S03E09 — How The Grinch Stole Christmas
SPOILER ALERT: This episode and transcript below contains major spoilers for How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
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Featuring hosts Timothy Haynes, Donna Haynes, Rebekah Edwards, and T. Josiah Haynes.
You’re a mean one… or are you? We are looking at How the Grinch Stole Christmas in all its forms, from the perfectly concise Dr. Seuss book to the iconic 1966 special, the chaotic Jim Carrey version, and the surprisingly heartfelt 2018 animated film. We debate villain backstories, Cindy Lou Who’s glow-up, Max being the real MVP, and why this story still hits us right in the feelings. Cozy, chaotic, and full of Christmas cheer, this episode proves the Grinch might just have the biggest heart of all.
Final Verdicts
If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, we recommend waiting to read our verdicts. (But you’re probably grown, so do what you want!)
The original book and 1966 TV special deliver a tight, poetic moral tale with zero backstory and maximum heart. The films expand the world, soften the Grinch with origin stories, side characters, and spectacle, turning a simple parable into a full emotional arc.
Donna: The 2018 film was better.
– Book Score: 9/10
– Original Film Score: 10/10
– 2000 Film Score: 5.5/10
– 2018 Film Score: 9.5/10
Rebekah: The 2018 film was better.
– Book Score: 9/10
– Original Film Score: 10/10
– 2000 Film Score: 6.5/10
– 2018 Film Score: 9.5/10
Josiah: The original film was better.
– Book Score: 9/10
– Original Film Score: 10/10
– 2000 Film Score: 5.5/10
– 2018 Film Score: 9.5/10
Tim: The original film was better.
– Book Score: 8/10
– Original Film Score: 9.5/10
– 2000 Film Score: 8/10
– 2018 Film Score: 8/10
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Full Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Tim: You are a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:04] Rebekah: You real, are he? You are as cuddly as a cactus. You’re as charming as in neel, Mr. Gr,
[00:00:17] Josiah: you are a bad banana with a greasy black peel. Dear, dear, that was good. That was a good way to end it. I like that.
Wow. Another Christmas year. Another Christmas special.
[00:00:54] Rebekah: Woo. Is this our Christmas special? One of them. Oh, okay. I guess we’ll have to make him wait for the other one
[00:01:02] Donna: is a patient.
[00:01:05] Rebekah: Well, Merry Christmas baby. Listeners. Welcome to the book is Better. Uh, we’re all in slightly different spots today except mom, I guess because we are all in the same room, which is the best way to film the podcast.
I’m just telling all of you right now. Uh, welcome to our special on the Grinch. Uh, we have been very excited to cover this for you. Uh, there are multiple versions of the Grinch. We will be spoiling all of them. The, uh, audio book or physical book, which takes under 12 minutes to read, uh, as well as the 19, is it a 66 special six?
Mm-hmm. And a 2000 movie with Jim Carrey and a 2018 movie with.
[00:01:46] Donna: Bumber
[00:01:46] Rebekah: snuff, crumple snitch. I mean Buffalo customer, I mean, what’s his actual name? Benedict Cumber. Cumber back. Oh. Anyway, yeah. So this is a great episode. If you wanna listen with your kids, uh, we’ll just be talking about one of the most fun Christmas classics mm-hmm.
Of all time. So as we get started and share a little fun fact, today’s fun fact. For each other is, what is your favorite Christmas special?
[00:02:13] Josiah: Josiah here, you know me brother son group. I love Bri Comms. And there is this Christmas special, I always like going back to called the Vicar of Didley. Aw. Yeah. It’s essentially the, the last two main episodes of this nineties series.
It was almost at this point, 10 years after the main series had ended, but they occasionally did Christmas specials. Then there’s this two part, like Christmas and New Year’s special they did with Vicar of dli. All the characters came back and the main character finds love. Mm. And it might be like combined.
It’s up there for like the best Vicar of Dly episode. Wow. So it really ended on such a strong point. Maybe we should watch that after the podcast.
[00:02:58] Donna: She married the head Hobbit.
[00:03:01] Rebekah: Wait,
[00:03:02] Donna: that’s No, the
[00:03:02] Rebekah: head dwarf. What? He was Thorn Open shield. No. Yeah. Thorn. The Vicar. Leys. Not a fantasy tale.
