Grinch is more boring than vile

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch in The Grinch. Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

I'm not quite sure what Illumination was going for with its adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Grinch. If there's a point for this film's existence, it never comes out over the course of 90 minutes packed with bland animation and an incredibly boring main character. The film has nothing interesting to say about it's star character that needed to be said. There's little art to be found in this interpretation of a seasonal classic, no real moments of innovation or profundity in sight. Like the rest of Illumination's catalog, the movie's main selling points are shininess and a brilliant ability to be completely inoffensive

 

Narrated occasionally by Pharrell, The Grinch throws Benedict Cumberbatch's voice into the mouth of the eponymous green creature who despises the Christmas season. The Grinch is particularly frustrated by the announcement from his neighbor Bricklebaum (Kenan Thompson) that this Christmas will be three times larger than any Christmas before, and vows to ruin Christmas with the help of his very faithful dog Max. Meanwhile, the young Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely) hatches a scheme to meet Santa to ask for a little help for her put upon mother, Donna (a very wasted Rashida Jones). Their paths eventually cross and lessons are learned about the meaning of Christmas.

What stands out about The Grinch is the lack of enthusiasm it has for the Grinch as a character. To put it simply, this Grinch is excessively boring, more irked by the world around him than properly evil. On the one hand, this version of the Grinch is far more tolerable than the aggressively obnoxious portrayal offered by Jim Carrey back in 2000, but there's not much to get a hold on beyond a few fun moments of mild chaziness. He's more akin to a mild-mannered Larry David than the imposing figure voiced by Boris Karloff. Cumberbatch's work drives a lot of this problem; he severely underplays his character's enthusiastic entrances into villainy. Like much of the cast, Cumberbatch comes across as unenthusiastic about his participation in this movie. The problem ultimately falls on the writing. The decision to have this Grinch be more put upon than vile just doesn't make a lot of sense on a narrative level. It reduces the sinister nature of his actions – forcing a dog to carry an enormous sleigh and stealing presents on Christmas is just wicked – and negates the grand change of heart at the end. The Grinch even gives him a few moments of outright decency ahead of his redemption that really undercuts the effect of his turn to kindness. 

 

The Grinch works best as a character whose motivations remain somewhat mysterious. There are conjectures and ideas for his vileness presented, but the fact there is disagreement as to what makes him such a monster makes the character far more interesting. Yet the feature-length adaptations have a real bad habit of attempting to explain the why behind the Grinch. The Grinch links this hatred back to a traumatic childhood event, even tossing in an orphanage for good measure. Aside from being tremendously lazy writing, adding a childhood wrinkle adds humanity to a monster before the monster can find his humanity. The ability for a loathsome creature like the Grinch to find love and joy despite his evil ways is inspiring.

The closest the film gets to finding a character of interest is the Grinch's counterpart, Cindy Lou Who. Her kindhearted nature is mixed well by some rambunctious and a hint of mischief, making her a decently fleshed out character. Cindy Lou comes ever so close to a fulfilling story, but the writers can't keep it together in the final act. Instead of fulfilling her wish, the writers ignore the necessity of her actions and never offer Donna any peace of mind. The Grinch doesn't really Cindy Lou for her efforts, but it does shortchange its most interesting story arc.

The troubles with Cindy Lou's story, and that of the Grinch, are connected by both poor writing and uninspired storytelling. The Grinch has nothing of note to say about its characters or about the meaning of Christmas itself. The best parts are cribbed from Dr. Seuss directly, because the original story is so well done it's very difficult to muck it up. But once the movie starts to stray away from the source material it doesn't know what to do with itself. Ingenuity requires some level of courage, and The Grinch's lack of the latter eliminates the former.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 90 minutes

Genre: Animated

tl;dr

What Worked: Cindy Lou Who

What Fell Short: The Grinch, narrative arcs, animation, Benedict Cumberbatch

What To Watch Instead: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Arthur Christmas