History WesternAnimation / TheGrinch2018

* PuppyDogEyes: At one point, Max does this in an attempt to sleep in the Grinch's bed. He doesn't buy it. Then the Grinch's reindeer companion Fred does the same thing, and the Grinch relents. Despite the situation, he settles in quite comfortably.
** {{Lampshaded}} by the Grinch himself:

* FoodEnd: The movie ends with the reformed Grinch joining the Whos for Christmas dinner at Cindy Lou's house.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers make it look like the Grinch's massive eating montage is him trying to look like Santa. Instead, it's actually a montage played at the beginning of his emotional stress eating.

* OhMeAccentsSlipping: Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch with an American accent, and while he mostly does a fairly good job, sometimes you can hear Cumberbatch's natural British accent showing.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The Grinch, after spending decades as a Christmas-hating hermit, overcomes the trauma he suffered as a child and gains friends to spend the holiday, and the rest of his life, with.

* AdaptationalWimp: In the original story, when the Grinch has his HeelRealization and the sleigh full of presents almost falls off of the cliff, the Grinch gains [[TheStrengthOfTenMen the strength of ten Grinches]] (plus 2) as a result of his heart tripling in size and saves the sleigh all by himself by lifting it. In this movie, however, [[spoiler: his strength never reaches such unrealistic levels and the sleigh and the Grinch himself (who almost falls to his death by trying to save the sleigh) have to be saved by Fred instead]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: As stated under DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything, this movie's version of the Grinch seems to have some sort of anxiety/stress-based disorder, and a case of PTSD on top of it - he is apparently prone to stress eating, when the carolers start singing around him, he has to cover his ears and run into the nearest quiet place (store) while breathing heavily, he has a flashback triggering anxiety attack when he accidentally stumbles into the tree lighting ceremony, he hates bright lights, loud noises and crowds of people and at the end, [[spoiler: seems to have some social anxiety, needing to work himself up to ring the doorbell.]] In fact, Max seems to function as his service dog who helps him with everyday tasks (like showering, getting dressed and eating), he forces his owner to go outside when they are out of food and he becomes concerned when the carolers surround them.

* PokeThePoodle: This being the Grinch, he likes to get his contempt for the Who's across with various KickTheDog moments, though this being a LighterAndSofter film compared to the live-action movie, these moments are petty, but pretty small and harmless. Such acts including: pretending to help a child put on a snowman's carrot nose, only to destroy it instead; snatching an old lady's cane and using it to launch a guy with an obnoxious Christmas sweater skyward; stealing a jar of pickles from one person's shipping cart and leaving it with someone else (after double-dipping); snatching a jar of jam from the top shelf, deliberately putting it back instead of giving it to the woman who was trying to take it, then bumping the shelf to smash it.

** One TV spot had the younger version of the Grinch holding up a sign that reads "Go see my movie." A [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe Minion]] enters and laughs at him, at which point the Grinch turns over the sign, which now reads "He won't be in it", with an arrow pointing at the Minion.

It's the third screen adaptation of the book overall, the second feature-film adaptation after [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the 2000 film]], and the second animated adaptation following [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the 1966 TV special]], as well as Illumination's second adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book (after ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|2012}}'' in 2012), and the last Seuss adaptation to be directly approved by his widow Audrey Geisel, who passed away five weeks after its release, after having served as president and founder of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: A subtle example, but the Grinch is less exaggerated-looking than previous versions, with softer facial features that look more like a furry green dog-man than a creepy old goblin, normal eyes instead of his signature red and yellow pupils, and soft, clean fur. He's also got much less of an exaggerated potbelly, and overall looks [[AgeLift much younger]] than [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas both previous]] [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas Grinches]] -- although like the original, [[OlderThanTheyLook he's at least 53]], and is shown to buy hair dye to cover up the grey.

* LostInImitation: As with [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the live-action version]], this film uses material that originated from [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the 1966 television special]]. On the other hand, it's averted in the sense that this film does not really keep anything from the live-action version and instead expands the story in a completely different way.

** At one point in the film, the Grinch is attacked by a cat while he is stealing presents, just like how [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas his live-action counterpart]] was.

* PowerWalk: Played with when Cindy-Lou and her friends come up with a plan to trap Santa. They're riding their bikes and trikes in slow motion to the tune of Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" when suddenly all their parents call them from offscreen to come home.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The Japanese version features “Tiny Baby” by Music/{{Perfume}} as its theme song.

It's the third screen adaptation of the book overall, the second feature-film adaptation after [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the 2000 film]], and the second animated adaptation following [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the 1966 TV special]], as well as Illumination's second adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book (after ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|2012}}'' in 2012), and the last Seuss adaptation to be directly approved by his widow Audrey Geisel (who passed away a month before its premiere after having served as president and founder of Dr. Seuss Enterprises).

** The whole idea of the Christmas heist is this. It takes a couple of days for the Grinch to actually start his heist, needing the proper planning and materials, as well as preparation for any screw-ups. Example: letting Max guide the sleigh because [[spoiler:Fred reunited with his family]].

** Since the town's Christmas tree is hundreds of feet high with proportionate sized ornaments, the Grinch doesn't even bother trying to steal it, focusing instead on the stuff he can actually fit in his sleigh.

** Though the Whos [[spoiler:do not hold any grudges against the Grinch for his scheme, they ''are'' more stunned than forgiving when the Grinch returns their things, and after he apologizes, he slinks miserably away to his cave. He does not feel good about returning the presents ''at all'', especially because of the real reason why he wanted to steal them in the first place. Also, rather than a grand, town-wide feast taking place, Cindy-Lou later drops by to invite him to a relatively small Christmas dinner at her house, which he attends with an equal mixture of graciousness and deep shyness, especially since he does not come out of his cave that much aside from grocery-shopping. Also, the Grinch was worried about how the Whos' would react to him being there]].

* SantaClausmas: Downplayed. The birth of Christ is explicitly mentioned, as the Christmas carolers who annoy the Grinch are singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". "Silent Night" appears later on, as well.

* SantaClausmas: Averted, unlike the original book and previous adaptations. The birth of Christ is explicitly mentioned, as the Christmas carolers who annoy the Grinch are singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". "Silent Night" appears later on, as well.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Grinch is still a mean one, but significantly less of a mean one than previous versions, as he is portrayed as a grouchy cynic who prefers to mind his own business than actively hurt other people, will still be social when he needs to be, treats his dog well, and who decides to steal Christmas as a twisted sort of coping mechanism rather than out of pure hatred for the Whos and the holiday.

* AmbiguousDisorder: As stated under DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything, this movie's version of the Grinch seems to have some sort of anxiety/stress-based disorder, and a case of PTSD on top of it - he avoids going outside and talking to people whenever he can, to the point he has to stockpile food just to avoid it, he is apparently prone to stress eating, when the carolers start singing around him, he has to cover his ears and run into the nearest quiet place (store) while breathing heavily, he has a flashback triggering anxiety attack when he accidentally stumbles into the tree lighting ceremony, he hates bright lights, loud noises and crowds of people and at the end, [[spoiler: he acts almost exactly how a person with anxiety might act when they try to come out of their shell - he hesitates before ringing the door bell, he says things like "I can't do this, they are all gonna hate me..." and when Donna opens the door, he acts very shy, awkward and has a hard time coming up with conversation topics ("I wore a tie")]]. In fact, Max seems to function as his service dog who helps him with everyday tasks (like showering, getting dressed and eating), he forces his owner to go outside when they are out of food and he becomes concerned when the carolers surround them.