Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (AKA How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

Dir: Ron Howard

2000

**

I loved the books of Dr. Seuss as a child and I adored the Grinch and Cat in the Hat stories. Personally I don't think the 1982 animated crossover The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat has ever been bettered but there are things about Ron Howard's live action adaptation that I did enjoy. It's incredibly vibrant (like the books) and extremely detailed (unlike the books) and is beautifully directed for a studio based film. It looks reassuringly expensive, which means they have at least given it some thought. However (and it's a pretty big however to be honest), they got the Grinch wrong. Some would say that that was a bit of an oversight. Jim Carrey was still hot property in 2000 (somehow) and it seems producers didn't have the imagination to consider anyone else in the role, even though I can think of a hundred actors who would have been better suited. It was the story that was criticized the most upon the film's release but personally I thought it was fairly authentic and I'm glad that Dr. Seuss' creation hadn't been too sugar-coated. I can think of many different things they could have tried to improve on the overall feel of the movie but in all honesty I don't know how or why anyone would even attempt to try and better the near perfect animated features.