The Grinch review: Lacks Christmas magic

The Grinch                                                                                     Cert: U, 1hr 30mins  

Rating:

In my house we had one firm rule – the DVD of Jim Carrey’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, a film made all the way back in 2000, could not be played before December 1… ever. 

It was a rule I attempted to enforce with vigorous parental authority but conspicuously failed on most weekends from Halloween onwards. It duly became a much-loved part of the fabric of our family, despite the distinctly so-so reviews that greeted its release.

And maybe, in turn, the new animated version of the story will duly become part of the fabric of a new generation of families, despite this distinctly so-so review. 

Benedict Cumberbatch does his American-accented best to lend fresh voice to the green, furry, Christmas-hating curmudgeon that is the title character

Benedict Cumberbatch does his American-accented best to lend fresh voice to the green, furry, Christmas-hating curmudgeon that is the title character

Yes, the animation is a shiny, pixel-bright delight, and it’s interesting to hear Benedict Cumberbatch doing his American-accented best to lend fresh voice to the green, furry, Christmas-hating curmudgeon that is the title character. And yet the whole thing just seems lacking in that Yuletide essential: magic.

Purists may say that, barring the interpolation of an over-sized reindeer, the new version is more faithful to Dr Seuss’s original story than Carrey’s ever was. 

Pragmatists will say that for a feature-length film, Seuss’s 1957 picture book inevitably needs to be ‘padded out’ and that Carrey’s version did a better job of that than the new film. It’s only 90 minutes long but at times it definitely drags, particularly for anyone familiar with the basic story.

The Grinch lives in gloomy exile in a cave on towering Mount Crumpit, overlooking the colourful, cheerful, Christmas-loving town of Whoville

The Grinch lives in gloomy exile in a cave on towering Mount Crumpit, overlooking the colourful, cheerful, Christmas-loving town of Whoville

For anyone who is not… the Grinch lives in gloomy exile in a cave on towering Mount Crumpit, overlooking the colourful, cheerful, Christmas-loving town of Whoville, the inhabitants of which – the Whos – go into festive overdrive every December. 

Much to the annoyance of the Grinch, who hates Christmas, partly because his heart is famously ‘two sizes too small’ and partly for reasons that become clear about halfway through. But either way, to cut a short story even shorter, he resolves to steal Whoville’s Christmas altogether – every last bauble, tree and, of course, present.

‘Instead of bringing all the joy and happiness,’ he gloats, ‘I’m going to take it away!’

This is a film that stubbornly refuses to come to real life, with Cindy Lou rounding up her gang in a way that never really grips or entertains and smacks a little too much of Charlie Brown

This is a film that stubbornly refuses to come to real life, with Cindy Lou rounding up her gang in a way that never really grips or entertains and smacks a little too much of Charlie Brown

There’s no doubt that the new film makes the Grinch splendidly unpleasant – this is the sort of bah-humbug creature who knocks down children’s snowmen, kicks away walking sticks and deliberately places vital ingredient jars out of reach of short Christmas shoppers. 

He even very nearly gives away the biggest Christmas secret of all when kind-hearted Cindy Lou announces her plan to stay up and wait for Santa to ask him something special.

The animation – from the same company that makes the Minion films – is good too, not just with a swooping virtual camera that makes the giddy-making best of the story’s snowy, slippery setting (Whoville is a place where residents ride bob-sleighs to work, Cindy Lou slides down mountains on a rubber ring, and the Grinch’s getaway vehicle is a horribly overladen sleigh pulled by his faithful dog, Max), but for Christmas lights that you can see coming on one by one.

Nevertheless, this is a film that stubbornly refuses to come to real life, with Cindy Lou rounding up her gang in a way that never really grips or entertains and smacks a little too much of Charlie Brown. 

Pharrell Williams narrates a production that has clearly made the decision to make itself more ethnically diverse, but it doesn’t help itself with the turgid hip-hop-ification of songs such as You’re A Mean One, Mr Grinch.

So, in 18 years’ time, will a younger generation be looking back as fondly at this version of The Grinch as my family do at Jim Carrey’s? It’s possible – but I doubt it.

 

SECOND SCREEN 

Wildlife (12A) 

Rating:

Overlord (18) 

Rating:

Squadron 303 (15) 

Rating:

Paul Dano is a respected and popular actor, familiar to viewers of TV’s recent War & Peace adaptation, where he was a brilliant Pierre, and to devotees of art-house dramas such as Youth, 12 Years A Slave and Looper.

So when he makes his debut as a director, it’s bound to attract attention, both within and outside the film industry. As a result, Wildlife, with a cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, feels like one of those films you expect to be brilliant only to realise halfway through that it’s merely OK.

Set in Montana in the early Sixties, it’s a story of damaged male pride, watchful teenage anxiety and the limited options open at that time to a woman abandoned by her husband. 

Carey Mulligan (above) gives it her best shot in a film in which not enough happens, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s long absence from the screen is keenly felt

Carey Mulligan (above) gives it her best shot in a film in which not enough happens, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s long absence from the screen is keenly felt

Gyllenhaal plays Jerry, a chancer who loses his job and goes off to fight wildfires instead, while Mulligan is Jeanette, who, somewhat improbably, begins an affair with a local car dealer. Ed Oxenbould plays their 14-year-old son, who watches powerlessly as his parents’ marriage falls apart.

Mulligan gives it her best shot in a film in which not enough happens, and Gyllenhaal’s long absence from the screen is keenly felt.

Overlord begins by looking like a rather promising Second World War film, with visual effects and seat-shaking sound design that wouldn’t shame Saving Private Ryan 2, as a squad of nervous American paratroopers are flown into France ahead of the D-Day landings. 

Ninety ever more bloody and nasty minutes later, however, it’s become an out-and-out horror flick full of superviolent fights, ghastly Nazi experiments and cadavers that just won’t die. Only suitable for battle-hardened genre specialists and those with a strong stomach. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Two months ago, Hurricane was released, the rather good, British-made story of the Polish pilots who fought so bravely in the Battle of Britain.

For all its excellent flying sequences and  Polish box office success, Squadron 303 may struggle here, hampered by a confusing timeline and a far from flattering depiction of we Brits

For all its excellent flying sequences and Polish box office success, Squadron 303 may struggle here, hampered by a confusing timeline and a far from flattering depiction of we Brits

Now along comes Squadron 303, which is the same story but told by Polish film-makers. Not surprisingly, this story of heroic derring-do has gone down hugely well at the Polish box office. 

But for all its excellent flying sequences, it may struggle here, hampered by a slightly confusing timeline and a far from flattering – or particularly convincing – depiction of we Brits. Definitely a case of heroic horses for courses. 

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