I previously reviewed Halloween is Grinch Night, a link to that review down below...
Now I am aware of an 90s Dr. Seuss show that also had the character. Unfortunately, I haven't seen enough to give my thoughts on that. Also you can consider this my early big Christmas blog. I might end up being too busy to make videos or writing up blogs next month. At least, you already know the theme I'm going to do this year.
1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 TV special)
Who doesn't know the classic Christmas TV special based on the book of the same name? It's a must watch every Christmas TV special that meant so much to people over the years. Yes it does bear a few similarities to A Christmas Carol. Both stories involved an older grinchy man that can't stand Christmas. Late in those stories, both get a change in heart to celebrate Christmas.
It was a risky move to have the late Boris Karloff not only voice the narrator. He also voices the Grinch, a move Dr. Seuss felt might've been too scary for kids. Somehow this ended up working way better than expected. Thanks to an YouTube video on an audio book version of the classic book. I can say this was very faithful to the source material.
Another major thing to note is Chuck Jones was responsible for this. He was a huge name in the classic cartoon animation business. He also was a close friend of Seuss. This is actually my dad's favorite take on the character. I will say it's one of the very best myself. I also say this is easily the best out of the three TV specials.
2. The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982 TV special)
The third and final Grinch TV special. Hands down it's better than Halloween is Grinch Night. The plot is an actual crossover between the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat. This is more known than the second Grinch special. Although, there's a few reasons for that. You can tell more money went in this. The Cat in the Hat really tries to be nice to the Grinch.
You do feel sorry the Grinch being so terrible to him. He is using some weird technology that make his life unbearable. How the two met is the Grinch didn't move his car out the road. The Cat in the Hat ended up driving into his car. Then he gets insulted by the Cat to take it out on him. This actually shows you how miserable the Grinch truly is.
His own reflection in a mirror worst than he is. There's some weird but strangely interesting visuals too. Like the part where the Cat got transformed into sound waves. Yes I'm not joking, the Grinch can manipulate sound & light to some ridiculous degrees. Everyone heard of an light house? Ever heard of an dark house?
It's a dark variation of an light house that can send darkness so dark, you can't even see your hand on your face. Which actually got described like that in the special. The acting is notably better than Halloween is Grinch Night as well. I actually recommend checking this special out. It turned out to be a little better than expected.
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000 movie)
This might come as a huge surprise, this actually my favorite Grinch movie. I'm a huge Jim Carrey fan since my childhood. He was a major reason I loved the character so much. They added more backstory to the Grinch that works for the most part. I do feel bad for Carrey since not only he had to performance with the mask on his face.
To clarify, it covers a notable portion of your face up to your nose. He also had to performance with extra make up including his eyes. I felt nearly every character in this movie stands out. Some could argue a little too much Carrey's humor. Personally I always welcome that in anything he's in. Director Ron Howard did an truly amazing job making this an live action movie.
This is easily among the best Dr. Seuss movies to date. I can't criticize the movie much either. I actually loved how Anthony Hopkins was the narrator. I would say my favorite narrator in anything Grinch. Not only that, it is still faithful to the classic book. You can actually see everyone had a lot of fun with this. I am well aware this is sadly an mixed receive film.
Either you absolutely love or dislike it. Regardless which side you stand on. There won't be any sad faces on Christmas. This movie always meant a lot to me over the years. The character been done in several ways including an Muppet/Sesame Street style on an show. This felt like a good modernize version of the story that families can enjoy.
4. The Grinch (2018 movie)
This one is strangely interesting because I previously reviewed Illumination's Addams Family films awhile back. They are widely known for Despicable Me series. This also the most successful Grinch film to date. A little weird that Benedict Cumberbatch who played the Grinch here also was Doctor Strange.
Yeah try to wrap your head around that a few minutes. Now we gotten the character in full CGI, I felt it tried to make even more sense of him. Previously, the Whos picked on him until he couldn't handle it anymore. This time, the Grinch was sadly alone. You actually feel bad for the character. I felt this had a good balance of everything.
I would say it's one of the best Grinch movies. This is more of an unique take on the classic book. I'm not trying to say it's loosely based. The additional stuff as well as some changes does heavily impacted the story. I meant you could argue it's more of it's own version of the character. The Grinch is the most sarcastic here.
You can't go wrong with either Grinch movie. The Grinch is still an interesting adaptation in it's own right. I simply preferred Carrey's performance over Cumberbatch's. I know Cumberbatch is a great actor. It just felt like Carrey was fully allowed to do the character his own way. At the same time, Cumberbatch had to work with the role in a more set direction.
I'm basically saying it doesn't come off as him being the character. I never said he was a bad voice for the character either. I say he's notably better than the guy who voiced the character in Halloween is Grinch Night. In all honestly, I can see families enjoying this Grinch movie as well. A few small changes would make it easier for me to come back and rewatch it more often.
5. The Mean One (2022 movie)
I know an controversial choice since this isn't an authorized adaptation of the story as well as a few characters. Considering I recently found a way to watch this. Which is why this review took so long to do. Also this is an blog Grinch a Thon I'm doing here. I should include it with the rest of them. The Mean One is the most loosely based adaptation.
