the Grinch, but that's not saying much for a big budget movie these days.

Carrey is pretty much unrecognisable underneath the layers of green make-up and hair. But when he lays on the Carrey shtick, you'll know that it can only be the face-pulling star of Ace Ventura and The Mask. Some of the humour is quite funny, but there isn't enough of it. The other supposedly humorous bits grate. Youngster Taylor Momsen just falls short of cloyingly cute, but is a good partner for Carrey's Grinch. The others in the cast all play unfailingly sweet and happy fairytale-type characters, including Saturday Night Live's Molly Shannon as Cindy Lou's mother and Christine Baranski as a former Grinch admirer. The distinctive voice of Anthony Hopkins is a welcome intrusion as the narrator. And, being a Ron Howard film, there is another minor role for his brother Clint. Now, I'm not saying that having family members in your films is bad (hey, Scorcese and De Niro have a pretty good working relationship, and they're not even related), but does every Ron Howard film (seemingly) have to feature Clint? What was once a novelty now seems like pure nepotism.

Ron Howard is a very commercial director, and The Grinch is as commercial as they come. While he has succeeded in bringing the book to life, what he and the scriptwriters use to pad out the story to feature length only partially works. There's a good performance from Carrey (being Carrey), and an even better one from Max the dog. Go see it by all means if you loved the book and/or cartoon. I, however, would prefer the shorter versions.

(c) Joe Wong (3 December 2000)