‘Grinch’ simply steals the show

I KNOW what you’re thinking: Can a Christmas movie that’s being released in November be any good?

It just so happens that the new animated version of the Dr Seuss classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a welcome, if early, Christmas gift. And while some critics have panned the movie, you’d have to be a Scrooge to resist it.

The Grinch (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch) lives in a spacious mountaintop lair, high above the town of Whoville, with his faithful mutt, Max.

When we meet him, five days before Christmas, he’s bitter and alone, a grumpy fur ball who just doesn’t feel the holiday spirit.

What’s worse is that he doesn’t want anybody else to feel it. Yet no matter what mischief he throws at the Whovillians – everything from refusing to accept their cheery wishes to knocking over their groceries – they take it in their stride.

When the Grinch learns that the mayor of Whoville (Angela Lansbury) has decreed that this year’s Christmas celebration be three times bigger than ever before, he plans a major disruption.

He’s not the only one anxious about the holiday. Little Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely) has an urgent wish for Santa.

But she doesn’t want toys. Rather, her wish is for relief for her overworked mother, (Rashida Jones).

Can Cindy Lou’s selflessness teach the Grinch something about the Christmas spirit?

Working from a script by Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow, directors Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier stay close to the tone of the 1966 TV special based on Dr Seuss’s book.

The Grinch’s aversion to holiday crowds, for instance, serves an unusual purpose here: helping you identify with the villain.

That may be unexpected for a children’s movie, but what adult hasn’t felt apprehension about the sometimes hectic holiday season?