You’re an overdone one, Mr. Grinch
“The Grinch” is for moviegoers who liked “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” but walked away from the classic 1966 TV special thinking, “That could have used some hip-hop music and a more sympathetic Grinch.”
And more characters. The computer-animated update pads the narrative with several new people and animal creations that are superfluous to the story. “The Grinch” is built to fill up the toy shelves, even as it insists on continuing the original message that Christmas lives in your heart.
The sarcastic comments mostly end there. The makers of “Minions” and the “Despicable Me” movies find a consistent offbeat humor in the ad-
aptation, while retaining the sneaky emotional core. Effort and creative energy are visible from beginning to end. But the new film highlights the greatest problem of any big-screen Seuss reimagining: It’s very hard to turn this 69-page picture book into a 90-minute movie.
“The Grinch” is based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” still a classic, about a cranky cave-dwelling outcast living near a candy-sweet town who tries to destroy, then comes to love, the holiday spirit. That was followed by the arguably even more beloved holiday television special, directed by animation master Chuck Jones, with Boris Karloff voicing the Grinch. It retained the look and the poetic pacing of the book, adding a classic soundtrack and even more soul.
“The Grinch” colors outside the lines from the beginning, showing us detail far beyond the Seuss mythology. Some of this is quite inspired. The town of Whoville becomes even more idyllic, with snowball-making machines and a sense of geographical depth that is one of the welcome additions to the story. “Grinch” co-director Yarrow Cheney was a production designer on the first two “Despicable Me” movies, and his eye for detail (with co-director Scott Mosier) is a consistent asset.
And yet there are strange deviations throughout. Original Dr. Seuss character Cindy Lou Who now has a friend circle and an overworked single mother (voiced by Rashida Jones), whose problems feel like an odd modern distraction to the central story line. The Grinch now has a neighbor named Bricklebaum, voiced by Kenan Thompson of “Saturday Night Live,” who offers little beyond the sight gag of his obsessively decorated house. Max the dog shares packanimal duties with an oversize but underdeveloped mountain creature.
Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch, and he seems like a safe and solid choice; the actor’s sterling voice-over history includes the dragon Smaug from the recent “Hobbit” movies. But he adopts a nasal quality, paired with a script that offers excuses for the Grinch’s behavior. Once a coldhearted grouch whose dedication to crankiness was almost endearing, he now comes across as a whiner. The decision to insert the unremarkable Pharrell Williams into the narrator’s role neuters Cumberbatch further; it was a job Karloff had in the original.
Danny Elfman scores the film, bringing a welcome “The Nightmare Before Christmas” vibe to the proceedings, especially in the inventive and music-heavy scenes where the Grinch steals the presents from the sleeping Whos. The mixture of movement and inventive Grinch contraptions, as a city full of Christmas is robbed in minutes, is the best blend of the old vibe and new filmmaking approach.
Tyler the Creator offers a hip-hop-infused version of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and a second new song for the film. Like almost everything else in “The Grinch,” the change is benign.
But it’s not necessary either. This film is the equivalent of your third- or fourth-favorite present on any given holiday. It will entertain a few children in the moment, satisfy a few adults who are barely paying attention, then quickly be forgotten.