The Grinch (Blu-ray)
blech
Tags: How The Grinch Stole Christmas Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 16th, 2009
I’m trying not to be too disparaging about the live action film adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The animated version, the annual half hour television special narrated by Boris Karloff and animated by Chuck Jones remains as definitive as ever. The book, a story about a person who want to stop joy from coming to a town, is an absolute classic. It was really only a matter of time before the work was translated to a live action film. That fact in itself is fine, but it is the unnecessary changes made to the film that make it less than it should be. Oh, sure, I expect there to be some changes and expansion of the plot to fill a normal film’s running time, but some of the things done are just ludicrous
Not only do we get a ridiculous explanation as to why The Grinch hates Christmas, we get an unnecessary diatribe against the commercialization of the season. How things change after the Grinch takes everything and the Whos down in Whoville decide to be angry seems completely counter to the message from the book. Sure, they all turn around, but they shouldn’t have to be “turned” back to find the true meaning of Christmas.
Still, there are some redeeming qualities of the film. Jim Carrey does a good Grinch, but the script doesn’t do the performance any justice. And Bill Irwin has a small role, it’s always nice to see him.
Look, I don’t like the film. I think it isn’t a good film on its own, and as an adaptation of the book it is even worse. If you have kids you may be tempted to pick this up thinking “Hey, it’s Dr. Seuss, how bad can it be?” Go ahead and rent it if you must, but thee are plenty of other films out there that are much more enjoyable. Better yet, read a book.
Then again, there are a number of people who like the film. That’s fine. For them, the Blu-ray is certainly worth purchasing. It isn’t a perfect package, but the inclusion of a copy of the film on DVD certainly helps. As for special features on the Blu-ray, it appears that all the previous stuff has been brought over. Unfortunately, it’s all in standard definition.
Starting off with 10minutes of deleted scenes, we also get a music video and some outtakes. Four separate featurettes total up to about a half hour and look at various aspects of the making of the film. Lastly there’s an audio commentary with Ron Howard that I simply couldn’t check out because I couldn’t force myself to sit through the film again.
Just because it was a box office success doesn’t mean the film was good.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Bill Irwin + DVD version included |
4.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Way too many deviations from the original story that lose the spirit of the tale | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If you're going to buy a copy of this film, this is the version to get, even if you don't have a Blu-ray player yet because it does include the DVD. | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 16th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
