Out
of all the lovely movies that focus on Yuletide greetings and what not, my
favorite is the 30 minute cartoon of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. From Boris Karloff’s tongue-twisting narrating
of Dr. Suess’s world to Chuck Jones’ Looney Tunes inspired sequences, nothing
rates higher on my list of favorite Christmas movies. Did you know that the guy who does Tony the
Tiger’s booming voice is the same person who sings “You’re a Mean One, Mr.
Grinch”? Did ya, huh, huh? That man has quite a cartoon resume. The scenes of the Grinch slithering across
the floor with that sinister grin never fail to amuse me. But like all good stories, How the Grinch
Stole Christmas raises more questions than it provides answers to.
Like,
what does the Grinch do for the other 363 and a quarter days of the year? He hatches his plan on Christmas Eve, and
steals stuff on Christmas, but that leaves a whole calendar year free of Christmas
like activities. I wonder if he
terrorizes children or runs a law firm in his free time when Christmas isn’t practically
there. Some think December 26th
must be his favorite day of the year but I think it is not. What if the Grinch is
the Joker to Christmas’s Batman (stay
with me here)? I bet that old Grinch goes
into a catatonic state until he sees the first Christmas light flicker or the
first who-zippler who-zappling. He
starts to unthaw, but what really gets the Grinch going, is not the noise,
noise, noise, but when the Whos down in Whoville practice singing their song. A song that perfect in sound, must be
practiced for weeks, and that probably drives the Grinch crazier than all the
carved roast beasts. He lives all the
way on top of a mountain and can still hear all this singing and noise coming
from the town way down below. Why, the
Grinch is at least 53 years old and probably doesn’t want to be fitted for a
hearing aid. So, shame on those Whos
down in Whoville for all that noise, noise, noise!
I
do enjoy all the burglary the Grinch partakes in, and how easily everybody
forgives him. He was only trying to ruin
Christmas, so logic dictates that he would only steal Christmas related
objects. Instead, he decides to steal
everything he can get his grinchy green fingers on. He steals food that has nothing to do with
the season. He takes their ice from the
ice trays. He even steals fireplace
logs. The Grinch turns from holiday
humbug into cunning kleptomaniac the second he enters the first home. The best part is how he gets away with
everything ever so cleanly. Sure he
returns everything, but how confused must the Whos down in Whoville have felt
when they found out that their houses had been burgled a lot. I know I would have been mighty mad to have
been handed back all my non-Christmas items from a supposed “Christmas only”
robber. Plus, he himself, yes the Grinch,
got to carve the roast beast. That would
have been the final straw. Here I am a
pillar of good tiding for the community 365 days a year, watching a serial
burglar get to carve out food for the whole town. And he gave his dog the biggest piece of
meat. The gross indiginity of it
all! I would have been so fumingly mad,
I would have only mouthed the Fah who
foraze or Welcome Christmas song during the great big sing along (but
not really because I practiced really hard for weeks on that one).
I
find it cool that the Grinch, in all his grinchy evil, has a dog that generally
seems to have a good time. Aside from
the reindeer episode, the Grinch treats his dog right. They seem like good pals and it’s refreshing
to see somebody with a heart two sizes two small have room in his ice lair for
a delightful dog accomplice. Max is the
perfect companion for any holiday heist.
The Grinch is my favorite of the holiday movies
and I welcome it every year. It comes every
year without CGI, Claymation, or network greed.
A great Christmas special doesn’t come from a network think tank, because
maybe a great Christmas special has a little bit more
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