dragonfire88's Full Review: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I love Christmas. In addition to the decorating I do, I also watch several Christmas movies and specials every year. There are some Christmas cartoons that I watched growing up and still enjoy watching now when I get the chance to see them. I recently picked up the original animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) on DVD and just watched it again.
All of the Whos living in Whoville loved Christmas and went all out with decorating and preparing for the huge feast. On Christmas, all of the Whos would gather together in the center of town to sing, something that thoroughly irritated the Grinch. He lived just north of Whoville on a mountain with his dog Max. Every year he suffered through hearing the celebration and he dreaded Christmas. The Grinch decided that he would stop Christmas from coming by dressing up in his own Santa outfit and going to Whoville to take all the presents, decorations, and food.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was based on the book of the same name written by Dr. Seuss. I think I had seen the cartoon first, but I also have the book and read it many times while I was growing up. It has been many years since I last read the book so I can’t remember for sure what would have been changed for the cartoon. The book really isn’t that long, so I think certain scenes were made a bit longer for the cartoon.
There was nothing complicated about what was going on in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch hated Christmas for some reason and a few possible explanations were shared. He decided he was going to do something to stop Christmas from coming so he wouldn’t have to deal with Christmas again. It was predictable, but that didn’t bother me at all since it was so entertaining. It didn’t take very long for him to develop his plan and set it in motion. The cartoon did move along at a somewhat fast pace, but that is to be expected since it is only twenty-six minutes long.
I remember watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year when I was growing up. Even once I was an adult, I would still watch it when I found it on television. I know I didn’t see it last year for some reason and it might have even been a few more years since I last saw it. I had forgotten that it started off with the Whos singing while they put up their decorations. I think that was happening on Christmas Eve and all of the events took place that night or the next morning. Some traditional elements of Christmas were included in the cartoon. There were a lot of decorations around Whoville and everyone had a decorated Christmas tree in their home. Presents and a large meal also played a role in Christmas for the Whos. The cartoon did leave out all of the religious references to the holiday while still gently delivering a message about Christmas.
The Whos had a tradition of singing the song Fahoo Forays every Christmas while they stood around the big Christmas tree in the center of town. I recently read that some of the lyrics for that song were meant to sound like classic Latin. The song does sound nice even though I have no clue what many of the words are supposed to be. There were a few English words used as well. Probably the most well known song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas is the song You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch sung by Thurl Ravenscroft. The song really isn’t a happy Christmas song, but it fits in with this cartoon perfectly by helping to illustrate just how grumpy and irritable the Grinch was. I honestly didn’t remember hearing the song the Whos sang at the very beginning of the cartoon before. All of the music was written by Albert Hague.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas also included a decent amount of humor throughout the cartoon. Some of the laughs came from the rhyming lines written by Dr. Seuss along with the names of the unique things the Whos had. Most of those things had very unusual looks that did make me laugh at least a little bit. Max, the Grinch’s dog and his only friend, provided a good amount of humor as well. Poor Max had to put up with and do a lot once the Grinch came up with his plan, and he did end up in some humorous situations because of that.
Chuck Jones, the director of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, managed to successfully transfer the look of the illustrations from the book into the animation for the cartoon. The characters and locations had the same unique, somewhat kooky look that they did in the book. The Grinch had the same basic look that he had in the book with a few little differences here and there. In one scene, he got this look on his face that looked like similar looks some of the Loony Tunes characters that Jones had worked on for so many years. It really did look like the illustrations from the book came to life. The animation was very well done for the time it was made and I feel it has held up well over the years. The colors used for the animation were bright and vibrant, giving a much more colorful look to everything than the original book had. I think the colors look much brighter on my DVD than they did when I have watched the cartoon on television over the years.
The Grinch was the only character that was really focused on in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Several of the Whos were shown around Whoville at the beginning and then again later in the cartoon without any of them doing anything important. They were just sort of background characters and they weren’t even given names. The only Who that was given a name was little Cindy Lou. It worked fine that no other characters received as much attention as the Grinch. There just wasn’t enough time for anyone else to be developed. Max was around in all the scenes with the Grinch and he ended up being important as well. Boris Karloff served as the narrator and provided the perfect voice for the Grinch.
DVD Extras
I had seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas on DVD for several years before finally picking up my own copy this year. The cover for my copy says that it is the 50th Birthday Deluxe Edition. It is presented in the standard or full screen format like it was when it was originally aired on television. There is a new digital transfer and I do think that it made the animation look much crisper and brighter than it has compared to the last several times I saw it on television.
Dr. Seuss and the Grinch - From Whoville to Hollywood tells how the book was originally turned into a cartoon. A narrator shared some of the information in a rhyming rap that sounded like it could have been written by Dr. Seuss. Audrey Giesel, the widow of Theodor Giesel talked about her husband and his work. She explained how he came up with using the name of Dr. Seuss for his books. Chuck Jones was also featured talking about working on the cartoon and he was even shown drawing a few sketches of the Grinch. I really enjoyed this featurette even though it wasn’t that long.
Songs in the Key of Grinch featured the songs included in the cartoon as well interviews with composer Albert Hague and Thurl Ravenscroft, the man who sang You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch.
Who’s Who in Whoville Biography Gallery shared a little bit of information on Dr. Seuss, Chuck Jones, Boris Karloff and June Foray, the voice of Cindy Lou Who.
Grinch Pencil Test showed some of the early animation work in making the cartoon while some of how the animation process worked was explained.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Special Edition Featurette was a special made by the cable television network TNT about the making of the cartoon. The special was hosted by Phil Hartman and did share some interesting information.
The cartoon Horton Hears a Who!, based on another book by Dr. Seuss, was also included on the DVD.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a classic Christmas cartoon that has held up very well and is still worth watching. It successfully manages to deliver a good message about Christmas without getting too heavy handed or preachy.
Dr. Seuss' wonderful story of the Grinch who would like to spoil Christmas for the people of Whoville. The story is narrated by Boris Karloff.More at HotMovieSale.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.