How the Grinch Stole Christmas

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Screening Suggestions

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With the release of the new animated 'Grinch' movie, along with the live action remake from 2000, I thought I'd tackle the one and only old school version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' as the Screening Suggestion among the bunch. One, because this month I'm focused on some of the more legendary Christmas specials. But two, because dammit, this is still the best version - and I'm saying that without even giving the new one a chance. It's something I feel I can get away with, mostly because they've apparently softened him up quite a bit, which pretty much goes against everything this special was all about. But I digress, let's dive into it.

We meet the Grinch as he stands on top of Mount Crumpit, surveying Whoville, busying themselves with the preparation of Christmas. He narrates about how much he hates the whole thing, and devises a plan to quite literally steal Christmas away from the Whos.

This is achieved by taking away Christmas trees, stockings, candy, toys, food, whatever he can get his hands on that is symbolic to Christmas. Hell, he even takes the last can of Who Hash, whatever that is. The idea is to make the Whos miserable on Christmas morning - my own takeaway being that it's some sort of bitter payback for his years of loneliness and sadness. He wants these Whos to feel what he's feeling. He wants to give them a day of misery without all of their joyous noise, which is the real trigger for him. And I never needed a whole backstory to get that into my head with this 24-minute special. Basically, what we have here is a recluse, antisocial asshole.

So, spoiler alert (if it can be called that, at this point in the game), the Grinch, of course, has a three-sized change of heart in the end when the Whos all come out singing, despite missing all of their stuff. This is a special that lends itself to the true magic of Christmas, in the sense that as long as love is in your heart, Christmas will always come when it's due. Nothing material can take away from the love of your family and friends. It ends on this super happy note, and the Grinch is even invited to feast with the Whos after giving everything back.

This is a title that teaches kids (or at least it somewhat managed to teach me) that material possessions aren't what makes Christmas so special. An important message to get through to kids, as let's face it, kids are ALL ABOUT the presents! I know I was. While the other films probably have more interesting and thorough storylines to them, the end message is always the same (at least I'd have to imagine it didn't change for the new one), and this says everything it needs to in 24 minutes: The Grinch hates Christmas 'cause it annoys him, and he wants to take it away so the Whos can be as miserable as he is for a day. Done.

While the remakes will, no doubt, hold their place in people's movie collections, there's still just no comparison. I enjoy Jim Carrey's portrayal of the Grinch, but I've found that movie has aged kinda roughly - Jim being the only thing that really saves it for me, anymore. And as far as the new one, again, why soften him up? He's supposed to be a jerk, just make him a jerk. Again, I have yet to see it, but I can't imagine it would have anything on this age-old Christmas special that has withstood the test of time incredibly well. It's just a fun time with a positive message at the end, and still holds several laughs with that undying Chuck Jones animation.

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