This is NOT an improvement on the 26 minute, 1966, made for TV, Classic HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. It's not as bad as the 2000 live action version, but it begs the question, "Why mess with success?" As a stand alone, animated, seasonal movie, it has some good points: the animation is good (the young Grinch is absolutely adorable and will probably sell a lot of merchandise - which may be the point of making this remake), it has some entertaining and diverse additional characters and it has an additional umbrella morale about the sacrifice of mothers and value of family. However, Benedict Cumberbatch is wasted in this movie (indeed any nasal toned American actor would have done as well), Pharrell Williams offers up some lame rhyming narration that doesn't come close to the excellence of Dr. Suess' craft. Cindy Lou Who is aged about 5 years and loses the innocent charm of the original. Under the stand alone criteria, I might give it a 6 (fair) out of 10 {Holiday Animation}, but, as an updated version of the original work, I give it a 5 (unnecessary remake) out of 10. {Christmas Classic}.
Review of The Grinch
