The Grinch (2000)

"Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more."

- The Grinch

The Grinch is the titular antagonist and later protagonist of the 2000 live-action film Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He is portrayed by Jim Carrey.

His past
He actually comes from a mistake by a wrong wind when he was a baby and is adopted by two elderly sisters. Although he shows some sadistic tendencies as a child, he was not the cruel and selfish person who he became.

He was ridiculed by classmate mostly by Augustus May Who because of his appearance with the exception of Martha May Whovier. Before he shaves his chin after remembering what all the kids said, he made a gift for Martha.

When everyone sees The Grinch's face covered with shaving tape the next morning, he becomes an outcast. He loses his temper and runs away to live on Mt. Crumpit.

The Present
In the microscopic city of Whoville, everyone celebrates Christmas with much happiness and joy, but The Grinch who despises Christmas and the Whos with great wrath and occasionally pulls dangerous and harmful practical jokes on them. As a result, no one likes or cares for him.

Then, an 8-year-old girl named Cindy Lou Who believes everyone is missing the point about Christmas. After becoming aware of the Grinch's existence, she starts to create interest in the Grinch and his history, asking everyone what they know about him, and soon discovers that he has a tragic past.

Cindy touched by this story, decides to make the Grinch the main participant of the Whobilation, to the great displeasure of Augustus who reluctantly agrees. But when she offers an invitation to the Grinch, he turns down her offer. He gradually changes his mind and arrives late to the proceedings.

But just as the Grinch is enjoying himself, Augustus not only proposes to Martha in marriage, but also gives the Grinch an electric shaver as a bad joke, causing him to ruin the party and upset Cindy.

The Grinch is pleased with his rampage, but much to his dismay, he soon realizes that his attack does not remove the spirit of Christmas from them, and that they will celebrate the commemoration of the Christmas tomorrow.

Mad with the idea of spending another Christmas alone in his cave, the Grinch deduces that the Whos only celebrate Christmas because of their extravagant gifts, and he decides to steal all their belongings while they sleep.

Creating a Santa suit and sleigh, the Grinch's burglary is successful, but he forces Max to pull all the things stolen when his flying sleigh runs out of fuel.

The next day, the Whos discover the Grinch's scheme, and Augustus takes the opportunity to denounce Cindy as the root of the whole catastrophe.

However, her father, Lou Lou Who, reminds everyone that they still have the Christmas Spirit - the one thing that does not come from a store and that the principal meaning of Christmas is to spend it with family and friends, and not about giving or receiving gifts and putting up decorations. The people accept his speech, and begin to sing.

The Grinch plots to destroy all the stolen gifts after he hears the Whos crying. However, he hears the joyful singing of the Whos.

Frustrated at the failure of his plan, the Grinch realizes that Christmas means much more that mere material gifts, an insight that profoundly touches him and makes his heart grow three times its original size.

However, the stolen gifts nearly falls off the cliff and the Grinch desperately tries to save them.

They prove too much for him, but when he realizes that Cindy has come to wish him a Merry Christmas, this provides the Grinch with enough strength to lift the gifts to safety and right over his head.

After a long descent, the Grinch appears along with Cindy and the gifts, explains what has transpired and says he was sorry for his practical jokes.



The Whos forgives the Grinch, while Martha turns down Augustus's proposal and decides to stay with the Grinch instead. The redeemed Grinch starts a new lift with the Whos, and commemorates the Christmas feast with them in his cave.

Personality
The Grinch is an unpleasant "Who-hating" grouch with a wicked temper, sour attitude, depressed judgment and a heart about two sizes too small (the only exception to this is the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" where he becomes whole-hearted and loving) and is always out to ruin something.

The Grinch's only friend is his pet dog, Max, a big-eyed pooch who is loyal to his master despite the Grinch treating Max like a nuisance.

Max also is an unwitting accompany in the Grinch's plots.

The Grinch forces him to masquerade as a "reindeer" by attaching a crooked pair of horns on him and making Max pull the sleigh with all the Whos' Christmas trappings inside.

In the movie, he is portrayed as having a reputation similar to Bigfoot, although in his case, he is known to exist.

He is also a skilled architect, having built his sleigh and many of the contraptions within his cave himself.

The Grinch also bears a grudge against the Mayor of Whoville who had bullied him as a child and is his rival in winning Martha May Who's heart.

On at least 2 occasions, the Grinch has demonstrated above-average (even superhuman) strength. Whether this is a trait commonly found in his species or simply examples of adrenaline rush is never stated outright.

He is seen to give up his evil reputation and actually become important (or more important) to Whoville.

Appearance
The Grinch has a large bulbous stomach, long fingers and feet, a pear-shaped body (much like the Whos), yellow teeth and is covered in green hair. He has red pupils and yellow eyeballs. He stands 5' 9" to 6' 6" to 7'.

His fingers and feet look longer due to the long portions of hair coming off of them. He has large, sinister black eyebrows, and deep lines on his forehead. His mouth lines are subtle when he is in a neutral mood, yet very stretched when he is happy.

He has a pair of brooding, deep-set, yellow ovoid eyes with red irises - although they are noted to become more round and white and feature blue irises after the Grinch's "conversion".

Another physical characteristic noted to change after the Grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas is his face, which in addition to the line softening mentioned above, becomes somewhat heart-shaped as he smiles broadly.

A long neck is prominent, with layers of green fur coming down it. He seems to have pockets in the fur of his large stomach, as he rests his hands inside this area.

His Heroic Side

 * He saved Cindy Lou Who from the stamping machine
 * He stopped the sleigh from falling off the cliff.
 * He gave back the gifts to the people in Whoville.

Trivia

 * He is similar to John Silver from Treasure Planet: Both save the protagonists from falling (John to Jim, The Grinch to Cindy), both turn to good at the end, both started as antagonists of the story and later good, both have pets (John to Morph, The Grinch to Max), both become friends with a hero (John to Jim, The Grinch to Cindy) and both got a happy ending (John give Jim a gift: Morph, The Grinch got a kiss (in the cheek) from Cindy, got the girl of his dream and bring the present back)