Many have seen at least one of the “How the Grinch Stole Chrismas” movies at least once. They came from a Dr. Seuss book of the same name that was written in 1957. The book was first made into an animated movie in 1966. After that, two more movies were made: the live-action version in 2000, and the newest animated version in 2018. Today, I will watch all of these movies and determine which one is the best. For those who haven’t seen the movies or read the books, it is about the Grinch, someone who hates Christmas and wants to get rid of it. He makes up a plan to dress up as Santa on the night before Christmas to steal everything from the Whos, only for something to happen to him to make him rethink his hatred for Christmas.
3. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” (1966)
Can I call it a movie? This animation is only twenty-six minutes long, so there is not that much to go off of. From the time when they made this to now, the animation is still pretty good, and the soundtrack makes it better. It’s just that this is just someone reading the story along with the animation, so there is nothing really special about it. The highlight of the movie is the iconic song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” that is sung in it.
2. “The Grinch” (2018)
The newest addition to the Grinch series, “The Grinch” has a new take on the character and the reason why he hates Christmas. He was an orphan and didn’t have a family. This makes sense and does a lot for his character by giving him a good reason to hate it. One thing to like about this movie is the animation style that they chose for this movie. It looks very clean and nice. This movie was good and enjoyable to watch, and not only did that give more attention to the Grinch’s character, but also to Cindy Lou Who. She wants to meet Santa so she can tell him that for Christmas she wants her mom to be happy. This is a very touching fact. Instead of presents that year, she wants her mom to be happy because she works so hard for her and her siblings. The Grinch starts to rethink his feelings about Christmas because of Cindy. How the Grinch gets around and takes all of the presents and the decorations is cool. He has these gadgets that make it easier for him to take everything. The ending was really nice, too. Even after everything that happened, he was able to spend Christmas with people who cared about him.
1. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000)
This movie is the best one that they ever made. First of all, they have Jim Carrey as the Grinch, and Christine Baranski as a love interest of the Grinch, which will make sense in a little bit. The 2000 film also gives the Grinch more background about the reason why he hates Christmas. As a child, he was always bullied because of how he looked. Then, on Christmas, he gives his crush a present and is made fun of. Carrey did a great job playing the Grinch, with some iconic lines like when he is looking through the phone book and saying who he doesn’t like. The movie starts with the Grinch in Whoville causing problems as he tries to get something from Whoville. There he meets Cindy and scares her. Then, she tries to find out why the Grinch hates Christmas so much from all his old classmates. She finds out that all the kids in his class would bully him constantly except for Martha, his crush. She tries to help and make amends with him, which backfires, making the Grinch take revenge. Just like the other movies, he dresses up like Santa and steals Christmas before giving it back. What makes this one so much better is Carrey’s performance as the Grinch. He did such a great job as this character. Carrey was able to make the Grinch so funny and relatable in some scenes. For example when he is trying a bunch of types of outfits to see which one looks the best to wear to the annual Christmas party. His reaction to all of the outfits is hilarious, and when he can’t find anything to wear, he just says “That’s it, I am not going.” Also, there is a scene where he takes the tablecloth from a table and nothing falls off, and he walks out of the scene only to come back to knock everything off. This is why the live-action “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is the best out of the three.
