The original holiday nightmare – “How the Grinch Stole Christmas: 25th Anniversary Edition” gets an upgrade
- Bill Kelley III
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR SCREENSHOTS
Jim Carrey stars as the anti-social and bad-tempered The Grinch, who lives in a cave on Mount Crumpit, overlooking the town of Whoville. He visits the town during a Christmas celebration.
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“HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS: 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2000; PG for crude humor; Digital copy via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), DirecTV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K), YouTube (4K)
Best extra: “25 Years Later: The Gift of the Grinch” featurette
A QUARTER-CENTURY ago, it seemed the $100-plus million live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ beloved children’s tale – “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was going to crash and burn.
During the new featurette “25 Years Later,” producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard – co-founders of Imagine Entertainment – detail their rollercoaster production. First, the bidding rights: the late author’s wife, Audrey Gesiel, let every studio in Hollywood bid for “The Grinch,” and Grazer quickly lost out. But as a last-ditch effort, he begged his partner to direct, who initially wasn’t interested. “If I could bring in the great Ron Howard (“Apollo 13,” “A Beautiful Mind”), already an esteemed director, she [Gesiel] would let us have another meeting,” Grazer says. Obviously, “It clinched the deal.”
Howard admits he was “intimidated” because it’s one of the “greatest” of Dr. Seuss’ books (1957), and by the Chuck Jones animation TV special of “The Grinch,” which Howard had grown up with and considered “ingenious.” It first aired on CBS, December 18, 1966, voiced and narrated by Boris Karloff. Howard himself had been a 1960s TV child star as Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show,” which also aired on CBS.
(1&2) Six-year-old Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) is frightened by The Grinch and his dog Max (Kelley) inside the Whoville post office. (3) Cindy Lou’s father, Lou Lou (Bill Irwin), is the postmaster. (4) Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski) is the town’s fashion diva and has a romantic interest in Mayor Augustus Maywho. But, she also had a childhood crush on The Grinch. (5) The Grinch does an X-ray of his chest, and his heart is still super small.
To give this movie adaptation a new beginning, Howard conceived the first act with the townsfolk of Whoville going overboard with the commercialization of Christmas. “They’ve lost their way,” Howard says. Plus, creating the backstory for the Grinch’s life of resentment.
Next, who would play the anti-social Grinch, living in a cave on a mountain of garbage overlooking the town?
Grazer had already produced Jim Carrey’s highly successful “Liar, Liar” (1997), which sold nearly 40 million tickets in North America, and finished as the No. 3 box office movie of the year, behind “Men in Black” and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” Grazer told the author’s wife he would only produce the film if Carrey played The Grinch,” but she wanted Jack Nicholson.
They ended up hiring Carrey. Rick Baker, a special makeup effects expert, had the honor of transforming Carrey into The Grinch. Still, one nagging problem kept the production in turmoil – the nearly six hours needed to apply the multi-layer latex makeup onto Carrey, which made him “felt suffocated inside,” said Grazer. The most painful part was the green contact lens. “It was like freebies on his eyeballs.” Eventually, Carrey couldn’t carry on.
Grazer intervened and hired a therapist, who worked at the U.S. State Department, an expert on surviving torture. “I told Carrey he couldn’t quit, or give all the money back with interest, which he was willing to do,” the producer says. The therapist spent the weekend with Carrey, and the following Monday, “Jim was ready for work,” Grazer says.
Even so, Carrey periodically suffered trauma episodes. Howard recalls a vivid moment where his leading actor was missing. Carrey was to hang from the ceiling by wires, then jump down and scare the delightful Cindy Lou Who, played by child actress Taylor Momsen. Ultimately, he found him in a corner on his back with a brown paper bag over his mouth. “He was having a panic attack.” Grazer reacts, “Oh my God,” as if he had never heard the story.
(1) Eight-year-old The Grinch (Josh Ryan Evans) was bullied by his classmates. (2) Mayor Augustus Maywho (Jeffrey Tambor) and his assistant Whobris (Clint Howard). (3) The Grinch inside his cave home. (4) The Grinch’s dog Max, holds the invitation he received from Cindy Lou to be the Holiday Cheermeister for the Whobilation One-Thousand.