[00:03:08] Donna: No, but the guy she married also played Thorin, the dead Elf.
I thought you meant like they added dwarfs and stuff. In
[00:03:17] Tim: mean
[00:03:17] Donna: the thicker of Gili, I mean the nineties, you mean these aren’t
[00:03:20] Tim: real people? Oh, I don’t, yeah,
[00:03:22] Donna: that’s crazy. In the nineties it wouldn’t have been bad if she married Dwarfs. It would’ve In,
[00:03:26] Josiah: in the nineties there were all sorts of hobbits around.
Mm-hmm. England, unfortunately. Nice. I got rid of them.
[00:03:32] Donna: My name’s Donna and I’m the mom and the wife. Let’s see. Oh gosh. I honestly, I’m kind of a scrooge, so No, I am, I love Christmas more in the last four or five years than I ever have no loss. So I don’t have a lot of tried and true stuff. I do love watching a Christmas story every year.
Um. And Die Hard, which is my favorite movie of all time and happens to be a a Christmas movie. And if you dispute that, I will catch you.
[00:04:09] Rebekah: None of us would
[00:04:09] Tim: dare Tim. I’m the dad and the husband of our interesting sack of characters. Did you just call us a sack? That’s the worst possible word you would use.
Listen, the Grinch. Used a sack to gather all of the presents and Santa Claus uses a sack to give all the presents out. It’s a very Christmas thing.
[00:04:35] Rebekah: How many times could we say the word sack in one sentence says the mother
[00:04:40] Donna: of teenage boys. So you’re saying we’re like a bag of sweet gifts in your world?
We are
[00:04:45] Tim: a yes. We’re of sweetss sweet treats. We’re what a variety we are.
[00:04:49] Rebekah: I don’t know if I have a favorite Christmas special. I’m Rebecca. Um, I, when I think of like the things I like to do at Christmas, we’ve done this a couple of times and I like it, is putting on the nightmare before Christmas on Halloween and decorating for Christmas.
It’s like a good transition. And then. Uh, I really enjoy watching a boy called Christmas every year. We also watch, uh, Klaus every year. Hmm. I think the ones that go on tv, I always think of a Christmas story because mom used to put that on every year mm-hmm. For the 24 hours. So if it’s like a special on tv, that’s probably what I’m thinking about.
So
[00:05:26] Josiah: anyway, Mr. Heat Miser, I’m Mr. Sun. Is that what it is? Yeah,
[00:05:33] Donna: sure. That’s another
[00:05:34] Tim: special. That’s the, that none of us have mentioned. That’s a Christmas, that’s, uh, the Legend of Santa Claus or something like that. Yeah. Ooh, that was the story. Santa Clause. Um, the legend.
[00:05:44] Donna: Literally Christmas.
[00:05:46] Tim: Actually, I think, um, our SAC discussion may have diverted me.
Um, my favorite Christmas special is actually a Charlie Brown Christmas. I, I love it. Um, I was four years old when it first came out. Yeah. So I don’t know if I got to watch it. Every year it seemed like I had to, to beg to watch the Christmas specials with my parents. We had one television that sat in the family room, so we all watched the same thing and my parents weren’t all that excited without watching those Christmas specials every year.
But I love them. I still love them. I actually bought a DVD of all of those Christmas specials, five or six of them. So
[00:06:32] Rebekah: I feel like I’m grateful that even though your parents weren’t always super into Christmas, and mom even calls herself a Scrooge, she loves Christmas. We love getting up on Christmas morning and exchanging gifts.
But, uh, I am glad, I don’t know how much Josiah celebrates at his own house. Do you decorate and do things or
[00:06:51] Josiah: Ish. I set up a wrapping station and it’s a little extensive, and that is, that fills my apartment with Christmas things.
[00:07:00] Rebekah: Mm-hmm. Nice. Mm-hmm. Well, I’m glad to. Vomit Christmas cheer all over my house for you.
So
[00:07:05] Tim: yeah. That’s, that’s much better than a sack of Christmas presents.
[00:07:10] Rebekah: Listen. All right. So what is the Grinch
[00:07:14] Donna: about? It is a seasonal favorite, and I’m sure if you’re watching this and you have not lived your life under a rock, you would be familiar with the Grinch Till Christmas. It is about this kind of curmudgeony little fellow, and now that I’m thinking about telling the story I have we ever determined if he’s an actual being, like what he is, he’s just a made up doctor.
