How The Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 Film Review

During the Christmas period like to watch traditional Christmas films with those films ranging from films like The Muppet Christmas Carol to Home Alone. However one of the more traditional Christmas films is one that is also twenty fives years old this year and well as this is the only version of the story that i'm yet to see it only makes that I finally tick this film off my never ending list of films to watch and so then join me as I review the film that is easily better then the 2018 version with the film in question being called simply just "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" enjoy.

The plot of this film is an evil creature plots to destroy the Christmas spirit of a local town with it being up to one little girl to potentially change his heart forever. Now then interms of what I personally tought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally tought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this being due to the fact that the plot of this film is pretty much the exact plot of the book with very little things added to it which in all fairness it really didn't need to add all that much as the original story has worked so well for decades that it would be pointless to make radical changes to the plot with the only thing that this film adds is a backstory for The Grinch and that's really it and all in fairness to this film that aspect of the film is slightly interesting and it doesn't take away from the main plot of the film but in saying this tho it's not something that's not all that needed to make this films plot work as the plot of this film is one that works just as well without that without it with the plot of this film being as strong as it was ever going to be given the fact that it does expand upon the plot of the book with it feeling like that the makers of this film were actual fans of the book and weren't making the movie just to make money which is how the 2018 film felt as here you can tell that there is some level of effort put into making the films plot work as while there is alot of backstory before we get to the main plot of the book when the film does get to the book plot it is something that works really well with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Jim Carrey as The Grinch , Christine Baranski as Martha May Whovier and Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who. Also starring in this film is Bill Irwin as Postmaster Lou Lou Who , Jeffrey Tambor as Augustus MayWho , Molly Shannon as Betty Lou Who , Clint Howard as Whobris , Mindy Sterling as Clair Nella Who , Rachel Winfree as Rose Who , Frank Welker as The Voice Of Max and Sir Anthony Hopkins as The Narrator.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this being something that was quite surprising as by all rights this films acting should have been really bad as this is a story that doesn't really demand that good acting in it and yet that's exactly what we got from all of this films actors with all of them really giving it there all even Sir Anthony Hopkins who only appear in a voice over role is really enjoyable in this film with him having a really soothing voice that sets the tone for the film with the films live action actors being as wonderfully over the top as you'd want them to be in this kind of film and yet all of their performances do still feel believable with the films best actor being none other then Jim Carrey who is not only an absolutely joy and a pleasure to watch with him having the hardest job of all as all of this films other actors don't have heavy mane up effects to act with where as he does and he still has to turn in a good performance whilst wearing make up that could be seen as being overpowering and yet thanks to the fact that the film has make up effects done by the great Rick Baker Jim Carrey is able to work with the films make up and turn in a really good performance because of it whereas the same wouldn't be said for Mike Myers who was overpowered by his costume when he did the live action The Cat In The Hat movie from 2003 with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Animal Makers , Centropolis Effects , Cinovation Studios , Digital Domain , MetroLight Studios and Rhythm & Hues Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with all of the films CGI blending in really well with the films live action elements and while yes you can tell that Whoville was made on a set the extensions made to the set look really good with the same thing being said for Mt. Crumpet itself as that is an effect that looks better then what it really should have as by all rights given how fast the world of computer effects moves the effects used to bring that mountain to life should have aged poorly and while yes you can tell that it was something that was made in a computer which it could be argued does help to date the help quite alot that's not something that could have been helped as the technology that we have today just wasn't around back in 1999 when this film was being made and yet even with that working against it the films effects as cheap as they look oddly add alot of charm to the film as this is a film that doesn't really need alot of expensive looking effects in it to make it work with the films effects working just as well with the only thing that lets down the films effects is the fact that they can get a bit to cheesy some times like when Max's eyes get big during the film which wasn't needed as it's just a bad looking effects and some of the films set extensions havn't aged all that well either granted those are in the minority but there still very noticeable 

As was mentioned earlier on in this review this films make up was done alot more better in this film then it was in The Cat In The Hat. As in this film the make up was done in such a way that it allowed the performer to still turn in a good performance and yet in The Cat In The Hat it looked as if the actor in this case Mike Myers was struggling to turn in a good performance with that costume and because of that the costume that should have been pure nightmare fuel ends up being really charming and the costume that should have been really charming ends up being nothing more then nightmare fuel with this films costume being as good as it was because of the fact that this film had the great Rick Baker doing the make up effects for the film with him designing a costume that allowed star Jim Carrey to do his thing which is something that made all the difference as without his performance and him being able to work with the costume and and not against it the film would have fallen flat on it's face as this is a film that does rely on the performance of it's main star to make it work and that's something that wouldn't have been possible if the film had a really bad costume and while it's hard to say if the upcoming animated version of The Cat In the Hat would learnt from the lessons of the 2003 film what can be said is that film most certainly didn't learn from the lessons of this film as that film created a costume that would have been impossible for even the best of actors to turn a good performance in as it is an overpowering costume where as the the costume in this film allows for the actor to work with it and not against it.

