First Take: The Grinch- this is so sad, Alexa, play Fairytale of New York

SYNOPSIS:

A grumpy Grinch plots to ruin Christmas for the village of Whoville.

Let’s face it, living up to Jim Carrey’s 2000 effort as the dude who hates Christmas is difficult. Obviously the powers that be wanted Illumination to give it a go- these are the same guys who inflicted the Minions upon the world, so they had a lot riding on their latest Dr Seuss adaptation. Did it deliver the goods? Just about.

Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier are in charge, crafting a 90 minute film that ticks the formulaic Christmas animation boxes- a decent enough plot, some alright humour, and a script (from Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow) that feels written by committee to follow the same dull format other Illumination films have followed, something which is getting very tedious to see again and again. As ever, the animation is good, and seeing Danny Elfman score the film was a very pleasant surprise considering his track record lately.

Then we have the voice performances. This is a pretty small cast in terms of pure star power, but Benedict Cumberbatch does the job pretty damn well, and supporting him is Rashida Jones and Angela Lansbury amongst others, alongside a very weird casting for Pharrell Williams as the narrator- it’s rightly designed for kids, but as a piece of filmmaking, it is all over the shop and difficult to get in to. A real shame considering how much marketing the film will get, but it can’t be as bad as Nativity Rocks, right?

THE VERDICT

I am not angry. I am not disappointed either. But this was underwhelming. Benedict Cumberbatch (and a pretty enjoyable Minions short film, get to your local cinema early folks) saved this film. And that is a shame, because this is how we begin the countdown to Chr… not saying it. It’s November 9th for crying out loud.

RATING- 3/5