[00:07:41] Tim: Dr. Seuss’ characters are made up. Yeah, they up aren’t human. They’re not, so, no, no. I mean they’re, they’re made up not to be people. I know what you meant. Know what specific animals or any of that kind stuff. They’re just, know what I mean?
[00:07:52] Donna: Like there’s creatures, but he’s got a dog.
[00:07:55] Rebekah: I think just saying he seems like a who a different kind of who.
Yeah. From Newville. Yeah.
[00:08:00] Josiah: Uh, I hate to ask about the Jim Carrey movie, which I have, I did not rewatch for this. Is that the movie in which he’s explicitly an evil? Who, okay. Because I think in the other ones it doesn’t say one way or another. And the origin of the Grinch is that the, the Grinch was a species, a different species from who in a previous book.
Which doesn’t mean that the Grinch, which doesn’t mean that the Grinch is not a who, but that’s just the context.
[00:08:33] Donna: Yeah. Gotcha. Interesting. Well, in, in the Grinch Stole How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he lives up on a hill outside of Whoville and he is very frustrated because they are Christmas on steroids.
They love it and the celebrations are everywhere. And regardless of whether the books and the movies, they all, this is all the same. They portray this amazing Christmas celebration.
[00:09:01] Tim: So the Whos are all Rebecca?
[00:09:03] Donna: Yes. A
[00:09:04] Tim: town of Rebecca’s. Yeah. Okay.
[00:09:07] Donna: Yes. But in Whoville and not Beville. So he devises this grand plan that he’s going to steal their Christmas, and he uses his dog Max, and they go down to Whoville.
They, uh, go through the houses, they take all the presents. He, uh, it, it comes in different iterations of how far he goes, but decorations, everything. He just tears the town apart. He’s full of joy. Knowing that he’s destroyed their Christmas, Christmas morning comes and he hasn’t stolen at all. At all.
Because the, the people in Whoville are all very, um, Christian. They’re very Christian. Yes. That’s it. They understand the real meaning of Christians. Yes. And they do something that I can’t imagine anybody in commercialized America does outside of probably a handful of somebody. Mm-hmm. But they’re all excited because Christmas is in their hearts.
It’s love and joy and sharing in family. It’s the sound, it’s the season. It’s not all about the gifts. He sees their hearts filled this way and it begins to touch him as well. So he starts out with a heart that’s too sizes too small. He ends up with a heart that grows three times larger and doesn’t explode into a heart attack, it actually fills him with immense joy.
Yeah. I told you I’m, I’m a little scrooge and, uh, that’s why I
[00:10:48] Rebekah: made you read this.
[00:10:48] Donna: Yeah. And so all the iterations of this books, films, television, specials and all those things, um, end with the, who’s gladly receiving him into their world and, and in, and enveloping him in their love and changing his life.
And so it is a great tale, um, to be told. And it, it has such, it really has amazing meaning, honestly. Uh, everyone we’ve seen uses that same trope. None of them take it to a dark place. Well, the ones we viewed, I’m sure there’s weird, creepy ones out there, but didn’t Well, we did see preview. Preview for a horror version.
Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:11:31] Josiah: And all of the stories, I guess there’s four altogether that were kind of one book and three anim, uh, you know, tv, two films. Media.
[00:11:43] Rebekah: Yeah. TV special. Two films.
[00:11:45] Josiah: All of them end with the Grinch Carving The Roast Beast.
[00:11:51] Donna: Ooh. Yeah. Interesting. If we’re looking
[00:11:52] Josiah: for, like, similarities we can put here
[00:11:54] Donna: and, and I didn’t mention all of them.
The movies besides the TV specials vary along the lines of the, the, uh, words of the book. It, it follows it. Mm-hmm. Pretty well. But the movies do as well and they use, you know, it’s Roast Beast. It’s, yeah, SU
[00:12:11] Rebekah: who
[00:12:12] Donna: language. Su language. Which is fun. Yes.
[00:12:14] Rebekah: I think that, um, one of the things we noticed as we were going over this is all three of the works in one way or another to some degree use the books rhyming and some of the phrasings and things.
The TV special itself is basically designed with, and we’ll talk about what, but just a little bit of added, um, story and plot. But it’s mostly like the text, uh, of the children’s book, the 2000 version and the 2018 version. Peppered in occasionally and use some of the original language but add quite a lot.
Um, but I will also say, we’re gonna try something this episode, so we’ll discuss our changes. We’re gonna start with some plot changes. But at the end of our changes section, I thought it’d be great to talk about what we liked that they did keep, like what did we like about the children’s book that got reflected in one or more of the versions?
’cause we don’t talk about that a lot. We generally talk about what changed. So, um, yeah. So what are some of the plot and timeline changes that stuck out
[00:13:14] Tim: out? Well, the dog Max mm-hmm. Um, comes in when the Grinch is looking to make a reindeer in the book. But he’s in the story earlier, uh, in the TV special and in both of the films.
Mm-hmm. Uh, max is his only companion, and, uh, he’s the only one who loves him, despite himself. So,
[00:13:36] Rebekah: yeah, it’s adorable. Max’s characterization is just really cute. He’s really obsessed with the Grinch and it’s precious,
[00:13:42] Josiah: very lovable. And the TV special, which is the closest to the book. It also, even being so close to the book, it adds some stuff like a, uh, like more Dr.
Seuss like dialogue. Mm-hmm. It’s not all the Dr. Seuss omniscient narrator. Right. Narration. It’s also some dialogue that I, I think Dr. Seus himself, Theodore Geisel contributed to writing. Mm-hmm. The special. Mm-hmm. Yes. And so some of that Seuss like dialogue was very authentic. It wasn’t like in the 2018 movie when they added stuff, it was like, okay, that basically sounds like Seuss.
[00:14:19] Rebekah: Yeah, this was real seus and it just timeline timewise, I would say like the audiobook read aloud, I think I said it’s like it’s, it is either just over or just under 12 minutes. The TV special is about 24 ish minutes, so that kind of gives you an idea of how much they added because a vast majority of what is spoken is from the book.
But yeah,
[00:14:40] Donna: I was also pleased that the movies are a decent cartoon length. Yes. They didn’t take them over to two hours. They’re, they’re between, they’re right around an hour 30 and. That’s enough. I think it could have gone long and crazy. And you know,
[00:14:56] Rebekah: the Cindy Lou who character, uh, in the plot of the original book, it is mentioned and actually in the TV special it is mentioned that she is, uh, no more than two I think is the language that was used.
Mm-hmm. Uh, she is older in both the feature length films. So original and special. She’s two years old, but in both 2000 and the 2018, she’s a little older. She’s still like elementary school age, but she is given a lot more agency and like affects the plot a lot more. Yeah. And so that stuck out to me ’cause I was like.
In the TV special. That was like using the book. You kind of, you don’t see any parents and you see a bed with like five kids in it. She’s the only named one, and she’s like the only named who in the entire story. And so that was kind of funny to me. And then I’m like, oh, so she’s two. So like, if he was a real evil person, he, she would’ve died.
Like it would’ve been bad. Um, but yeah,
[00:15:53] Tim: she’s the, she’s the PPOV for the audience then. Yes. But she’s the only one, the only one really named. Mm-hmm.
[00:16:00] Rebekah: There.
[00:16:00] Donna: Now the TV special does add a lengthy section of the Grinch and Max getting down to Whoville. It’s, it’s fun. It was fun. I thought they did a good job with it.
It wasn’t, um, again, it didn’t seem like a silly ad just to, just to buy time, but it was fun as he travels down and, mm-hmm. Actually the, the movies too, right? They all have him pretty far up that mountain. Yes. So that he’s. It’s a trek down there.
[00:16:30] Rebekah: Yeah. It would’ve been strange to add a ton more dialogue and stuff, but it’s really fun to see it on screen and how they figure out like, you know, what a sleigh looks like and how the mountain is shaped and all that stuff.
[00:16:40] Tim: Well, in the TV special, Cindy Lou, who is introduced, when the Grinch removes the peppermint sticks from all of the children’s hands as they sleep in that bed that Rebecca was talking about, it’s so sad. Then she wakes and meets the Grinch when one of the ornaments falls from the Christmas tree as he stuffs it up the chimney or chimley in the book, which is so
cute.
Yep.
[00:17:03] Josiah: And in the 2018 animated film. We meet Cindy Lou, who completely separate from the plot. She’s just definitely, yeah, she’s running through town or something. She’s doing a little sledding across this way. Or is it at her house? ’cause we are with the mom first.
[00:17:20] Rebekah: I think we see her getting all ready. ’cause her mom comes home, isn’t the first real interaction when she’s saying, I’m gonna go to the North Pole.
And her mom’s like, see you in a month. And she’s like, it takes a month. So I think that that is how it works in that version, if I remember correctly. That’s right. I will also say, um, just an added plot thing in this same vein. So in the TV special in the book, uh, the Grinch removes the peppermint sticks.
Okay. From their hands as they sleep. It’s so sad. In the 2018 version, I thought it was so cute that they use Cindy Lou, who they actually have her capture the Grinch. That’s how she meets him. Like she doesn’t wake up ’cause he’s doing something girl power. She is actually like the one who catches him, which is adorable.
Yes. And, um, it’s so that she can help her mom. She wants to ask Santa to help her mom out because her mom is really sad.
[00:18:16] Donna: I liked the things they did with Cindy. Um, both of the films took a, a different, kind of a expanded her in different ways. Sure. And, um, they all keep her charming and I I was very glad for that.
Um, I’m never, I’m never sure how I feel when you take a classic and change it to such a point that it doesn’t even resemble the original. Sure. And, and I know you can do things and be creative and change styles and, and update stories or whatever, but, uh, also in the 2000 film with Jim Carrey, uh, they add this romantic backstory for him.
As the Grinch, where he was ejected from Whoville and it, it, it caused his problem, um, which causes him to fight against Christmas. I get this, I, I get, it was a conflict and all that. I just, I don’t know how I thought about it. It, I guess I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t make me go, oh wow, what an amazing ad.
So I guess I was, I’m kind of, yeah. Yeah. Each
[00:19:25] Tim: of the films has a, has a different take on, uh, on how he came to be away from the, who’s Jim Carrey’s.
[00:19:34] Josiah: Grinch is Alphabet. Oh, yeah.
[00:19:38] Rebekah: Right.
[00:19:39] Josiah: Faster. He just say more the Whoville and
[00:19:44] Rebekah: Yes, we didn’t mention specifically, but like. Well, you just said it. Give like the other works.
Give him a reason for being, yeah. It was like in the original book and the TV special, he’s just like, this is who he is. He hates Christmas, he’s evil, blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. And both slightly different ways, but 2018 and 2000 gave him at least a little bit of backstory. Yeah. Where I think in both, he’s like an orphan or in one, he’s in 2000, he was like kicked out of Whoville in 2018.
He was an orphan that grew up in an orphanage. Yeah. And like was picked on a lot. And so he’s got like a kind of a tragic backstory where he has no family and all of that, which was, it’s like, it’s sad, but especially in 2018. Yeah. It was just enough that I felt like it wasn’t too heavy handed, but it made it feel a little bit more like, oh, there’s like a reason that this person is kind of mean.
Yeah. I feel like in 2000 he just feels like just he’s over the top. Just a jerk, you know? But, but that is his character.
[00:20:43] Tim: Jim Carrey plays that. That kind of character. Very well trim. The 2018 version with Cumberbatch, um, is, is nice. Uh, the, he, the Grinch as a child is expecting Santa Claus and then he, uh, he discovers nobody’s coming ’cause nobody comes at all.
Um, and he’s all alone. So I could see how that would, that would work. And I, I agree, Rebecca, it’s just enough, um, to, to give it some stakes but not take it over the top.
[00:21:18] Josiah: You know, there’s this place in the original book that says the Grinch Heard, the, who’s singing after he heard after he stole their presents and that he waited up on Mount Crumpet for three hours, puzzling what to make of it.
It’s a little much. I was like, I, I believe the ending is that he gives them back their Christmas, which is not the important thing, but like, does it really need to take three hours for you to figure this out? Get them back their stuff? Yeah.
[00:21:49] Rebekah: I’m not entirely certain this is true, but I think that was the only line removed from the book for the Christmas TV special.
And then they did add a couple things like we talked about, but I think that that’s the only thing that they specifically changed. Hmm. Which it wouldn’t surprise me, I think is a good change. Yeah. ’cause it just is like, why do you need to do time passing for three hours? Like, it’s not that funny. The state, it’s cute in the book, but in the, in the films and things, I think it works better not because
[00:22:14] Tim: he goes and he thinks and he thinks and he thinks mm-hmm.
