The Grinch (2000)

"Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more."

- The Grinch

The Grinch is the titular redeemed protagonist villain of the 2000 live-action film adaptation of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

He is portrayed by Jim Carrey as an adult while Josh Ryan Evans (in his final theatrical role) play as an 8-year-old Grinch when he was a child.

His past
The Grinch arrived in Whoville by mistake when he was a baby and was adopted by two elderly sisters. Although he showed some sadistic tendencies as a child, he was not the cruel, cynical person who he became.

He was an outcast at school and was bullied by classmates (mainly by Augustus May Who) because of his green and hairy appearance. The only classmate to show him any compassion was Martha May Whovier, whom he had a crush on. One Christmas season, he made a gift for Martha, but he attempted to shave his face after remembering what all the kids said, cutting himself in the process.

When everyone saw The Grinch's face covered with shaving tape the next morning, they laughed at him. He lost his temper, went on a rampage and ran away to live on Mt. Crumpit. Over the years, The Grinch remained in hiding in a huge cave and became a urban legend due to brief sightings.

The Present


All the Whos down in Whoville enjoy celebrating Christmas with much happiness and joy except the Grinch (Jim Carrey) who resents 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. Meanwhile, a six-year-old girl name Cindy Lou Who believes that everyone is missing the point about Christmas by being more concerned about the gifts and festivities.

After having a face-to-face encounter with the Grinch at the Post office which he saves her life, Cindy Lou becomes interested in his history. The next day, she asks everyone what they know about him and soon discovers that he has a tragic past.

Cindy Lou, touched by this story, decides to make the Grinch the main participant of the Whobilation, to the great displeasure of Mayor May Who who reluctantly agrees after pressure from the townspeople who have been warmed by Cindy Lou's generous spirit.

When Cindy Lou goes to Mount Crumpit and offers an invitation to the Grinch, he turns her down. He gradually changes his mind, however, due to the promise of an award, the presence of Martha at the celebration and the chance to upset the Mayor.

Just as the Grinch is enjoying himself and is almost won over, May Who gives him an electric shaver as a present, reminding him of his awful humiliation at school.

Later, May Who asks Martha to marry him, promising her a new car in return. This causes the Grinch to berate the Whos for thinking that Christmas is about gifts that they'll just dispose of later in the hopes of making them too ashamed to celebrate the holiday.

He then goes on to ruin the party by burning the Christmas tree with a makeshift flamethrower (although his actions prove fruitless as the Who's have a spare tree, which the Grinch sees them erect before he leaves).

When he discovers that his attack has not removed the Whos' Christmas spirit, the Grinch instead concocts a plan to steal all of their presents while they are sleeping.

Creating a Santa suit and sleigh with his own dog, Max as a "deer", the Grinch flies around Whoville, stealing all of the Whos' Christmas gifts. He is almost discovered by Cindy Lou, but lies to her in order to get away.

The next day, the Whos discover the Grinch's scheme and May Who denounces Cindy Lou as the root of this catastrophic disaster.

However, her father, Lou Lou Who (the Whoville postmaster) finally stands up to him and reminds everyone that they still have Christmas spirit and that the true meaning of Christmas is to spend time with your family and friends.

The people accept his speech and begin to sing. Hoping that the change of mood would inspire the Grinch, Cindy Lou goes to Mount Crumpit to find him.

The Grinch reveals that he intends to push the stolen gifts off the top of the mountain after he hears the Whos crying.

However, instead of crying, he hears the joyful singing of the Whos. Infuriated over the failure of his plan, the Grinch has an epiphany about what Christmas is really about: not material gifts, but spending time with your loved ones, an insight that profoundly touches him and causes his heart to grow to three times its original size.

When the sleigh full of stolen gifts begins to go over the edge of the cliff, the Grinch desperately tries to save them to no avail.

However, when he realizes Cindy Lou has come to wish him a merry Christmas and is in danger of falling off the cliff with the sleigh, the Grinch finds enough strength to lift the sleigh, the gifts and Cindy Lou to safety.

After a long descent down Mount Crumpit, the Grinch returns to Whoville with Cindy and the gifts. He confesses to the burglary and apologizes for his actions towards the Whos.

He owns up his crimes to the police as they arrive, but the Whos reconcile with him, much to May Who's dismay. Martha turns down May Who's proposal and decides that she would rather stay with the Grinch instead.

