The Grinch
The studio originally wanted Benedict Cumberbatch to voice the Grinch using his natural voice, but Benedict felt that, since the rest of the cast is American, the Grinch should have an American accent.,The theme song describes the Grinch as having yellow teeth, but his teeth are white.,Grinch: [looks at Fred] Well, Santa had eight reindeer, he looks like he ate the other seven.,Cindy-Lou asks Santa-Grinch to bring something to make her mom's life better. Over the end titles, we see that The Grinch has created a number of labor-saving devices, which do indeed make her happier and her life easier.,The UK theatrical release was censored in order to obtain a U classification; the distributor chose to remove several uses of mild bad language (ass) from a song number in order to avoid the film receiving a PG rating uncut.,Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: The Grinchy Dumbo (2018),Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie
Performed by Jackson 5
Courtesy of Motown Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises,I know this will upset some folks, but the 2000 version of Dr. Seuss' classic, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" was an abomination. First, the entire message of the original story was lost...and was, in fact, the opposite of Seuss' story. Second, the story was all about Jim Carrey and his mugging for the camera....everything else seemed secondary. Because of this, I was terribly disappointed, as I loved the original story and the great 1966 cartoon. Because of this, I was very reticent to watch this 2018 incarnation. But, in hindsight, my fears about the latest film are mostly unfounded.

Because the film is about an hour and a half long, I already realized that the story had to be padded and include some new material...this is just inevitable. However, I was surprised how much I liked this material...such as the Grinch's cute reindeer. It was very pleasant and all contributed to the story instead of distracting from it. And, as far as the story goes, it stuck pretty close to the book--even using many exact quotes from the classic tale.

As far as the quality of the film goes, it's a mixed bag but mostly good. The animation was eye-popping and wonderful. It really is great on the big screen and the 3-D effects were magnificent. I also liked that they made the Grinch a hater of Christmas but NOT a hateful or evil character. He was kinder and more sweet at times....even though he hated the holiday. The only things I wasn't thrilled about were the narration by John Legend and the voicework for the Grinch himself by Benedict Cumberbatch. I had the distinct impression that BOTH were used simply because the studio could get them--not because they were appropriate for the film. Legend is apparently a nice guy...but his nice-guy voice wasn't what you'd want or expect from a narrator. The same for Cumberbatch--who DID sound very different from his usual English accented voice but still was too 'normal' a voice for a character such as the Grinch.

Overall, despite my voice talent complaint, the film is a great family film...one that honors the book and 1966 film instead of ignoring it like the 2000 incarnation. Well worth seeing and amazingly heartwarming...especially at the end as well as when the Grinch is interacting with his dog and pet reindeer.,