Different things. Right? Yeah. I think in the, in the special, they probably saw,
[00:22:23] Rebekah: yeah,
[00:22:24] Tim: they would lose interest if we went too long.
[00:22:26] Rebekah: Also in the book, in TV special, which I thought was kind of interesting. The Grinch, as in the movies, lives on the edge of Whoville or like very close. But in the, in the original, it was not clear that the.
The who’s, and Whoville would actually have had any idea that he was a villain. Like there was no fear of the Grinch or whatever. Yeah. Right. Um, which is kind of like, it’s just such a fascinating direction to take that. And then Cindy Lou, who that’s two years old, thinks he’s Santa. Correct. In the original like, and in the Christmas special.
So it doesn’t occur to her to think like, oh, it’s the scary Grinch. So then in 2020 18, they kind of deal with those differently. So in the 2000, I believe as Jim Carrey’s, Grinch goes down into Whoville, they’re like, oh, it’s the Grinch. And they’re like scared of him and he is like a villain. In the 2018, he just seems like this crotchety person that people ignore when he goes into town.
Yeah. And then there’s just one guy that’s his best friend, like, yeah. So I think it’s kind of funny that they do all know him. Yeah. He, he’s not the villain except in like, I saw the 20, like the 2000 version more than the Christmas special growing up. So that was like in my head as the Grinch’s story. And so it was funny kind of going back and considering all of this and going, oh, they don’t actually treat him like a villain.
Like it was such a, a, an interesting change.
[00:23:46] Josiah: And yet Cindy Lou, who doesn’t recognize him in his Santa garb, I guess it’s like Superman,
[00:23:51] Rebekah: I guess.
[00:23:53] Josiah: Sorry, kids. If you still believed that Superman was not Clark Kent. I’m sorry that we broke it to you. Yeah, I’m sorry. Dad, are you, are you serious? Yeah,
[00:24:03] Donna: but I, I did, I think my pick of those would be the 2018 movie because.
Because they weren’t afraid of him. They just, they just saw him as this negative guy. But then he had the friend, was it the mayor? That was his friend, right? No, his friend was just a,
[00:24:25] Tim: just one of the people.
[00:24:26] Donna: He just is a lumberjack guy that lives on edge of town. Oh yeah, that’s right. And he’s just super, super positive.
It, it doesn’t matter. And I really loved that because we have those people in our lives that are, you know, not happy go lucky all the time and dah dah. And it’s not that you’re afraid of them, it’s that, you know, everybody needs a friend. Even if they don’t want it, they, you know, he still had that friend.
So I, I liked the way they handled it
[00:24:54] Tim: in the 2018 film, uh, as he passes by Brickle Ball, uh, he says, and he thinks we’re friends, you know? Yes. And the guy just treats him like a friend. So Yeah. That helps.
[00:25:06] Rebekah: Um, so there were a couple of setting changes, uh, but not a whole lot, I would say, say across
[00:25:12] Tim: these were changes difficult to categorize.
True. Oh
[00:25:15] Donna: yeah, that’s true. Uh, the, the t in the TV special in 66, and I loved this, the color made a difference to me when he went down as Santa pretending to be Santa and taking the sack of gifts. Here we go. Um, in the Christmas, in the TV special, it was gray and I thought that was amazing because it says a lot about who he is.
He would not even think about the fact that a gray bag would not be holiday and festive and, and all those things. Um, so I, I really noticed that. And I don’t observe a lot of things like that. But that one really stuck with me.
[00:26:03] Tim: One of the things in the 2018 film, they lengthened the grinch’s preparation time for the heist he goes through mm-hmm.
Making the clothes. Yeah. Which is in the book and in the original, uh, the original special, but they lengthen that time. There’s a lot more preparation. He goes through all sorts of things. He’s Oh, the moose
[00:26:22] Donna: or whatever. Yeah. He
[00:26:23] Tim: is not sure what he’s gonna do. Mm-hmm. And then they add the extra characters as well.
So, um, I like that. I thought it was fun. Um, it, it added things to it without seeming like it was just adding. Time. It wasn’t too long.
[00:26:38] Rebekah: It made him a little more relatable ’cause he was just like, I’m on a mission. I want to make something happen. And then he like kept running into funny Yeah. Funny little things that happened.
