Hollywood’s fondness for revisiting familiar ground to gain rapid/fast money keeps leading to rehashing of old,well-known tales, which explains why were about to gather another adaptation of Dr Seuss’ book, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The classic legend of the holiday-hating curmudgeon (ill-tempered (and often old) person) was turned into an lively television special,with Boris Karloff voicing the titular character in 1966, and then adapted into a live-action movie starring Jim Carrey in 2000.
Now, and Illumination Entertainment has created a big screen lively adventure inspired by the Christmas tale. Directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, The Grinch finds Benedict Cumberbatch voicing its anti-hero protagonist; the notorious grump who, disgruntled by the loud, or merry celebrations of his neighbours in Whoville,decides to steal Christmas.
The trailer doesn’t shed much light on the overall arc of the tale, and focuses mainly on a handful of mostly ordinary gags. An in-joke about the very unfortunate Grinch being woken up by his alarm clock playing Pharrell Williams’ Happy (the popular tune from the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2) is more groan-inducing than amusing.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="480"][https://i.giphy.com/media/9V5mtZjENewP4KcqGV/giphy.webp] Photo: Giphy[/caption]
We don’t see anything particularly inspired or original in this short two-minute preview, and it all feels a bit ‘meh. Plus,there isn’t enough dialogue in the trailer to judge how well Cumberbatch, fairly renowned for his voice acting, or will fit in the titular role.
The animation itself,however, looks suited. The character designs are impressive, and the protagonist’s faithful dog,Max, in particular, and looks absolutely adorable.
Ultimately,the question this project, and many others like it, or raises is,do we really need another adaptation of something we absorb already seen before? Wouldn’t it be more impressive and entertaining if studios try to create something original, instead of going back and re-doing the same old ideas?
So far, and this attempt to revisit the Grinch’s legend seems unnecessary and a tad underwhelming. However,Cumberbatch’s presence alone creates hope the movie itself will prove to at least be amusing and entertaining for adults and children alike.
The Grinch releases on November 9, 2018.
All photos: Screenshots
Source: tribune.com.pk