[MOVIE REVIEW] How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

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Title: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Starring:  Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Molly Shannon, Christine Baranski

Genre: Fantasy / Family / Romance / Adventure / Comedy

Company:   Universal Pictures

Directed by: Ron Howard

Year: 2000

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG for Some Crude Humor

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Best Buy  //  Blu-Ray.com

In the town of Whoville, all the Whos were getting ready it celebrate Christmas, but there was one Who that was curious about the true meaning of Christmas and that was Cindy Lou Who herself.  Not only was Cindy Lou wondering about the true meaning of Christmas, but she was curious about one person who doesn't live in Whoville and that's the Grinch himself.  The Whos almost never talk about the Grinch or want to be reminded of him, but Cindy Lou wanted to be friends with the Grinch and tried to invite him to the Whoville celebration.  But, when the Grinch is humiliated at the celebration, he decided that he will steal all the Whos' presents on Christmas Eve.

Wow! I was actually pretty surprised that I enjoyed this movie!  I never would have thought that Jim Carrey would do a great job at portraying the Grinch!  Jim Carrey made the Grinch's character much more humorous and hammy, which made the film much funnier in tone and the Grinchs' jokes easily land at the right times.  Taylor Momsen was fantastic as Cindy Lou Who as Cindy is shown as being a friendly and determined girl who only wanted to be friends with the Grinch and I liked the fact that she truly cares for the Grinch and only wanted to make him happy.  James Horner's music was probably the highlight of this film as it surprisingly goes well with the emotional scenes in the movie, such as during the scene where we learn about the Grinch's tragic backstory.  The special effects were surprisingly well done for the year 2000 and the film did a fantastic job at showcasing the bizarre yet beautiful world of  Whoville and greatly captured the creative style from the original Dr. Seuss book.

My biggest issue with this movie is that the Whos seem to be portrayed in a negative way as they are much more cruel towards the Grinch in this version than in the original book and the 1960s cartoon special.  Also, there were times where Jim Carrey's performance as the Grinch got so hammy that I couldn't take his more emotional scenes seriously, like he constantly gets upset whenever the Whos teased him.  I also didn't like the fact that Martha, the Grinch's love interest, didn't have much of a role in the film other than just standing around and looking at the scenery and being a love interest.
I always have a problem with certain love interests not having much to do in the film other than just being defined as a love interest to the protagonist and not having a personality of their own.  It would have been great if Martha had more scenes with the Grinch so that their relationship would be much more believable to me.

Overall, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is one of the most hilarious interpretations of the Grinch ever made on film and it is definitely worth the watch!