It were, it’s very much ala megamind in terms of like the way they make the villains somebody that you kind of wanna root for. Yeah. Because it was kind of cute, like spending that time with it. So I, I think it did a lot for how you feel about the character of the Grinch.
[00:27:01] Josiah: Mm-hmm. And of course the conclusion of the Grinch’s character is a little different in the 2018 film.
There’s an added outro Denu Ma where the Grinch, after he carved the Roast Beast, which is the end of the book and the special and kind of the end of the 2000 movie. Although I don’t remember the concluding seconds of that off the top of my head. But the 2018 film concludes with the Grinch, I think his mechanical genius to steam punk.
Cindy Lou, who’s mom’s life easier. Yeah. Okay. That’s the way.
[00:27:38] Rebekah: Yeah. I think I understood what you just said. Cindy. What is her name? Cindy?
[00:27:41] Josiah: Her, her mom is Donna. Mm-hmm. Her name is Donna. And she is Donna, who I suppose. Mm. She’s a single mom of Cindy Lou, and in the 2018 version, she has two little brothers.
[00:27:56] Rebekah: Again, very megamind like he’s an inventor and all those kinds of things. But it was kind of cute because in the 2001, he had invented a bunch of stuff similar to how he does in the 2018, like animated, but it wasn’t. Really like resolved that he used that for the greater good. And so it was so cute in the conclusion of the movie that they like actually used that for him to become not just someone who had a good Christmas one time, but like a good person.
Yeah. Et cetera. So I loved that.
[00:28:28] Tim: Well, there are some characterization things too. Like I said, this, this is a little difficult to categorize some of these things. Um, each feature length film adds additional characters that are fully fleshed out. They expand the plot, they give them a little bit of backstory.
Um, in the 2000, I think the mayor and, um, there’s another, there’s another woman in that one that, is it the
[00:28:51] Rebekah: mayor’s wife?
[00:28:53] Tim: Maybe the mayor’s wife, maybe I wanna say
[00:28:54] Rebekah: it’s his wife.
[00:28:55] Tim: That’s part of the characters that are mixed up in why the Grinch is out of the town, uh, in 2018. Uh, some of those, those characters are his, his friend and you know.
The mayor and some, some different people and Cindy’s friends, like Cindy’s mom and Cindy’s friends, right? Yeah.
[00:29:14] Donna: Whole
[00:29:15] Tim: crew. They give, they give that a, a complete story arc for her and her friends.
[00:29:21] Rebekah: Yeah. I think that they did a good job making it feel in honestly every iteration, like both feature length in different ways.
I think they could, did a good job of making the characters feel like they fit into the original story. Mm-hmm. Like it didn’t just feel like random added things mm-hmm. Just to fluff the plot. Like they felt intentional and they gave each one more of a like specific and unique story. So I don’t know. I really appreciated a lot of that.
Um, one of the things that I noticed in 2018, and I don’t know if this is just like me making something of nothing but. In all of the versions, the grin dresses up as Santa, and that’s how he sneaks in to steal all the gifts, yada, yada. However, one of the things I noticed was in 2018, I feel like they take that idea and they make it like the, the transformation of his character.
Like it’s his arc that he becomes a replacement Santa. Mm-hmm. Because I would also say, yeah, it seems clear that Santa doesn’t really exist in Whoville. Like wow, it is the Grinch who exists as the Santa of Whoville. Mm-hmm. Like, and I think that they take it all that, like, all the way through that plot line, like to the end, like you said, Donna Lou or Donna who, oh, oh my gosh.
Donna Lou, who, uh, Cindy’s mother is basically like able to have toys made for her to solve her problems, like make her coffee in the morning and do those kinds of things. And so like, it kind of follows the path of him fully. Materializing is like realizing himself as the, the Santa of this place, which I thought was kind of cool.
[00:31:05] Donna: Besides, uh, Benedict Cumber batches voice as the Grinch. Uh, we also have Keenan Thompson, who, uh, plays the Grinch’s lumberjack friend, Brickle Bomb, and Angela Lansbury voice the mayor. There were a lot of fun, uh, fun voiceovers that they used. Uh, Brickle Bal
[00:31:26] Rebekah: was such a fun addition. Yeah, he’s hysteric. He was crazy.
He’s just like, through trying
[00:31:30] Tim: win the Christmas decorating contest.
