The Grinch

The Grinch (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch) is a 2018 American 3D computer-animated Christmas comedy film produced by Illumination. It is the ninth feature film from Illumination. Based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, it is the third screen adaptation of the story, following the television special from 1966 and the live-action feature-length film from 2000. It also marks Illumination's second Dr. Seuss film adaptation, following The Lorax (2012). The plot follows the Grinch as he plans to stop Christmas from being celebrated in Whoville by stealing all the town's decorations and gifts.

The film is directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, and written by Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow. The film stars the voices of Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely and Angela Lansbury, and is narrated by Pharrell Williams.

The Grinch was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on November 9, 2018, in RealD 3D and select IMAX theaters. It has grossed over $110 million worldwide and received primarily mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation but said the film added little to nothing new to the source material.

Plot
In the town of Whoville, human-like creatures called Whos are filled with excitement about celebrating Christmas. The only one who isn't all excited is a cantankerous green creature called The Grinch, who lives in a cave on the top of Mount Crumpit just north of Whoville. The Grinch's only friend is his loyal pet dog Max and they both only visit Whoville when the Grinch needs to buy food.

Meanwhile, 5-year old Cindy Lou Who notices that her mother Donna is overworked trying to take care of her and her twin infant brothers. She at first decides to send a letter to Santa to help Donna, but after encountering the Grinch who sarcastically says that she'll have to talk to Santa face-to-face about it, she eventually decides to try and trap Santa with the help of her friends and ask him for his help since she thinks it's too important.

After the Grinch is annoyed that the Who's brought a gigantic Christmas tree to town, he attempts to destroy the tree by catapulting a giant snowball at it, but it backfires and he ends up catapulted himself and soon, all the festivities take him back to his sad childhood where he as all alone in an orphanage while all of the other Whos were taken by families.

After returning to his cave, the Grinch soon decides that he will steal Christmas from Whoville to assuage his distress. He acquires a reindeer whom he calls Fred to help him pull a sleigh that he stole from the most happiest Who in Whoville, Bricklebaum. After a test run, the Grinch sees that Fred has a wife and child so, with a heavy heart, he lets Fred go back to them.

After making a Santa Claus disguise and dozens of gadgets to help him with his theft, the Grinch and Max, who pulls the sleigh in Fred's place, go down to Whoville and begin stealing the decorations and presents. He soon encounters Cindy after falling into her trap and her request to help lighten her mother's workload soon touches the Grinch's bitter heart.

After stealing every Christmas present and decoration, the Grinch and Max decide to head back to Mount Crumpit to dispose of them. The Whos wake up and are shocked to see that the presents and decorations are gone. Cindy at first believes she's to blame because she caught Santa, but Donna tells her that Christmas is more than just about presents and that Cindy's the best thing that ever happened to her since she helps her mother out with her workload and the Whos join in singing.

The Grinch and Max soon hear the singing and the Grinch is puzzled to see that they are celebrating Christmas despite his theft but he soon listens to their singing and his small heart grows three sizes. The sleigh almost falls off Mount Crumpit and the Grinch tries to save it and soon, Fred and his family come to his aid. After securing the sleigh, the Grinch and Max go to Whoville to return the stolen items and he admits his theft to the Whos and apologizes before going back to his cave.

Feeling sorry for the Grinch, Cindy comes to invite him to dinner at her house and he awkwardly attends and when seated down for dinner, he admits that it wasn't really Christmas he disliked but being lonely and carves a roast beast as he celebrates Christmas with the Whos.

Voice cast

 * Benedict Cumberbatch as The Grinch, a grouchy, green creature who despises Christmas.
 * Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who, a young resident of Whoville.
 * Rashida Jones as Donna Lou Who, Cindy's overworked widowed mother.
 * Kenan Thompson as Bricklebaum, a jolly citizen of Whoville.
 * Angela Lansbury as the Mayor of Whoville
 * Tristan O'Hare as Groopert, one of Cindy Lou's friends.
 * Ramone Hamilton as Axl, one of Cindy Lou's friends.
 * Sam Lavagnino as Ozzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends.
 * Scarlett Estevez as Izzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends.
 * Pharrell Williams as the Narrator

Additional Voices

 * Lori Alan
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Doug Burch
 * Catherine Cavadini
 * Tucker Chandler
 * Townsend Coleman
 * Meilee Condron
 * Abby Craden
 * Brian T. Delaney
 * John DeMita
 * Bill Farmer
 * Aaron Fors
 * Willow Geer
 * Jess Harnell
 * Barbara Harris
 * Carter Hastings
 * John Kassir
 * Evan Kishiyama
 * Danny Mann
 * Jeremy Maxwell
 * Scott Mosier
 * Laraine Newman
 * Dashiell Priestley
 * Alex Puccinelli
 * Emma Elizabeth Shannon
 * Mindy Sterling
 * Tara Strong
 * Joel Swetow
 * Regina Taufen
 * Jim Ward

Development
In February 2013, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment was developing a 3D animated feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book with the working title "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", with Peter Candeland and Yarrow Cheney set to direct it. In 2018 producer Scott Mosier took over from Peter Candeland as director.

Casting
Benedict Cumberbatch had been cast as the titular character in April 2016. By September 2018, Angela Lansbury had been cast as the Mayor of Whoville. Rashida Jones, Cameron Seely, and Kenan Thompson had also been cast in the film, while Pharrell Williams, who previously worked on Illumination's Despicable Me films, was revealed to be narrating the film.

Animation
Like almost all of Illumination's other films, the animation was created entirely in France by Illumination Mac Guff. The movie's animation was made using Autodesk Maya.

Music
In November 20, 2017, Danny Elfman was revealed to be composing the film's score. Tyler, the Creator wrote a new song for the film titled "I Am the Grinch", which as featured in the final trailer. Tyler and Elfman collaborated on a new version of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for the film.

Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 10, 2017, but on June 7, 2016, it was pushed back to November 9, 2018.

Marketing
The first official trailer was released on March 8, 2018. The second trailer was released on June 14, 2018. The third and final trailer was released online on September 18, 2018, along with a new poster. On October, various billboards appeared for the film, each featuring an image of the Grinch, accompanied by a mean quote and message. Universal and Illumination partnered with several companies to promote the film, including Wonderful Pistachios, Ebates and IHOP, for about $80 million worth of advertising.

Box office
As of November 14, 2018, The Grinch has grossed $97.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $13.1 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $110.4 million, against a production budget of $75 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Grinch was released alongside The Girl in the Spider's Web and Overlord, and was projected to gross $55–65 million from 4,140 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $18.7 million on its first day, including $2.2 million from Thursday night previews, more than the $1.7 million made by Illumination's Sing in 2016. It went on to debut to $67.6 million, finishing first at the box office and topping the 2000 film's $55 million opening.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Grinch gives the classic Seuss source material a brightly animated update that's solidly suitable for younger viewers without adding substantially to the story's legacy." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 83% positive score and a 75% "definite recommend".