The Grinch Review

Jonathan Slohoda, staff writer

     Recently, I went to go watch the newly released movie: The Grinch by Illumination Studios released on November 9, 2018.

     Honestly, it wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t amazing either. There were many unnecessary forced jokes that ruined some scenes. I cringed from some of the modernization of the film.

     When someone thinks of the Grinch, they think of this cold-hearted, callous, no-spirit, and wretched person. This movie just didn’t provide that same evil feel like the original or the Jim Carrey version from 2000. I think Illumination Studios just isn’t good at making bad villains. In their previous movies, the villains didn’t seem like villains. They seemed more like obstacles for the main characters to overcome.

     For example, at many points during the movie, the Grinch seemed too nice. After realizing he ran out of food, he went down into the town to go grocery shopping. Yep, the main villain, went grocery shopping. That’s pretty villainy right? Not really. Later, he trains a reindeer to fly on Christmas night. After that, the reindeer finds his wife and the Grinch lets him leave to spend time with his family. It just didn’t make sense that a supposed heartless character is doing all of these normal and nice tasks.

     However, I can’t say anything negative about the plot, because it’s just a modernized version of the original plot.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it is a very interesting plot, but some people, including me, might have expected something new or exciting added to the plot.

     All in all, I rate The Grinch a solid 6.5/10. It wasn’t horrible, but the cringe moments, forced jokes, and not-so-evil Grinch bring down the rating in my opinion. If you like modernized animated movies with intense cringe and somewhat funny jokes, then The Grinch is the movie for you.