The teaser poster.
The theatrical poster.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a 2000 comedy film from Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, based on Dr. Seuss' 1957 storybook of the same name, notably the first theatrical film based on his works. It was directed by Ron Howard and produced by Howard and Brian Grazer. DreamWorks was originally planning to co-produce the film, but dropped out at the last minute. (DreamWorks would later internationally distribute another Universal/Imagine Dr. Seuss adaptation, 2003's The Cat in the Hat.)
Because the film is based on a children's storybook, many additions had to be made to bring the story to feature-length, including backstory for the title character. Anthony Hopkins supplied rhyming narration similar to Boris Karloff's from the 1966 version, and the soundtrack included a new version of the original special's song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".
The advance publicity title for the film was simply The Grinch, which was used for the worldwide theatrical run and was retained for Australian and United Kingdom releases.
Synopsis[]
In the whimsical city of Whoville, the inhabitants celebrate Christmas with much happiness and joy, with the exception of the cynical and misanthropic Grinch, who despises Christmas and the Whos with great wrath and occasionally pulls dangerous and harmful pranks on them for his own enjoyment. As a result, no one likes or cares for him.
Cindy Lou Who, a 6-year-old Who, becomes aware of the Grinch's existence and, after being saved from a deadly machine by him in the Whoville Post Office, suspects that he isn't as bad as he seems. She asks everyone what they know about him and soon discovers that he has a tragic past: The Grinch actually arrived in Whoville by mistake when he was a baby, and was adopted by a pair of ladies. Although he showed some sadistic tendencies as a child, he was not the cruel, selfish person he would become; he was bullied by his classmates (mainly Augustus May Who, the current mayor) because of his green and hairy appearance, except for Martha May Whovier, who showed some romantic interest in him. One Christmas season, he made a gift for Martha May, but attempted to shave his face after recalling Augustus' insults about it, cutting himself and resulting in his classmates laughing at him and humiliating him. He snapped, lost his temper, and went on a rampage against Christmas before running away to live on Mt. Crumpit, leading to his current hatred of the Whos during Christmastime.
Cindy decides to make the Grinch the "Cheermeister" of the Whobilation party, to the great displeasure of Augustus, who has no choice but to agree to the idea. But when she offers an invitation to the Grinch, he only grumbles and sends her out of his cave; however, after much gossip and debate with himself, he changes his mind (with a "little help" from Max, his dog) and goes to the party anyway. While he is initially disgusted with the party, he starts to genuinely enjoy himself, until Augustus proposes marriage to Martha and gives the Grinch an electric shaver as a Christmas present — which makes him recall his traumatic childhood and go on a rampage again, spoiling the party and upsetting Cindy Lou. The Grinch is pleased with his rampage, but to his dismay, he finds that his attack has not removed the spirit of Christmas from the Whos, and that they will do the commemoration of Christmas tomorrow anyway.
Angry with the idea of spending another annoying Christmas in his cave, the Grinch deduces that the Whos only celebrate Christmas because of their extravagant gifts, and he (with the unintended help of Max) decides to steal all their belongings while they sleep. He does this successfully after spending the day building his sleigh before night falls, but ends up forcing Max to pull all the stolen things when his flying sleigh breaks down from running out of fuel.
The next morning, when the Whos wake up and notice that they were robbed, Augustus openly accuses Cindy Lou of ruining Christmas by inviting the Grinch to the Whobilation. But her father, Postmaster Lou Lou Who, openly defends her, saying that she did nothing wrong; he then explains to the Whos that they still have the Christmas Spirit — the one thing that doesn’t come from a store — and that the principal meaning of Christmas is to spend it with family and friends, not to give or receive gifts and do decorations. The Whos agree with this remark and begin to sing.
Meanwhile, the Grinch, unaware of what happened in the town, plans to destroy all the stolen gifts after he hears the Whos crying, but to his shock, he actually hears the joyful singing of the Whos and realizes that his plan backfired. Disgusted and puzzled, the Grinch asks why his plan failed and, after a moment of reflection, realizes that Christmas means much more than mere material gifts — an insight that profoundly touched him and (literally) makes his heart grow up three times its original size. Just then, gravity starts pulling the stolen gifts to the edge of the cliff, and a horrified Grinch tries to save it. The gifts are too heavy to him and he considers letting them go, but then Cindy (who decided to give him another chance) appears on the top of the gifts, telling him that she came to see him because "nobody should be alone on Christmas." Touched by her kind words, the Grinch gains enough strength to lift the gifts and save both them and her from going over the cliff.
