By McKayla Holson
Student Reporter
Directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, The Grinch is a modern-day retelling of the classic hit.
The movie begins with the Grinch, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, being unable to escape from the Christmas season. He wakes up to his alarm playing Christmas music and even throwing it off a cliff won’t stop it.
The story continues as the original does. The Grinch is unhappy with Christmas and would like it to come to an end while the citizens of Whoville are ecstatic and begin decorating.
The film focuses a little more on Cindy-Lou Who, played by Cameron Seely, who only wants one thing for Christmas: for her mom to get a break. Cindy-Lou attempted to send a letter to Santa but ran into Grinch along the way.
After speaking with the grouchy Grinch, she realized that a letter would not cut it. Cindy-Lou then set out on an adventure to talk to Santa.
Cindy-Lou teams up with her friends to set up a trap to speak to Santa. When Santa grabs a cookie, he will set off the trap and that will allow Cindy-Lou to speak to him.
Back to Mr. Grinch. He works with his ever-loyal dog Max to create the elaborate plan he uses to steal Christmas. He works out, steals a sleigh, finds a reindeer and creates his suit. After all that work, the reindeer is unable to help pull the sleigh. This leaves Max to do the job.
Little Max, determined to please Grinch, pulls the heavy sleigh into the night. The next few scenes are Grinch stealing items from homes with his DIY gadgets and the sleigh becoming increasingly full. Then they reach the final house.
The Grinch had a rule of not getting distracted. This means no admiring the decorations and no treats. He breaks his own rule though and takes the cookie, setting off Cindy-Lou’s trap. The Grinch speaks to the girl and plays it off like he’s taking her decorations to repair them, and Cindy-Lou tells him her Christmas wish. Then, the naïve Cindy-Lou goes back to bed, unprepared for the devastation that the morning will bring.
In this moment, doubt is beginning to set into Grinch’s mind. He hated Christmas because he felt that people were selfish, yet here was a little girl who wanted nothing more than for her mom to be able to relax.
The citizens of Whoville wake up to their Christmas decorations missing and Cindy-Lou breaks down and says that it is her fault.
Cindy-Lou’s mother then explains that Christmas is more than just the decorations and that it is not Cindy-Lou’s fault. She then begins to sing and is quickly joined by the rest of the citizens.
Up on the mountain, Grinch hears the singing and wants to know why. He has an eye-opening moment after spying Cindy-Lou and begins back down the mountain to return Christmas to the citizens of Whoville.
Expecting to be ill-received and hated, Grinch apologizes to the citizens and sets off for his cave. Instead of hating Grinch, he is invited to Christmas dinner: his very first. It is a heart-warming ending to a good story.