HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: innuendo, crude humor

Rated:

Dr. Seuss has entertained millions of children through his imaginative, wonderful poetic stories. Only recently have several of these been brought to the big screen through the wonder of movie magic. But in doing so, the innocence is lost and corruption moves in, namely in the form of crude humor and innuendo that would have dear old Dr. Seuss rolling in his grave. Very few Christmases went by in my childhood when I was not entertained by the old cartoon version of this tale. The remake, while having some truly clever moments, an adorable heroine, and a decent performance by Jim Carrey, does not have the magic of the original.

In the land of Whoville, everyone loves Christmas. They love it so much that every day of the year is spent counting down to that wonderful time when presents can be handed out, the great Christmas tree in the center of town lit, and the annual competition of lights attended to. Outside this glamour and glitz of anticipation, on a high, high hill overlooking the charming little town, lives The Grinch (Jim Carrey). With only his faithful dog for company, whom he badly abuses, he spends all of his time loathing the Who's and their traditions, and hating Christmas even more. Then one day Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) skips into his life. Saving her from a perilous accident, The Grinch promptly boots her back to town, but Cindy has become curious about the green fellow on the hill and decides to learn just why he hates Christmas so much. It all started many years ago, when he came into their community as just a little tot.

Good-natured and undeniably green in color, The Grinch was not accepted by teasing classmates, the worst of which is now the town's mayor (Jeffrey Tambor). Both of them were madly in love with a fellow classmate, Martha May, but when the other children laughed at the gift he'd made her, The Grinch became enraged and ran away, vowing never to partake in holiday celebrations again. In an effort to make him feel wanted in the town, Cindy proposes they give him an award of needing the most cheering during the holiday season, little knowing that her attempt at kindness will send The Grinch into evil mayhem as he plots to ruin Christmas for all the Who's in Whoville. Granted, the film has its moments and Taylor Momsen is absolutely adorable. There's something sweetly charming about all the Who's, with their ridiculous hairstyles and joy in singing carols. There is a good message at the end.

When this film was released, it did phenomenal numbers at the box office. I had no interest in seeing it and wouldn't have recently without it premiering on cable. At the time, my youth pastor said she had no intention of standing in line to see "The Grinch." Midway through the movie, I had the same thought. I was offended by all the innuendo and coarse references that the script contained. I wasn't pleased that they made a voluptuous woman the recipient of both the mayor and Grinch's lust. The back story failed to interest me, and I wasn't particularly impressed with some of the over-acting involved. There's a lot of cartoonish violence. The Grinch likes to drown out the sound of singing in the village below by placing his head between two clanging symbols. He kicks around his dog Max. Cars crash and explode in comical situations. Sensuality isn't utterly overt but is present for the discerning viewer.

One comment early on has the stork dropping babies off at various houses, and one husband remarking in surprise that the child looks like his wife's boss. Couples drop their keys in a bowl at a party (a reference to wife-trading for the night). The Grinch goes flying head first through a crowd and lands in Martha May's cleavage. Mostly I was offended by two things. The Grinch goes through a long speech about what he hates about Whoville and how fortunate he is that they have mistletoe, then holds it to his backside and invites them all to kiss his butt. Later, while robbing all the Who's of their Christmas gifts, he tiptoes up to the sleeping mayor, who is talking in his sleep about kissing Martha May, and has him kiss the dog -- on his backside. (Actual contact isn't seen, just Max whimpering and dragging his tail along the floor.) This kind of coarse visual humor is inappropriate in what is supposed to be a children's classic. I hate to be a Grinch, but encourage audiences to stick with the cartoon, a problem-free, innocent adaptation of the wonderful story by Dr. Seuss.