Christmas Special Reviews: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Probably rapidly becoming one of the most heavily discussed Christmas movies of all time, the live-action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas has been holding a special place in the hearts of many for years and years to come.

Normally, it's dangerous to expand too much on any given Dr. Seuss story, but somehow, this movie is written in such a way that it works far better than it should, the entire set of additional plot points weaving together to make the most interesting take on the story.  It's a story about someone who was truly abandoned by a society lost in selfish thinking, and the innocent chikd that brought him back to the society that rejected him.  The only weak part of writing is the dialogue, but many of the actors make otherwise unimpressive dialogue work really well.

Speaking of the acting, the acting in this movie is phenomenal! Talor Momsen is an usually good child actress, but nothing can top the raw energy of Jim Carrey! We should take a moment to appreciate this underrated montage?

Yep, that's his voice! All that energy is him fighting the limitationsame of his costume.  In the costume and makeup, he felt like he was being buried alive, so a CIA advisor was hired to help him deal with the sensation  of being tortured, and he put that sense into his performance.

Speaking of which, the special effects are amazing! That is something crazy prosthetics to give the Whos that Seuss look, some of the Whos looking better than the Grinch himself.

But little tops the cinematography of this movie, filled with many scenic aerial shots and tons of angular close-ups of the Grinch to match Jim Carrey's energy.

Jim Carrey's energy perfectly matches this compiled list of quotable quotes, which has turned this take into something of a cult classic!

"4:00, wallow in self-pity.  4:30, stare into the abyss.  5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one.  5:30, jazzercize; 6:30, dinner with me.  I can't cancel that again.  7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing.  I'm booked.  Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, and slip slowly into madness."

"If you utter so much as one syllable, I'll hunt you down and gut you like a fish! To fax me, press the star key."

If you want to see this movie, it's on Netflix to watch any time you want!