Something that was to expected was the fact that this film does have the typical Christmas message of it's not the presents that make Christmas what it is it's the people that you spend it with. Which is a solid message to have in a kids Christmas film but at the same time alot of kids Christmas films all have that same message with this film doing nothing new or even interesting with that idea when that is something that it really could have done as that is something that would have made the film stand out all of the more then what it already does and while there is a chance that this could have been because the film was an adaptation of the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss that doesn't mean that the message had to be done in the same way as it might have been done in the book as you could have had the Who's still have all of there presents stolen by The Grinch but much like in the 1966 version of the story still be happy because of the fact that they've got each other but whatever the makers of this film felt that being more subtle with it's message was just daft they decided to hit you over the head with its message by having Cindy's whole plot arc in the film being about people trying to be happy with less presents in the first place which is something that makes no sense as she's a kid and this is all she would have known and so wouldn't she not really be bothered by the amount of presents that the Whos are getting there family members it would be something if the makers of the film made it a plot point with them getting lots of presents and having them realise that sometimes less equals more but they don't and therefor the message of the film plays out the exact same way that you think that it would do only it doesn't work as much as it's something that you already know is coming in the first place.

The Whos themselves where done really badly in this film as even tho the makers of the film really want us to think that The Grinch is the bad guy for how he acts and what he does. They then also give us a quite extensive backstory for the character which shows us that it's the Whos themselves that helped to make him as evil as he is with them in the present day being more focused on getting presents then they are in being generally nice people whereas in the 1966 special they were clearly meant to be viewed as being the good guys of the piece with them not really interacting with The Grinch until the third act of the special whereas here in this film alot of the Whos apart from Cindy actively antagonize him and yet they still act surprised when he lashes out at them with this all coming to a head when Augustus gets him a shaver as a present which he knew would remind him of when he was a kid and Augustus taunted him for trimming his beard to impress a girl and yet he still thought that it was a good idea to get him a trimmer now and heck all of the Whos do turn on Cindy when The Grinch destroys there small town something which she couldn't have known was going to happen in the first place due to the fact that she's just a little girl and yet for one reason or another the makers of this film still wanted us to view The Grinch as the bad guy well you can't do that and then have scenes that paint him as being more of a tragic misunderstood loner it doesn't work like that it has to be one or the other if you want The Grinch to be the bad guy then cut out all of the stuff that makes the Whos look like the true villains of the piece and if you want the Whos to be the villains then call the film something else because that won't be true to the spirit of the book.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty four minuets and fifty six seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the exact running time that you'd expect this film to have but at the same time tho this film does feel a tad bit on the long side for the story that it's trying to tell as well as while the plot of this film does have more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time alot of the stuff that it adds to the films story just feels like filler as very little of it has an impact on either the films plot or it's characters with this film not even using it's running time all that wisely as this film doesn't take the time that it really had to develop it's plot with the film being more focused on both adding in pointless filler scenes be it The Grinch's backstory or with his initial attack on Whoville at the start of the film as neither of them effect the films plot in any meaningful way and yet that's screen time that could have been affected in developing the plot of the film with this even effecting the films character development as outside of of course The Grinch and Lou none of this films characters get any kind of character development and even then Lou's character development really does come out of nowhere it's only in the final few scenes where he actually stands out for his own daughter something which he should have been doing right from the get go as she's his own daughter but as the film is more focused in making the Whos the films villains then it is in giving us some well thought out and developed characters with this being something that even the 2018 film failed to do as well but i really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this not really being something that's all that surprising as alot of the comedy films that Jim Carrey makes are usually nine times out of ten really good with the same thing being true here as this is a film that takes full advantage of the fact that its a Jim Carrey film by giving him alot of really funny things to say and do with The Grinch being the character that gets alot of if not all of this films jokes with nearly all of this films jokes working and landing hard as well with the films best joke also being one of it's quickest ones as well as when he is training Max to be a reindeer he acts exactly like a director would do even finding some pompous reason as to why Max has knocked his reindeer nose of which is a really funny joke with it feeling like something that this version of The Grinch would say as it would be impossible for the Boris Karloff or the Benedict Cumberbatch version of the character to make those kinds of jokes as there not as over the top and not as rubber faced as this version of the character as this is a version of The Grinch is an over the top with him acting over the over the top in every thing that he does and therefor he can do the more over the top and weird jokes as they feel true t this version of the character whereas with Karloffs take on the character the jokes would have to be more subtle and with the Benedict Cumberbatch version of the character the jokes would need to be more sarcastic as that is more true to his character where as with this take on the character the jokes need to be more over the top in order for them to work all the more then what they already do in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.  

Overall it really isn't all that hard to see why this film is as beloved by alot of people as it is with this film being one that's generally really good and while there are better versions of the book out there out of the two feature film versions this one really is easily the better one of the two of them in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.