How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Need something to warm you up? Then welcome to Who-ville! ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is a cult legend about the mischievous side of Christmas that can be watched in the time it takes to drink a hot chocolate. For those who always find a new excuse to see the Grinch, we have a 26-minute gift pack—sounds like a wonderful awful idea.
First of all, let’s note that the iconicity of the short-film is indisputable. It must be Chuck Jones’ signature animation style, but once you’ve seen the Grinch’s wide-mouthed laugh, it’s impossible to forget it. One of those laughs with magic. With the dynamic flow of the animation, the film turns into one of the fastest 26 minutes you will ever spend. So, no looking at the phone is allowed!
What happened to 2D animation? Where are they when we need them the most? The answer to the question seems to be 1966 because Chuck Jones did his job right. The colours and scenes are far from complex and some scenes are even reused in different sequences. This effortless nature of the work and its understated presentation is what makes it special. In fact, I can even say that this clean state of the film allows the perfectly chosen colours to come to the forefront. Who-ville decked out in a candy pink, snow-covered ice blue mountains and a Grinch coloured as a Pantone moodboard for mischief… More iconic than Brat green, sorry Charli XCX.
It would be unfair not to see the bangers that play throughout the film. The music of ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas!’, just like the animation itself, is in crazy harmony with the film. It is clear to see that it is a work of co-creation. There is a cheerful, mischievous, slightly provocative and sarcastic fidgety album theme. Add Boris Karloff’s voice to this equation and things take a whole new dimension. Isn’t it interesting that Frankeinstein and the Grinch are voiced by the same person? It’s even a bit funny.
It’s ‘hear me out’ time; the Grinch’s lonely, outcast stance is cool on some level. Or the animation is so aesthetically pleasing that it plays with my perceptions, we may never know… Nevertheless, the Grinch’s isolated, dissatisfied, but actually motivated in his inner battle makes him interesting to sympathise with—at one point I even found myself wanting to steal Christmas. In fact, a deep irony was realised in this whole scheme, the Grinch, created as a rather ‘naughty’ villian, became a Christmas icon. Karma has interesting ways.
Of course, what really makes ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is the vibe. I don’t know how, but it has a comfort equivalent to the feeling of wearing pyjamas or the cold side of a pillow. It’s one of those films that draws you into its world and lets you spend some time there—in a very positive way, the kind we all need. We have before us a film that is quite happy in its own world, without getting stuck in the boundaries of time, culture and human beings. The main thing is to be together, isn’t it very easy to find common ground when we think like this, don’t you think?
We are at the end of the film that ends as fast as 2024. Before we go, we invite you to the playlist we prepared for a new year full of mischief and energy with the inspiration we got from the Grinch: