The Grinch is reinvented again for the 21st Century in the new feature film produced by Illumination Studios, the company that brought us the Minions of Despicable Me and the animals of The Secret Life of Pets.
The Production: 3.5/5
The Grinch(Benedict Cumberbatch) is a green-furred creature who lives on the mountain overlooking Who-ville, a town populated by anthropomorphic “Whos”. The Whos celebrate Christmas with great joy, to the chagrin of the Grinch who resembles no one so much as Ebenezer Scrooge. The Grinch enlists his dog, Max, in his plan to steal Christmas away from Who-ville. The Grinch is destined to meet Cindy-Lou Who(Cameron Seely) in executing his plans. Cindy-Lou has her own plans to capture Santa this Christmas, which she plans behind the back of her overworked and underappreciated mom, Donna Lou Who(Rashida Jones). The Grinch’s bad attitude is demonstrated with his frustration with his joyful neighbor Brickelbaum(Kenan Thompson).
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch appears on 4K UHD in a 2.39:1 screen aspect ratio. The color range is kaleidoscopic on the UHD disc and on the Blu-ray with solid blacks and fine detail as expected in a transfer of a CGI film. I cannot say that the film has noticeably brighter, deeper, and more lifelike color in UHD than on 1080p blu-ray, since both discs are excellent in this regard, but definitely the UHD version seems crisper for contrast, and perhaps color, than the blu-ray. Fine detail is most evident on the figures with the light patina of fur on all of the characters.
Audio: 4/5
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch appears on UHD and blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack by default. The Dolby Atmos video is all-encompassing but seems limited in its use of directional cues. The music selections of Christmas tunes and the score created by Danny Elfman are served well in this sound mix, and the subwoofer provides some deep bass rumbles when appropriate. There are no perceptible flaws in the sound mix, but at the same time, it does not necessarily rise to demo level. The inclusion of Dolby Atmos on a 3D release is nothing to be sneezed at, said the Sneezle, but this will probably not be the film you select to show off the range of audio in your home theater.
Special Features: 4.5/5
Special features on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs include all of the following:
Overall: 4/5