After a long descent, the Grinch, along with Cindy, brings the gifts back to Whoville. He apologizes for his past deeds against the Whos and offers to accept any punishment that they want to give him, turning himself in to Police Chief Wholihan. But much to Augustus's chagrin, Wholihan pardons the Grinch since he returned everything and apologized, while Martha rejects Augustus's marriage proposal and wants to stay with the Grinch. At the end of the movie, the redeemed Grinch starts a new life with the Whos and celebrates Christmas with them in his cave.
Music[]
Soundtrack[]
The film's soundtrack album contained the following songs:
- "Grinch 2000" - Busta Rhymes and Jim Carrey
- "Green Christmas" - Barenaked Ladies
- "Christmas of Love" - Little Isidore and the Inquisitors
- "Lonely Christmas Eve" - Ben Folds
- "Better Do It Right" - Smash Mouth
- "Whoville Medley" (Perfect Christmas Night/Grinch) - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- "Christmas is Going to the Dogs" - The Eels
- "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" - Jim Carrey
- "You Don't Have to be Alone" - 'N Sync
- "Where Are You, Christmas?" - Faith Hill
Score[]
The cover to the score album.
In November 2022, La-La Land Records released an album of James Horner's full score for the movie, limited to 3,000 copies. The track listing is as follows:
| # | Track title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shape of Things to Come (includes "Happy Who-Lidays") | 6:36 |
| 2 | Meet the Mayor | 1:25 |
| 3 | Post Office | 4:25 |
| 4 | Dumpit to Crumpit | 1:03 |
| 5 | Christmas, Why Can't I Find You? | 2:08 |
| 6 | The Grinch at Home | 1:54 |
| 7 | Who-Babies, Who-Babies Everywhere | 2:02 |
| 8 | The Grinch in School | 1:46 |
| 9 | Memories of a Green Childhood | 3:31 |
| 10 | The Book of Who | 1:54 |
| 11 | Cindy Lou Falls | 2:48 |
| 12 | Grinch Arrives | 1:25 |
| 13 | Grinch as Cheermeister | 2:18 |
| 14 | Razor Sharp Memories | 0:50 |
| 15 | Celebration Breakdown | 4:26 |
| 16 | Grinch Back on Mt. Crumpit | 1:40 |
| 17 | A Wonderful / Awful Idea | 0:48 |
| 18 | You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch | 2:35 |
| 19 | Max Gets a New Nose | 0:36 |
| 20 | Stealing Christmas (Instrumental Version) | 6:53 |
| 21 | The Big Heist | 4:03 |
| 22 | Does Cindy Lou Really Ruin Christmas? | 4:26 |
| 23 | A Change of the Heart | 3:43 |
| 24 | The Sleigh of Presents | 6:02 |
| 25 | He Carves the Roast Beast (Includes "Welcome Christmas") | 3:11 |
Home media releases[]
Holiday 2000
Holiday 2000
September 2001
November 20, 2001
November 20, 2001
November 20, 2001
November 5, 2002
Reprint of the 2001 VHS.
November 5, 2002
Reprint of the 2001 DVD.
November 5, 2002
Disc 1 is a reprint of the 2001 DVD.
2006
DVD is a reprint of the 2001 DVD.
October 13, 2009
DVD is a reprint of the 2001 DVD.
October 11, 2016
Reprint of the 2001 DVD.
October 17, 2017
Reprint of the 2001 DVD.
October 17, 2017
Blu-ray is a reprint of the 2009 Blu-ray.
October 8, 2019
Reprint of 2001 DVD; paired with The Cat in the Hat.
Reception[]
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a financial success at the box office, opening at #1 with a weekend gross of $55,082,230, for an average of $17,615 from 3,127 theaters. It closed on March 1, 2001, after 15 weeks with a final gross of $260,044,825 in the United States and Canada and an additional gross of $85,096,578 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $345,141,403.
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with a 53% rating, classifying it as "Rotten", and Metacritic listed the film with a 46% rating, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
The film garnered three Academy Award nominations, including Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, as well as a Saturn Award for Best Music. At the Golden Globes, Carrey was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, losing the award to George Clooney for O Brother, Where Art Thou? However, the movie was also nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Screenplay, losing both categories to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and Battlefield Earth, respectively.