They simply didn't wanna get sued!!! LOL sorry an old Simpsons joke I had to. The story is less about Christmas which becomes very notable as the movie goes on. Instead of Whoville, it's now Newville to avoid an lawsuit obviously. This takes place in a more realistic take on the real world. The story centers on Cindy who gotten terrorized by The Mean One.
Yes he isn't called the Grinch here. Although I'm very surprised The Mean One which is a name of a famous Grinch song didn't get them sent to court. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch song, a few versions among these has the song. They didn't recreate neither use the song in this movie. At the same time, they allowed an local bar to be named Horton's.
Horton as in the famous elephant character who befriends an Who in his own Seuss story. Whose also in that 90s Seuss show as well. Who also got voiced by Jim Carrey in a movie. As everyone already knows also previously played the Grinch. A little confusing I know right? Cindy's mom indirectly caused her own death while attacking The Mean One.
Cindy started to hate the creature. We come to an huge time skip where Cindy with her dad returns to Newville. Sadly, The Mean One ends up killing her dad. It quickly becomes obvious the sheriff and the mayor were hiding something. Which was later revealed they used outsiders as bait to keep the creature from murdering their own civilians.
Oddly this is strikingly similar to a movie I absolutely can not stand. Leprechaun: Origins, which had a similar plot. In both films, an small group of people used outsiders as bait. For an creature that was killing people to prevent themselves getting killed by it. I will say The Mean One is better than that movie.
A major difference is in Leprechaun: Origins, they were greedy for pieces of gold. In The Mean One, it was to simply protect the people of their town from getting murdered by the creature. This is also why they don't celebrate Christmas. Anything Christmas related makes people an target for the creature. Why do I kept calling The Mean One an creature you ask?
He never speaks or sings in the movie. We mostly get the expected creature groins that's it. I also need to point out David Howard Thornton plays the character. He is famous for playing Art the Clown in Terrifier series. Those are way better than this, there's no debate. There's a few more select risky changes I need to bring up.
There's an old man named Doc Zeus. Get it an alternate take on Dr. Seuss ha ha very funny. He ended up being my favorite character in the movie. My favorite scene is the very scene you seen in most trailers. Where he gets Cindy to look at this detailed drawing of The Mean One. He suddenly says, "The Mean One!!!"
If you seen the trailers, you should already knew this was an parody horror movie. Thornton could've made the character more rememberable. This felt like a notable down on his usual horror performances. We aren't even going to compare him to Carrey. Cindy decides to hunt the creature down. She also has a love interest in an recent transferred police officer.
This movie could be seen as a guilty pleasure. I can't say I could recommend it though. Especially if you are Grinch fans that wants more of the character. Cindy does eventually realized the truth what happened with her mother. This led to the famous twisted take on the Grinch's heart size. Which actually kills the character off.
Now it's incredibly easy to turn that into a sex joke, I won't however. The Mean One isn't the main antagonist works against it. The mayor gets killed while trying to skip town. The sheriff goes after the creature to end up dead. Obviously I gotta mention the big kill scene. It is the simple stupidest scene in the entire movie.
A lot of people from outside the town are celebrating Christmas. They never find out, one of their friends is dead. Their driver was too busy doing his own thing outside the bar. The Mean One decides to kill the rest of them with some being a little over the top. You can tell they wanna go wild with this one scene.
This is virtually little to nothing to do with the classic Christmas book story. Nosferatu back in 1922 was too close to the source material since it was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. Somehow some old copies survived to this day with an remake film. We aren't even going to compare this to Nosferatu, it's way better than this too.
The Mean One isn't evil but does maintain some form of intelligence. There's some crazy gore in this movie. A few moments if they would've happened greatly change things. Such as if Cindy were to confront The Mean One much sooner or the Sheriff didn't come up with that sick plan. The acting is better than expected.
This movie also tries not giving us a good look at the creature a little too much. I do like some of the Christmas theme weapons late into the movie myself. Obviously, don't watch this with kids. Yes there's an sex scene with Cindy, I figured to confirm that. This movie's story is kinda an mess at best. I do wish this was a slightly better movie than it actually is.
The Mean One is among the bottom of the barrel Grinch wise. I'm not going to hide it any longer, the Grinch character is barely rememberable. Really one of the most famous Christmas villains of all time is so uninteresting it's mind blowing. I'm even amazed this gotten an Blu-Ray release as well as YouTube.
I can't necessary say this is Grinch enough for my taste. I really wanted more of the character onscreen. It almost felt like they didn't wanna use him at all. I don't think the movie works in any sense of the word. A few jokes I did notice wasn't that funny truthfully. You could've made anything it would've stand out better than this.
This felt a lot like The Banana Splits Movie to me. In an desperation attempt to not cancel the movie production. They chose an old franchise not a lot of people remembers anymore. In a weird way, it kinda felt like that here. Also that movie too was better than this. Although, if you want an decent similar movie go watch Willy's Wonderland instead.
I don't mean to be so critical or should I say Grinchy about the film? It wasn't flat out terrible, I seen some surprisingly bad horror movies myself. This isn't even in the same category of the very bad ones. It just isn't what the trailers tried to sell me out what I expected it to be. I was actually expecting a lot more Grinch killing people with more wackier ways.
