Jim Carrey proved 100% simpatico to the Seuss world as the sharp-eared elephant in the more recent cartoon hit Horton Hears a Who. But he should have been arrested for mugging when he played the Grinch, previously animated to perfection by Chuck Jones in the 1966 TV special. His comic ego expanding to fill the entire frame, Carrey allows no other behavioral life into the movie as he spits and pontificates. (“Look, I don’t wanna make waves, but this whole Christmas season is stupid, Stupid, STUPID!“) Director Ron Howard usually lets his comedies gestate organically, but his Grinch is frantic from start to finish. Still, it’s a masterpiece compared with the next Dr. Seuss debacle, The Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers — a feel-bad movie for any season.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlYGOWQJBBA]