#12
THE GRINCH (2000)The Whoville set was built mostly on the backlot of Universal Studios behind the still-standing Bates Motel. During a break in filming Jim Carrey surprised and scared tourists on the Universal Backlot Tour by running out of the hotel wearing a dress and brandishing a knife. Nobody recognized him, and the tour guide at Universal Studios will tell you the story when you pass by the hotel on the Backlot Tour.sort of torn on this one. i actually enjoy this as well, although its not 1/1000th as good as the cartoon which is A CLASSIC, its still entertaining for what its worth. jim carrey is good as the grinch and there are certainly some funny moments, including my favorite dialogue....
THE GRINCH: The nerve of those Whos! Inviting me down there--and on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn't allow it. Four o'clock, wallow in self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one. 5:30, jazzercize. 6:30, dinner with me. I can't cancel that again! 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing; I'm booked! Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9 I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear?
and you cant forget the impact, (pre-cat in the hat with mike myers) that this was the first ever live action big screen translation of dr. seuss, which was pretty incredible to see at the time. (only three years ago), but still i was impressed. the attention to the swirly details and such is pretty wonderful to look at. too bad the movies best scenes are carrey seemingly going out on his own or scenes copied right out of the damn cartoon. the pop music throughout is pretty obnoxious, especially when faith hill belts out the theme over the end credits, because if anything doesnt fit the mood of THAT movie its that song. (and if anyone else is thinking about rhyming 'changing' with 're-arranging' EVER, ill puke.) still, with its flaws, and like i said although INCOMPARABLE to the chuck jones cartoon with the perrfect boris karloff as the grinch, its still something i enjoy watching.
also, does anyone else remember when the film was released on all the posters and in the trailers the movie was simply titled "The Grinch". but when it was released on video all promotional items were changed to match the books title "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". isnt that weird? i wonder why they didnt just use the full title to begin with, or furthermore, why if they didnt use it they decided to go back and change it and not just stick with their decision?
