I saw this film once as a kid, it's older than me so I probably saw it in like 2005 or something, so it was super fuzzy. I remember thinking it was kinda scary but that's all I really remember was the first 20 minutes or something. I saw it for the 2nd time in my life last night, the 10th, and I must say, for a comedy, it's quite heartwarming and clever. It's not perfect, but it's actually quite nuanced.
They offer multiple criticisms for the over-commercialization of Christmas within the first couple shots, and throughout the film. The original story simplifies the message into "all the Whos love Christmas and the Grinch couldn't steal their love for it" but this film adds nuance to that. Some of the Whos *do* cry boo-hoo, they *do* believe that Christmas is contingent on packages, boxes, and bags. But Cindy-Lou doesn't, and when her dad stood up for her, they managed to convince the rest of whoville of the same, which melted the heart of even the Grinch himself.
I actually really loved the nuance that was shown with the book of Who. When Cindy-Lou nominated the Grinch for Cheermeister, the Mayor, who is a tyrant (albeit a cartoonish one), was scrambling for reasons as to why he couldn't come. Cindy-Lou knew that the law applied to the Grinch as well, but the person in power and the culture at large didn't want to accept that, and thus the Grinch was treated like a second-class citizen since his self-entered exile as a child. This is a fascinating commentary on discrimination, and could certainly be applied to political topics throughout history... And it's a ""children's movie""... I love it.
And instead of "whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes" it actually gives a great exploration for why the grinch was "evil". His backstory is a little contradictory to his character and I think it damages the message and worldbuilding ever so slightly, but it really is quite great to see that he was rejected and mocked and kinda traumatized due to just being different, so he, like Megamind, decided that if everyone was going to see him as evil, he was going to embrace it. It touched my heart when he asked Cindy-Lou why she didn't think he was evil. He lived his entire life used to that treatment, so he had no idea how to interface with someone who actually cared. He had no frame of reference for that whatsoever. I'm reminded of Good Will Hunting, though I haven't seen all of it.
But he's also miserable because nobody ever treated him well and the only person (his age at least) who liked him was too shy to say it. He's self-destructive and self-loathing, and admits it. This is exactly the reason why he also feels satisfaction and superiority to the rest of the Whos. He simultaneously feels as though the Whos can be given "long enough to be jealous of [him]" and also runs from his past by hurting himself. The fact he used himself for his OWN crash test dummy, hurting himself in the process of trying to make his machine safer for no reason, because he doesn't care about his safety, was not only a genius joke, but fits into his character perfectly. The punchline of "that's what these tests are for" was perfect.
Perhaps this is me projecting my own perspective onto the film, but hear me out. The Grinch is a little fruity. Not because he's explicitly bisexual, but because he's an agent of chaos that is too crazy to be afraid of kissing a man for the hell of it. But it plays
But even as an agent of chaos, he has his limits in that he refuses to harm an innocent, pure child who only ever treated him with kindness. His heart is small, but he's not heartless, and Cindy-Lou used that tiny shred of Whomaity that he still had in him to change him for good, even when he wanted nothing else but to reject this help. Again, I'm projecting my own beliefs, but she is Christlike by nature, schooling the men in power as a child, teaching them what's right, being the only right one when everyone was wrong, the only one who was willing to defend the most sinful man from the world at large. This stupid Jim Carrey kid's movie made me cry. Dr. Seuss may have always liked his stories to be simple for helping children learn what's right, but even with the raucous tone of this film, the beautiful message was preserved. This is where I take issue with many Christians. They throw the baby out with the bathwater when they refuse to acknowledge how much good can be gained from any given film. Because they can't abide the fact that it says "bitchin" a single time, they lose out and completely forget that Cindy-Lou can be interpreted as an allegory for Christ, and this story as a whole can serve as an edifying reminder of the Plan of Salvation. I can feel the Spirit during this film while other Mormons have skill issue and religious trauma. Cindy-Lou Who for President.
Now that I've convinced both Christians and non-Christians that I'm insane, one final note of potential value projection on my behalf, this time from the Libertarian perspective. I possibly laughed the hardest at the line that called the taxpayers of Whoville "generous" for subsidizing a car as a reward. It's not generous to give away somebody else's money that you stole. The taxpayers are REQUIRED to pay taxes, which inherently means any good or evil committed with the taxes incurred are not their responsibility. They cannot claim neither the good nor bad that came of their taxes because they don't have a choice in paying them. It's not a charity if it knocks on your door, holds you at gunpoint, and robs you. If a charitable organization did that, we'd call them terrorists. When our Government does that, we call them Democrats and Republicans. This irony is why the joke works and why they wrote it. Actually, I'm not projecting, the writers share my value and see the same irony that I do in stealing money via the threat of the Executive Branch being touted as charitable. My girlfriend's family was taken aback by my laughter, probably because they've seen it a million times, have it memorized, and are desensitized to the cleverness of the jokes. So their reaction was "how haven't you seen this before?" and my response was, "I kinda saw it, but that's just hilarious either way." In so many words. I don't want to talk over a movie when that might ruin their experience. Nobody but other film lovers want to watch a movie with someone who majored in Digital Cinema. I know I suck, so I keep Me to Myself. And that's on Masking folks. Wait, wrong Jim Carrey movie.
