Thoughts on The Grinch and New Trends in Hollywood


Briefly. The Grinch is a faithful and cheerful rendition of the classic Dr. Seuss story and doesn’t add anything substantial to that story. Rotten Tomatoes calls The Grinch “suitable” and that really describes all this film is. Just watch the original 1966 animation How the Grinch Stole Christmas! this holiday season.

I find it very interesting that Illumination decided to produce a film that there was no demand for, in a sub-genre (Christmas Movies) that is falling out of favor with audiences. Historically, there was a feature length live-action attempt of the Grinch story released in 2000 titled How the Grinch Stole Christmas which was a critical failure and a mediocre financial success. Like the 2000 film, Illumination also had to stretch out the 69-page Dr. Seuss source material into a feature length film (which they somehow do while adding nothing to the story!). All-in-all The Grinch seems like a risky endeavor, so why did Illumination devote its resources to making this?

The Grinch seems to follow a new trend in Hollywood which is remaking old animated classics with advanced animation technology. This trend is lead by Disney who have been making a ‘live action’ franchise out of their previous animated titles. Beginning in 2014 with Maleficent (the Sleeping Beauty story), with recent iterations The Jungle Book (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). These movies combine CGI animation with live action elements. The upcoming Lion King remake is called ‘live action’ but all the characters and the environment are animated. Despite there being no demand for these remakes, once they were made, people went to see them. Illumination may not have been directly inspired by Disney, but they probably recognized the trend and that a market does exist for these remakes. I think this market exists because there is a new generation of children who have grown up with the very advanced animation technology of the 21st century.

Despite the history of the Grinch remakes, Illumination bet that their appealing computer animation style developed in the Despicable Me franchise (2010, 2013, 2017) and the Secret Life of Pets (2016) would carry the day. They were right. The Grinch opened to $67.6 million and has so far grossed $225 million. This is trend is going to be a force in the coming years.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 13, 2018 at 6:34 PM

    I don't think the new Grinch was necessary and it's clear they did it for more money. That's why there's all these new live-action films being made. I saw the new Grinch and it really wasn't amazing, sure it was still wholesome and all that jazz, but the plot line was off for me. I don't like that there's all these remakes now because I feel like it really downgrades the original film.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackson GallatiDecember 14, 2018 at 3:04 PM

    I wouldn't put the new Grinch and the "live-action" Disney remakes in the same category necessarily. While there's really nothing special about seeing The Grinch animated in Illumination's style, there's something to be said for seeing a real-looking baboon hold up a real-looking lion cub. Plus, I think there's a lot more nostalgia attached to the Disney projects than for the Grinch, as you pointed out that the previous iteration was a bit of a failure (although personally I love it and have probably seen it over a dozen times).

    I think Illumination is using The Grinch as a character in a similar way that comic book characters exist: they evolve well with the times. A grumpy green dude in the 60s behaves different than a grumpy green dude in 2000, and the same goes for 2018. All the jokes in The Grinch are aimed towards 2018 audiences and as a result, probably won't have the same timelessness as the OG Chuck Jones cartoon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ReneeDecember 15, 2018 at 2:22 PM

    Okay, what interests ME is how they got Tyler, the Creator on board to do the soundtrack? Total sellout move?

    ReplyDelete

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