The Grinch

The Grinch

The Grinch is a film based on the immensely popular novel by Dr Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! It is enwrapped in Christmas fervour and is sure to light up the hearts of several Grinches with its warm and fuzzy festival feels.

The plot is set in the fictitious town of Whoville. In this town, the humanoids called the ‘Whos’ are filled with excitement and are shown to be enthusiastically preparing for Christmas. The only person who is distanced and disinterested in the celebration is a furry green creature called the Grinch. His heart is described as being “two sizes smaller” than that of the humanoids and he lives in Mount Crumpit just north of Whoville. The Grinch prefers to stay alone and only visits Whoville when he needs to buy food or when he wants to execute his evil hatchings.

Meanwhile, as Christmas preparations are in full swing in Whoville, a small six-year-old girl named Cindy Lou notices that her single mother, Donna, is overworked. Her mother needs to take care of Cindy as well as of her twin baby brothers, Buster and Bean. On seeing her mother’s predicament, Cindy decides to write a letter to Santa Claus seeking his help in the matter, as her Christmas present. Cindy then encounters the Grinch and tells him about the situation. The Grinch sarcastically replies that she would need to go and meet Santa Claus face-to-face and explain the matter to him. Cindy then resolutely decides to go to the North Pole, find Santa Claus, and then tell him everything about her concern. But when her mother tells her that it would take her a month to reach the North Pole, Cindy’s final decision is to trap Santa Claus himself with the help of her friends when he come visiting Whoville on Christmas eve.

With Christmas just around the corner, the buzz in the air gives the Grinch flashbacks about his awful childhood and how all his Christmases were spent feeling alone and unwanted in an orphanage. As an act of revenge, the Grinch decides that he would sabotage the festival for the entire town and in fact ‘steal’ it from them altogether. For this purpose, he procures a fat reindeer named Fred to help him pull a broken sleigh that he steals from his neighbour, Mr Bricklebaum. After a test run of the sleigh, Grinch realises that the reindeer has a family of its own who is hoping to celebrate Christmas with him. With a heavy heart, he lets Fred go his way.

Then, on Christmas eve, he disguises himself as Santa and carries many gadgets to help him execute his plan, and along with his pet dog Max who pulls the sleigh for him, he goes to Whoville with the nasty intention of stealing the decorations and presents. Meanwhile, Cindy who is ready with her trap to catch Santa Claus, catches him mistaking him to be the real Santa. Cindy then requests him to help her mother decrease her workload. While some of this melts the Grinch’s heart a bit, he still continues on his mission.

After stealing all the intended items, both the Grinch and Max go back to Mount Crumpit with the intention of disposing the gifts off. When the Whos wake up, the next morning they are shocked to see that their presents and decorations are gone. Poor Cindy goes on a guilt trip and believes that it is all her doing as she was the one who ‘trapped’ Santa but her mother consoles her by saying that there is more to Christmas than gifts. Then, the Whos jointly sing the carols. Grinch and Max hear the singing and are puzzled to see the Whos celebrating Christmas despite what occurred to them.

When the Grinch hears the singing and Cindy’s advice resounds in his heart, it expands to its original size. He decides to go back to Whoville along with Max to return the stolen items back to the townspeople. A remorseful Grinch does this and also apologises to everyone, confessing his crime before returning to his house.

Cindy feels very sorry for him and invites him over for Christmas dinner with her family. He awkwardly attends the same stating that it wasn’t really Christmas that he hated but actually bitterness and being alone pained him the most.

The movie is a feel-good adaptation of the book. It is bright, cheery and full of Christmas spirit. An entertaining and enjoyable watch!

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