All the Whos down in Whoville enjoy celebrating Christmas with much happiness and joy, except the Grinch (Jim Carrey), who hatefully resents Christmas and the Whos with great wrath and occasionally pulls dangerous and harmful practical jokes on them with a vengeance. As a result, no one likes or cares for him.
Meanwhile, six-year-old Cindy Lou (Taylor Momsen) believes everyone is missing the point about Christmas by being more concerned about the gifts and festivities. After her two brothers are harassed by the Grinch when they trespass on his domain, Cindy Lou becomes interested in his history; and she herself has a face-to-face encounter with the Grinch at the post office, in which he saves her life, she then asks everyone what they know about him, and soon discovers that he has a tragic past.
The Grinch actually arrived in Whoville by mistake when he was a baby, and was adopted by two elderly sisters. Although he showed some sadistic tendencies as a child, he was rather timid and not the cruel, selfish person he would become. He was bullied by his classmates (particularly by Augustus May Who (Jeffrey Tambor), who grew up to be Mayor of Whoville) because of his appearance, with the exception of Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski), who was courted by both the Grinch and May Who.
One Christmas season when he was eight, the Grinch made a gift for Martha, but attempted to shave his face after being made fun of for having a “beard”, cutting himself by accident. When his classmates saw his face covered with shaving tape the next morning, they ridiculed him yet again. He lost his temper, went on a rampage and ran away to live on a mountain to the north of Whoville, Mount Crumpit.
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (promoted theatrically as The Grinch) is a 2000 American Christmas comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman based on the 1957 story of the same name by Dr. Seuss. The film was released by Universal Pictures on November 17, 2000. It was the first Dr. Seuss book to be adapted into a full-length feature film.
Because the film is based on a children’s picture book, many additions had to be made to the storyline to bring it up to feature-length, including some information about the backstory of the title character. Most of the rhymes that were used in the book were also used in the film, though some of the lines were to some degree changed, and several new rhymes were put in.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon, Clint Howard, Josh Ryan Evans, Mindy Sterling, Rachel Winfree
Screenplay by: Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
Production Design by: Michael Corenblith
Cinematography by: Donald Peterman
Film Editing by: Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
Costume Design by: Rita Ryack
Set Decoration by: Merideth Boswell
Art Direction by: Lauren E. Polizzi, Dan Webster
Music by: James Horner
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: November 17, 2000
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