Notes[]
- Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks and Tim Curry were all considered for the role of the Grinch before Jim Carrey was cast.
- Jim Carrey would later star in another Dr. Seuss adaptation - he voiced Horton in the 2008 film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who!
Extended edition[]
The TV airings, first aired on ABC on November 25, 2004, include the following scenes that weren't featured in the theatrical/home media releases:
- Lou maxing out a credit card in Farfingle's where he was shopping for gifts for the family with Cindy Lou.
- Lou talking with Cindy Lou before heading to the post office following what happened with her brothers having encountered the Grinch.
- An extended scene of Lou sending out three more packages at the post office.
- A parent-teacher conference where Cindy's teacher and Lou discuss Cindy Lou's report on the Grinch, which earned her detention as a result.
- Augustus asking out Martha while she decorates her house.
- The Grinch sitting on a swing in his cave before checking the size of his heart.
- An extended sequence of the Grinch trying to scare Cindy Lou.
- The lighting contest between Martha and Betty.
- The Grinch trying to decide on an outfit to wear to the Whobilation.
- The Grinch breaking Whoville's eggnog record during Whobilation.
- The entirety of the present pass-it-on sequence.
- Dru and Stu getting ready for bed.
- Betty wrapping presents in frustration.
Cast[]
| Actor/actress | Character |
|---|---|
| Jim Carrey | The Grinch |
| Taylor Momsen | Cindy Lou Who |
| Jeffrey Tambor | Mayor Augustus May Who |
| Christine Baranski | Martha May Whovier |
| Bill Irwin | Lou Lou Who |
| Molly Shannon | Betty Lou Who |
| Clint Howard | Whobris |
| Mindy Sterling | Clarnella |
| Jeremy Howard | Drew Lou Who |
| T. J. Thyne | Stu Lou Who |
| Jim Meskimen | Officer Wholihan |
| Josh Ryan Evans | Grinch (age 8) |
| Ben Bookbinder | Augustus May Who (age 8) |
| Landry Allbright | Martha May Whovier (age 8) |
| Reid Kirchenbauer | Whobris (age 8) |
| Frank Welker (voice) | Max |
| Anthony Hopkins (voice) | Narrator |
| Rachel Winfree | Rose |
| Rance Howard | Elderly timekeeper |
| Lacey Kohl | Christina Whoterberry |
| Nadja Pionilla | Junie |
| Michael Dahlen | Customer |
| David Costabile | Biker Who |
| Mary Stein | Miss Rue Who |
| James Ritz | Crazy Mose |
| Deep Roy | Post Office Clerk |
| Jessica Sara | Sophie |
| Mason Lucero | Who Boy |
| Michaela Gallo | Who Schoolgirls |
| Rebecca Chace Suzanne Krull Steve Kehela Lillias White Rain Pryor John Alexander Ann Mills |
Shoppers |
| Kevin Isola | Tree trimmer |
| Gavin Grazer | Yodeler |
| Walter Franks | Clerk |
| Verne Troyer | Band member |
| Clayon Martinez | Cook |
| Q'orianka Kilcher | Little choir member |
| Caroline Williams | Tiny Who woman |
| John Short | Tiny Who man |
| Eva Burkley | Pudding chef |
| Rick Baker Bill Sturgeon Mark Setrakian Jurgen Heimann Tim Blaney |
Puppeteers |
| Bryce Dallas Howard | Surprised Who |
| Charles Croughwell | Balloon Who |
| Rachel Bailit | Whoville Nurse |
| Mindy Ferguson | Blonde Who |
| Heather Lea Gerdes Linda Harmon |
Whoville Choir |
| Ron Howard | Whoville Townsperson |
| Seth Adam Jones | Hugh Who |
| Allie McCall | Noelie |
| Sloane Momsen | Little girl dreaming of sugarplums |
| Bonnie Morgan | Pudding head Who |
| Robin Kaye Shaw | Toy Lady Who |
| Dean Chamber Christopher Metas Frankie Ray |
Other Whos |
| Tommy Karlsen (voice) | Various |
Videos[]
External links[]
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Movie Database
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas at TV Tropes
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas at Allmovie
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas at RetroJunk.com