Illumination presents: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Some more footage and the theme song

I spy with my little eye, something .... 2018-trendy and short-lived:

- drones

- Mindblown

That long table got a chuckle out of me though. Cindy Lou Who seems rather bland, but this is only a trailer.

That cover is a tad better than I expected. Still a totally different flavor.

My guess is that the long table is were the ending dinner is happen.

Cindy Lou Who is pretty much always bland, from what I notice. Not that it's a bad thing though.

It’s definitely a fun cover, but he’s no Thurl Ravenscroft.

Edited by megaeliz on Oct 31st 2018 at 1:47:11 PM

Wouldn't that be showing (presumably) the very end of the movie in the trailer, then?

Meh, it’s not really a spoiler, since everyone knows the story anyway.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. It's kinda cute I guess and a couple of the gags so far make me chuckle, but it feels a bit....generic.

The designs all feel blandened up (while Chuck Jones took liberties with them as well, it came with a lot of expressiveness). There's tons of contemporary humour here, and they even have a freaking rapper doing the narration. It feels like the live action film was a much more worthwhile attempt at extending the story due to having at least a halfway earnest premise, to the point even that with this animation would have made something rather enjoyable. Overall this just feels too much like a standard Illumination project than having much of Seuss' charm, even if it doesn't look nearly as spastic and ridiculous as Horton Hears A Who.

And Fred I'm wary of, it looks like he's a third wheel within the Grinch and Max's dynamic. It could work, after all new characters and concepts are common in Seuss adaptations (even the ones he was in charge of). It might work if they make something unique between this Terrible Trio (if they keep Max the moralistic doormat and Fred the clumsy oaf who keeps annoying the Grinch for example), I just hope it's not a "Pinky and the Brain, and Larry" type thing.

Edited by Psi001 on Nov 3rd 2018 at 11:06:45 AM

Pharrell Williams is the narrator.

Yes. The Despicable Me composer who shot up to the top of the charts for Happy from the second one, and who SONY has on speed-dial. This entire production feels phoned in with the barest effort possible.

So Illumination in a nutshell...

Illumination is 100% predictable. They go for the easiest creative route available! I tell you I am SO glad Dr. Suess films are going to Warner Bros after this!

Wikipedia once (wrongly) claimed the narrator was Robert Redford, which would have been a hundred times better.

One can hope, especially since Seuss have a lot of history with WB staff.

That said while it looks kinda generic and 'of it's time', I'm tempted to say it may have some redeeming qualities. De Vito's Lorax was a hoot in spite of that film's flaws.

I mean even this ad has some sweetness to it:

Edited by Psi001 on Nov 6th 2018 at 1:20:59 PM

What do you mean?

Lots of contemporary humour and liberties to the story to make it more "modern".

Currently at 66%, but that could change when more reviews come in.

Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Nov 7th 2018 at 4:45:04 AM

404'd.

Fixed.

Already down to 63%.

The most recurring positive seems to be Cumberbatch's Grinch, while the most recurring negative is how padded and superfluous it is compared to the Chuck Jones animation.

I'm still perplexed that they cast a British actor to play the Grinch with an American accent, when the previous incarnations made him British and kinda-British.

Allegedly it was his idea, since the other actors were American he thought the Grinch should have the same dialect.

Granted I'm not sure it would have mattered really, both due to Boris Karloff's rendition and the fact the Grinch is supposed to be an outcast anyway.

Hans Conried and Jim Carrey's versions were American though. In fact it sounds like Carrey and Cumberbatch based their takes off of Conried's. (Halloween is Grinch Night was allegedly a favourite of Seuss' so maybe that had something to do with it.)

Edited by Psi001 on Nov 7th 2018 at 1:34:50 PM

Well, it does give Benedict Cumberbatch a chance to practice his voice skills rather than just doing the Grinch in his regular voice.

As for the Grinch himself, I am curious to see how him being more interactive with Whoville affects my perspective of why the Grinch wants to ruin Christmas. After all, the Grinch is based on Dr. Seuss at his most cynical. And Dr. Seuss isn't really much of a loner as he is a man with a sour outlook on Christmas commercialization.

RT score down to 56%, which is rotten.

I haven't seen it, but I may. Hope I find it good.

Edited by Lymantria on Nov 9th 2018 at 6:56:36 AM

Hot take: I actually like the Tyler theme, but I could do without the child vocals.

It’s a fun cover sure, but it’s no Thurl Ravenscroft.

What’s fun about the original version is how the insults get progressively more and more outlandish and creative as it goes on, eventually ending up with:

Tyler’s feels like something that would go over the credits, rather than hold up any portion of the runtime.

Edited by megaeliz on Nov 3rd 2019 at 1:04:36 PM