Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2000

Year: 2000
Film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Box Office Gross: $260,031,035
Awards: 1 Oscar for makeup, nominated for 2 others
Actors: Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, Directed by Ron Howard

I was really surprised that this movie took in the most money for 2000. It was up against quite a few movies that entered our culture and were of much higher quality even for being blockbusters than The Grinch. The next 6 highest grossing films in 2000 included: Castaway, M:I 2, Gladiator, What Women Want, The Perfect Storm, and Meet the Parents. Each of these films is better and more worth watching again than The Grinch. Bringing the classic Dr. Seuss Christmas story to live-action rather than the wonderful cartoon would have been an inc
redible challenge, but extending it by using material from neither the book nor the cartoon was really the downfall. Jim Carrey was terrific, over the top, and scary but actually transforming within that huge costume to become lovable at the end. The rest of the story was more than a little silly, beyond being childish. It was boring for adults and a little creepy for kids. The sets, props, and costumes were also over the top, glitzy, contrived to look like their frozen literary counterparts rather than creating a flowing real world version of Who-ville. Overall, I didn't like this movie and don't seek it out at Christmas, though I'll watch the cartoon nearly every year.


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2 comments:

Reel Whore said...

I really should watch this again. I thought Carrey was awesome. I could see the static backgrounds being annoying, and probably haven't held up to time all that well.

The cartoon is my must-see Christmas flick, right above Scrooged and Christmas Vacation.

Rachel said...

I caught about the last half of this on Christmas Eve this past year, and it was pretty painful. My husband's youngest brother is 9, and we all pretty much have to watch whatever he wants during the holidays. Don't think I'll ever bother checking out the first half.