From the people who brought us Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets, Illumination Entertainment’s next big screen movie is Dr. Sesuss’s iconic, grumpy, green fictional character, The Grinch. We’ve most likely heard the story or seen the movie from the year 2000, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, staring funny man Jim Carey. This year we see an incredible CG-animated version of The Grinch who is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Isolating himself far away from the people of Whoville, The Grinch lives alone with his loyal dog companion, Max. After discovering there’s no food in the house, The Grinch has no choice but to head into the town of Whoville. Going out of his way to avoid anything Christmas related, The Grinch bumps into a young child named Cindy-Lou Who (voiced by Cameron Seely) who is running around desperately trying to get in contact with Santa for an important and special Christmas request. As the days get closer to Christmas, Whoville’s spirit gets bigger and louder motivating The Grinch into action to steal Christmas.
I was so impressed with the CGI animation and how detailed everything looked. Even though Cumberbatch has a British accent, he puts on a fairly convincing emotive American accent which fits perfectly for The Grinch. You could hear all the different emotions and expressions through his voice.
Staying clear from a young teen star, Illumination went with Tyler The Creator to sing the theme song “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” while casting Pharrell Williams as the narrator of the film. No stranger to the Illumination team, Pharrell did an alright job as narrator but there was nothing special about his voice being narrator. It felt like they just wanted to add another big name to a movie.
Even though I found The Grinch to be targeted for the younger audience, I feel parents and adults of all ages will enjoy this film. There are some great scenes that had myself and the whole audience laughing. What I enjoyed the most is the powerful message that the film mentions, with how small kindness can help change someones life from feeling lonely.
Just in time for the festive season, The Grinch is out now in cinemas across Australia.