Universal Studios presents Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas Directed by Ron Howard.

Just about everyone knows the storyline of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' by Dr. Seuss. If you are part of the 1% that doesn't know, I'll sum up...it's basically about a small town called Whoville and in it live the 'Who's, a cheerful, cartoon looking and acting people. And 'the Grinch' a slightly psycotic (almost mutant?) green furry Who who lives up on a cliff named Mount Crumpit (the local dump) behind Whoville with his canine sidekick, Max.

The Grinch absolutely, positively hates the Whos (you find out why later in the movie) and Christmas...and he comes up with a plan, a wonderfully awful plan to steal Christmas by sneaking in on Christmas Eve and taking all of the Who decorations, presents, food, everything! Because, of course, that's what Christmas is all about...right? Now that you know what the original tale was about, we can move on the the real-life adaptation starring Jim Carrey, the movie this review is for.

At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to the zany Whos and the bustling town of Whoville just a few days before Christmas and the 1,000 year anniversary Whoopilation celebration. The Whos' favorite thing in the world is Christmas, and they go all out for it. We then meet little five-year-old Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen), who isn't quite sure that Christmas is all about Christmas lights and presents and she is highly intrigued by the mysterious Grinch (Jim Carrey), who hasn't been seen in Whoville for many, many years. After the Grinch saves Cindy Lou from the package sorter at the P.O., she decides he must not be as bad as everyone thinks.

As Cindy Lou investigates further into the Grinch's past, we learn that the Grinch was raised as a normal Who boy by the two old maids of the town, and an event that occured when he was eight years old changed his life forever and sent him up to his home on Mount Crumpit.

I'm not going to go further into the storyline or else I'll give the entire
plot away. Overall, 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas' is an
excellent remake of a classic tale and is worthy of a spot on your Christmas
movie shelf.

Jim Carrey is priceless in this role, anyone else would have ruined the
entire movie. His "rubber face" comes in very handy when replicating the evil faces the Grinch always made in the original cartoon. You can tell that Jim was givin free reign when it came to the Grinch's character, it's onbvious in every movement and facial expression. It's also apparent that many of the lines were ad-libbed in by Jim himself, whihc made it all the more funny.

Adorable Taylor Momsen was absolutely perfect for the role of precocious Cindy Lou Who (although she did look a little too human when surrounded by the crazy looking Whos). Actually, now that I think about it, all of the characters in The Grinch were perfectly cast.

When I first saw The Grinch in the theater, I was somewhat disappointed, thinking it could have been better. But then I watched it twice when I received my copy for reviewing and found that the more times you watch The Grinch, the funnier it gets. There's usually so much going on at once that you have to watch the movie a couple of times just to catch it all. Many of the one-liners (some of which are HILARIOUS) I didn't even hear until the second time I saw it. My favorite scene is probably where the Grinch tries to hail a cab unsuccessfully ("It's because I'm green, isn't it?") and then
proceeds to "hijack" a "car". Although the part where the Grinch is trying to decide what to wear to accept his award ("It's not a dress....it's a kilt!!") makes me laugh every time.

The makeup, costumes and sets were excellent in The Grinch.

This DVD is stuffed with extras, including:

• Spotlight on location
• Deleted scenes
• Outtakes
• Whoville section (includes features on Who School, Jim Carrey make up
application, set decorations visual effects)
• Faith Hill music video
• Sing-Along songs
• Read-Along songs
• DVD ROM: "Add a Grinch to your own photograph, screen savers games, recipes

The outtakes are especially funny and deleted scenes are entertaining, all in all an excellent and well rounded collection of features. Make sure the kids in the family check out Max's Playhouse for Grinchy fun for the little ones.

If you like a funny Christmas movie you can watch every year around the holidays, buy this movie (renting it every year adds up!) the live action movie 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas', and while you're at it, nab a copy of the restored on DVD original cartoon too!

Enjoy!