Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Christmas-Reviewer
Maybe not the first Christmas Holiday Classic but it is one of the best beloved Holiday Specials of all time. This special was the perfect combination of animators and storytellers. Chuck Jones who gave us the "Bugs Bunny" cartoons and Dr. Seuss who has written some of the most beloved Children's books of all time. They joined forces and gave us what is most likely one of the most iconic Christmas Special ever produced. Now I have a soft Spot for "Rudolf" and "Charlie Brown" however when it comes to pure imagination "The Grinch is #1"In case you didn't the storyThis is about the Grinch who dislikes people and Christmas. HE hates everyone and everything so much that on Christmas Eve he decides to steel everything in everyone home so "Christmas won't come". If you have not seen this in years do yourself a favor WATCH IT. You might be surprised how great this special truly is. In fact you might even enjoy it more as an adult. This was so popular as annual Holiday Special that Hollywood made a live action version in 2000. In 2018 a feature length animated film will be released.
zozoinwonderland
I love this movie, and have since i was around 4 years old. The only reason why i don't give this movie a 10/10 is because his smile, mainly in the beginning. it creeps me out to this day, and when i was little i remember i hallucinated from fear and paranoia. Otherwise, it is an absolute classic and highly recommend it or everyone that knows when to look away at the right time or isn't too afraid if that freaking smile! The movie has a good plot line and i have been watching it everyday since i found out about the remake with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch. Personally, i prefer the 1966 version, over that piece of crap that Universal spat out in 2000.The first thing i do on the first day of December is watch this movie with my family. Overall, i would highly recommend this movie.
Adam Foidart
If you haven't seen "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" you can't really fathom what you have been missing. It's the perfect message about what Christmas is really about, compacted into an efficient 26 minutes, filled with iconic moments and unforgettable songs. It's the story of The Grinch, a green who-knows-what that lives North of Who-Ville, and absolutely hates Christmas. On one particular Christmas Eve, he has a wonderful awful Idea; he's going to steal Christmas away from the pesky Whos down in Who-Ville! When I say that the songs in this film are unforgettable, I really mean it. This is an instance where the movie (if you can call this special a movie) is just as good, if not better than the book because of the sounds. Not only do we have the awesome narration of Mr. Boris Karloff throughout the story, but the songs in this film are so good they have become permanently ingrained in pop culture. You can't listen to the radio or go to an office party in December without hearing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and I'd bet you the Whos' celebration song is a lot of people's favorites too. They're are so good that even though they are not found anywhere in any book by Theodor Seuss Geisel a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, director Ron Howard felt obligated to include them in his live-action adaptation of the story. He knew that these tunes are so beloved that people would have vandalized the theater if the iconic melodies had been absent from his film.Aside from the music, the film has many other wonderful, sly additions to the original source material. That one image of the Grinch coming up with his wonderful awful idea and grinning from ear-to-ear in malice, or the animation of him actually slinking around and grabbing all of the presents, decorations and stockings are truly special. It's an added bonus that the film does not run on very long because you will want to include it in your roster of Christmas specials every year, if only so you can get a glimpse of that termite-infested smile. On a more personal note, I find that the ending of the film is particularly heart warming. If you think I'm giving away the film's ending, that's not the case because it ends in a way that you would not expect. It promotes the very best ideals of Christmas in a way that does not feel ham-fisted or clichéd.I only have one criticism. It's that you can tell, at several points throughout the film, that the animation budget isn't nearly as high as it should be. I know budgets are really big limitations, but when you see sacks of toys flying in the air two or three times, and the image isn't even mirrored or anything, it feels kind of lazy. This is going to sound like blasphemy, but hear me out. The book this is based on is only about 55 pages long, the illustrations in it are only 2 colors (black and red) and they have remained the same ever since the story was first published in 1957. This special has been running on television for 48 years. People will buy the DVD, or even the Blu-ray of this film for full price, even though they can catch it for free on cable annually. This property is worth millions. Isn't there, or wasn't there maybe some way someone can, or could have gone back to the original director Chuck Jones and thrown a bunch of money at him to maybe touch up some of the scenes that were missing and had to be filled in with recycled footage? It's just a thought, some would even call it a nitpick. I think it's a legitimate point to be made, that for the wonderful quality of the narration, the songs and the story, even for the animation overall, there are some sequences where you can tell that some corners were cut. That doesn't really detract from my overall enjoyment of the film, but if you had no idea what this movie was about or you had never seen it before, I feel like I would have to warn you about this portion of the overall package."How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is absolutely wonderful. It's a true Christmas classic, one that everyone can enjoy (The tall and the small) even if they have seen it time and time again. It's part of my annual line-up leading up to Christmas and I can't honestly ever see a year where I won't be eagerly anticipating seeing it again. (On Blu-ray, December 13, 2014)
Hitchcoc
This is "the" version that will stay in our memories. Chuck Jones takes the book we all know and turns it into a masterful twenty-some minutes of excellence. The music pulls at us and the character of the Grinch is so well portrayed. The signature character mugs and plots with his little dog Max to steal everything he deems is a part of the Christmas world. He believes it is about things. He thinks it is about excess. He thinks it is about greed. As he plots his way to stealing the season from under the Whos, he drools with anticipation of the pain he is causing. Of course, we all know the story. If you've not had the opportunity to listen to Boris Karloff's narration and hear those marvelous lyrics, I envy your first encounter with this classic.
