The Grinch (2018)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: The Grinch (2018)

Tagline: He gets meaner.

Genre: Animation, Family

Director: Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mosier

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely, Angela Lansbury, Pharrell Williams, Brad O'Hare, Ramone Hamilton, Sam Lavagnino, Scarlett Estevez, Tristan O'Hare, Michael Beattie, Scott Mosier, Lori Alan, Carter Hastings, Carlos Alazraqui, John Kassir, Doug Burch, Evan Kishiyama, Cathy Cavadini, Danny Mann, Tucker Chandler

Release: 2018-11-08

Plot: The Grinch hatches a scheme to ruin Christmas when the residents of Whoville plan their annual holiday celebration.

I looked and don't see a thread for this yet. Universal just put up this trailer for the new CG animated Grinch movie coming from Illumination.



Honestly, I'm only starting this thread to complain. Even though the original special is basically perfect, it's the Grinch and I'm fond of that story, so I entered the trailer with genuine curiosity. But...seriously...could this look any worse? I'm having a hard time imagining so. Honestly, it made me appreciate the Ron Howard/Jim Carrey version more, which is clearly preferable to this. I wasn't even slightly amused once in the whole trailer.

Apart from the obvious money grab, based on the trailer, I don't see any artistic reason whatsoever for this to exist.

But it will probably make a ton of money. Howard/Carrey delivered the #1 film of the year in 2000. (Remember when $260 million made you the #1 film of the year?) I doubt this one will get anywhere near as high in terms of chart position, but the eight films Illumination have released to date have an average gross of $272 million, so this will probably outgross the 2000 one, at least in terms of simple unadjusted numbers.

Disney has Ralph Breaks the Internet a couple weeks later. Hopefully parents with kids are smart enough to take them to that instead. Hopefuly.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I liked the trailer and I do revere the original animated version and did not like the Jim Carrey version. I know my wife will insist on seeing it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Well, there's a new trailer, but it doesn't look any better than the first one:



Ugh.

 

[Mark-P]

No disrespect, Jake but after watching the newest trailer, I’m actually liking what I’m seeing. It might actually be better than the Howard/Carey version. The 1966 TV special is of course pure, because it faithfully represents the Dr. Seuss book, but you can’t expect a full length movie which has to expand the story to do that.

 

[Jake Lipson]

No disrespect, Jake but after watching the newest trailer, I’m actually liking what I’m seeing.

None taken at all. You're more than welcome to like the movie. I won't be seeing it, but if you want to, I hope you enjoy it.

I think it's totally fair to expect the new film to represent Dr. Seuss well. Obviously it has to expand to fit 90 minutes, but that doesn't mean that they have to add garbage, and I think the trailers so far have looked like garbage.

In any case, the movie is clearly no for me and that's okay. If it's for you, I hope you have a good experience with it.

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm not sure what the overall movie is going to be like, but I find myself laughing at the trailers quite a bit.

 

[JQuintana]

It's gotta be light years better than the Jim Carey version. Blech.

 

[Edwin-S]

I haven't seen this yet. Mostly because I feel that the story has been gone over so often that it didn't need yet another film to be made. Illumination decided to make the character "cuter". While I think the best iteration of this character was Chuck Jones's original, I have to say that if it was a choice between how the character looks here and the Ron Howard/Jim Carrey take on the character then I prefer this one. The live action film just looked like a huge, steaming pile of shit to me.