Speaking of vandalism...

June 16, 2000 3:56 AM

Speaking of vandalism... What on Earth was Ron Howard thinking? More inside...
posted by plinth (4 comments total)

I think that Chuck Jones did a top notch job on the original Grinch. Suess did the screenplay, Boris Karloff was a great choice (speaking of Grrrrreat, the songs were sung by the guy who does the voice for Tony the Tiger for Kelloggs) for the Grinch, and the music was superb. So why remake it? I saw the preview of the movie and they showed a great number of shots that were stolen lock, stock and barrel from the original. Jim Carrey is unrecognizable under the prosthetics which make him look very close to the cartoon grinch, just more furry. If that's the case for the whole shebang, then why bother?

Speculative answer: so that the generation(s) that were kids when the original was released (1966) and rebroadcast will bring their kids to it out of curiousity, or box office revenue from road accident curiosity.

I suspect that it will go the way of the Miracle on 34th Street remake(s)...

If you want live-action Seuss, try "The 10,000 Fingers of Dr. T", withe a screenplay co-authored by Seuss and all the lyrics by Seuss. Hans Conried is do die for as the Evil Dr. Terwilliger, and some of the now-dated atomic era lines give it charm.

posted by plinth at 4:12 AM on June 16, 2000

Well, I was thinking that too. It's strange. But, heck, lately like 30-40% of all the stuff is just remakes, I think there's something about "Remember when? Yeah that was great" thing that makes people want to redo Shaft, Godzilla, My favorite Martian, Inspector Gadget, and so on and so on...

Grinch is a classic, I mean, it's a true classic. Probobly the best thing on tv durring christmas. You know? Next thing you know they'd want to redo Citizen Kane and have him say "Waaaa-aa-saap?" like in that Rocky and Bullwinkle movie. Dr. Strangelove will have an action-packed ending where Willis saves the day after he comes back from the dead. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
posted by tiaka at 5:57 AM on June 16, 2000

The originial was >30 minutes and this is closer to an hour and a half, they actually wrote new material concerning how the grinch became the grinch.

I read a review (I can't find it) by someone who saw a early cut and he couldn't stop gushing (not his normal style). Said Howard really had something and Carrey was great.


Found it, rave review!

posted by Mick at 9:00 AM on June 16, 2000

As much as I, too, disdain the remake mania that's overtaken Hollywood, this one seems like a pretty good bet. Carrey is brilliant, there aren't many roles that are tailor made for him, and this could be one of them. It will probably never outshine the original, but it could be as fun and memorable a Christmas comedy as, at least, Scrooged.
posted by dhartung at 2:00 PM on June 16, 2000