The redeemed Grinch starts a new life with the Whos, commemorating 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.

Videogame appearance
The Grinch appears as the playable character in the 2000 video game tie-in of the movie (which is very loosely based off the film as well as the book).

The Grinch decides to destroy the Whos Christmas, however when he loses his blue prints to his gadgets which end up scattering around the place he is forced to go on a journey to collect them.

The player is given tasks to do, such as smashing presents and other mischievous things to torment the Whos. Max the Dog is also a playable character which the Grinch can use to gain access to areas to help him progress further.

Along the way the player collects parts for the Grinch's sleigh, and once completed they are involved in a boss mission which they chase down Santa Claus in his sleigh and shoot him down.

But like the film and book, the Grinch realizes the Whos are still happy. Once his heart grows, he returns to Whoville and apoligses for his actions.

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

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


 * The Grinch had some similar from Cindy Lou Who like both don't have a friend, both have parents (expect The Grinch was adopted) and both realize the true meaning of Christmas at the end.


 * The Grinch wasn't bad at first since he was being unwanted, get bullied by his arch-enemy Mayor Augustus Maywho and trying to win the heart of his childhood sweetheart Martha May Whovier until he lose his temper and run away from home.


 * The Grinch didn't want to admit that he need a friend when he's still bad until he met Cindy Lou Who who taught him a true meaning of friendship and love. Thanks to her, he reformed and become friends with her.


 * The Grinch is similar to Wreck-It Ralph like both were treated like freaks, both were bad in their own way, both become friends with the heroines (The Grinch to Cindy Lou Who, Ralph to Vanellope von Schweetz), both save heroines from danger (The Grinch saves Cindy from falling a cliff, Ralph saves Vanellope from King Candy aka Turbo) and both realize the true meaning of friendship.


 * Jim Carrey's Grinch suit was made of yak hairs which were dyed green and sewn one by one onto a spandex suit.


 * Before Jim Carrey was cast to play the Grinch, Jack Nicholson and Eddie Murphy were briefly considered.


 * The Grinch is similar to Davey Stone like both were bad at the beginning by doing bad stuff, both are in love with their childhood heroines (The Grinch to Martha May Whovier, Davey to Jennifer Friedman), both don't want to cry after they have a dark secret past until they realize something important and finally cries, both have a sad past, both have a bad relationship with the character until they got along at the end after they both redeemed themselves, both redeemed themselves at the end, both got their girl of the dreams at the end and both become friends with the character (The Grinch to Cindy Lou Who, Davey to Whitey Duvall).


 * The Grinch is sometimes similar to Shadow the Hedgehog, like both can be serious about everything, both don't like to smile that much, both like to be alone, both are neutral heroes, both are anti-heroes and both have a dark, secret past.


 * The Grinch is constantly believed to be the main villain of the book, 1966 cartoon and film. However, this is never true as the Grinch is simply an isolated, grumpy antihero. In later cartoons, he is played as a true villain.


 * Dr. Seuss admitted in interviews that he based the Grinch on himself when he felt ambivalence towards Christmas. As a hint, the Grinch mentions he has put up with Christmas 'for 53 years;' Seuss was 53 years old when the book was published.


 * Though he is almost always described as green, it is only in the 1966 cartoon that he became that color, on the suggestion of director Chuck Jones. Dr. Seuss thought he should be grey, as he was drawn in the book.


 * Unlike the book or 1966 cartoon where the Grinch is a smart, scheming individual, the film shows him to be a comical insane person with the scheming qualities.


 * In some ways, the film shows that the mayor is just as much a villain as the Grinch, maybe even worse. It's because of the Mayor's bullying, that caused the Grinch to become cold hearted.


 * The story The Hoobub and the Grinch that's included in Horton and the Kwuggerbug and more Lost Stories implies that there is more than one Grinch suggesting that The Grinch may actually be a species.


 * The Grinch will be appearing in movie remake in 2017 (17 years since the Jim Carrey film), however it will be computer animated than live action.

Similar Heroes

 * The Beast (Disney's Beauty and the Beast)
 * John Silver (Disney's Treasure Planet)
 * Wreck-It Ralph
 * Davey Stone (Eight Crazy Night)
 * Megamind
 * Shadow the Hedgehog