Also interviewed delivering plenty of stories is now 30-plus-year-old Taylor Momsen, who only had kind words for her co-star. “He threw himself into that character, with so much vision and intent… and it left a lasting impact on me as an artist.”
When “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” finally premiered in November 2000, the reviews were lukewarm at best, but moviegoers still flocked to see Jim Carrey, finishing the year as the No. 1 box office movie in North America, with nearly 47 million tickets sold and surpassed “Mission: Impossible II” and “Gladiator.” After 25 years of TV showings and home video purchases, it’s become a holiday classic for many families.
VIDEO
Universal used the same 2017 4K master, sourced from the original 35mm camera negative, adding Dolby Vision this go around, while keeping the same basic HDR10 grading as the previous 4K.
Overall, the clarity varies from very good with shots and scenes without visual effects, but drops down to 1080p levels and sometimes lower for composite and computer effects. Film grain also fluctuates from well-defined to some that’s much less.
On the positive side, the encoded video was given a substantial increase in its video bit rate from 40 Megabits per second to 60 Mbps, more than the first 4K, since everything is housed on a 100 GB disc. This has given each frame, grain, and color more breathing room for the saturated colors, black levels, and highlight balance. The improvement only widens the gap between this new anniversary edition from the old and worn-out 2K master on the enclosed Blu-ray and previous editions.
AUDIO
This time, Universal exchanges the previous DTS:X soundtrack for a new Dolby Atmos. Both are nearly identical in enveloping home theater space, from the front, sides, back, and height speakers. James Horner’s (“Titanic,” “Braveheart”) orchestrated score is full of enchantment, blending horns, strings, piano, and choral singing. The enjoyable “Lonely Christmas Eve” from Ben Folds, “Green Christmas” from Barenaked Ladies, end credits song with Faith Hill, and “Christmas, Why Can’t I Find You?” with young Momsen comes through beautifully.
Dialogue is front and center, including the narration by Sir Anthony Hopkins.
EXTRAS
The 4K disc includes all of the bonus features:
“25 Years Later: The Gift of The Grinch” (35 mins.) Delivers the new interviews.
“Commentary with director Ron Howard” (104 mins.) Originally recorded for the 2009 Blu-ray edition, the track starts off with some interesting stories. Howard had to learn the storytelling style of author Theodor Seuss Geisel. Howard planted Whoville inside a snowflake. But, over time, his conversation peters out as the movie goes along.
Archive featurettes:
“Spotlight on Location” (7 mins.) – Provides a short, behind-the-scenes video, highlighting the 11 gigantic sets, and the 300 VFX shots used to create Whoville, plus brief interviews with Howard, Grazer, and Carrey.
“Deleted Scenes” (9 mins.) A number of useless moments.
“Gag reel” (3 mins.) Delivers a number of flubs and mistakes from Carrey, the cast and the dog Max (Kelley).
“Who School” (6 mins.) Shows how the cast learned to walk and talk like the folks of Whoville.
“Makeup Application and Design” (7 mins.) Watch as they apply the elaborate makeup to Carrey.
“Seussian Set Decoration” (5 mins.) Shows how Dr. Seuss’ two-dimensional line drawings were brought to life for the screen.
“Visual Effects” (11 mins.) Compares old school practical effects with computer effects to create the three-dimensional world of Whoville.
“Music Video: Faith Hill – “Where are You Christmas?” (4 mins.) Hill,
Cindy Lou Who and the dog Max deliver a holiday song-video.
This new 4K anniversary edition is worth the upgrade, especially with the new
bonus interviews and the much-improved video bitrate and Dolby Vision grading.
— Bill Kelley III, High-Def Watch producer
Sidenote: Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment also have the 4K Ultra HD of the computer-animated “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” (2018), voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.
SPECS:
100 GB disc
TRUE 4K mastering
35mm film stock captured with spherical lens, in the original theatrical aspect ratio 1.85:1
Video bitrate: Varies from the low 60 Megabits per second to nearly 100 Mbps.
HDR10 maximum light level: 1000 nits
Max frame average light level: 224 nits
Box office: $262 million domestically and $347 million worldwide, with a production budget of $123 million
Academy Awards: Nominated for three Oscars, including Best Costume, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and won for Best Makeup.
Rotten Tomatoes: Top Critics’ 54 percent, Moviegoers 59 percent
Metacritic: Critics 46 percent, User score 6.5