[00:31:33] Rebekah: Yes. I love it. And like at the end he’s like, you’re my best friend. And like, they’re just, it’s so great. Like, I just thought he was such a fantastic addition. Mm-hmm.
[00:31:41] Music: Yep.
[00:31:42] Rebekah: Um, another. A couple of very funny, fantastic additions. Uh, yes.
Instead of just max, the dog helping out the Grinch in the 2018 version, because we lengthened the, like, figuring out how to take this heist and make it work. The Grinch went, uh, looking for reindeer and on his way to the reindeer, he distressed goat, uh, who was a screaming goat. And so you’ve got a lot of, ah, you know, the goat noises throughout, which is funny.
He, the Grinch comes upon this huge crowd of reindeer and he is like, oh, it’ll, it’ll be so easy. We’ll have a hundred reindeer and the goat to be funny, uh, screams and scares away all of the reindeer except one an incredibly fat reindeer mm-hmm. Named Fred. And this very fat reindeer also loves the Grinch as much as Max does.
And, uh, tries to sleep with him in bed at night and he’s way too large for that, which is hysterical. Um, and it doesn’t work. He does end up coming around in the end, although I will say he doesn’t actually pull the sleigh as planned because his family returns. He is got a little baby reindeer in his wifey reindeer.
[00:32:52] Josiah: But then at the end he did pull the sleigh up back onto Mount Krumpit?
[00:32:56] Rebekah: Yes. Okay. I knew he came back in. I just couldn’t remember exactly how we did that. But
[00:32:59] Josiah: it was under his terms instead of as a slave to the Grinch. Yes. Isn’t that beautiful?
[00:33:04] Rebekah: Yes. Wonderful. It’s beautiful.
[00:33:06] Josiah: What did we like that was kept from the original book, the original source material, into the different adapts?
[00:33:15] Donna: I loved that Max was consistently a faithful friend. He was fun, he had a sweet heart all through, didn’t matter what the Grinch was doing, it didn’t matter how much he was hateful at the time or whatever. Max just loved him and it was typical dog personality. That just loves you no matter what. And I really appreciated that because to me it gave you a hope through the whole thing.
Because the Grinch, you could tell he had affection for Max, even in his curmudgeon ways. Mm-hmm. And I, I really liked that. That resonated with me a lot.
[00:33:58] Rebekah: I liked that in every version. The Grinch was so surprised by the fact that they didn’t need presents or trappings to celebrate Christmas. Yeah. It just like blesses me every time that he’s like, mm-hmm.
Oh, that’s not what the joy of this is. It’s not based on all of that. And that in itself changed his heart. And I think that’s really charming. It was
[00:34:22] Tim: always well done in every adaptation. Yeah.
[00:34:25] Josiah: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:34:26] Tim: I really like the fact that, that they kept the plot. That’s one of the things they, they could have done away with, despite not knowing why he hated Christmas.
We’re taken on this journey. And he discovers that it’s not all about the commercialization and all that kind of stuff that he thought it was. And that is actually in every iteration. And I, I like that. ’cause I think that’s the message that Dr. Seuss wanted to convey.
[00:34:54] Music: Mm-hmm.
[00:34:55] Tim: So I’m glad that they kept that.
They could have, they could have done a lot to really, really change it if they wanted to.
[00:35:02] Josiah: I like the Antis Santa thing. I like that. Uh, Cindy Lou, who has such a small part in the original, it’s a small book. Yeah. Like she has such a small part in the original book. And I think that even with such a small part when you read it, she is the humanesque heart of the story.
And accordingly, the, all of the adaptations kept her and expanded her role. The TV special even, you know, expanded it a little bit, having her more at the end and uh, with the candy cane bit. Yeah. But, uh, Cindy Lou, who is always with the odd, it’s the tiny Tim for the audience. Sure. Yep. The Cosette in Les Mis at the, at the beginning,
[00:35:40] Rebekah: I would say related to that, I also love that every version ends with them inviting him in.
Like it’s not just, oh, we love Christmas, we think you’re a jerk, so please don’t come. Mm-hmm. Which is like the way that most human beings would respond, but in this fantastical world, they genuinely are like, Hey, if you’ll, if you’ll be with us, we’ll have you, you know, you can, you can, uh, dress the rose beast
[00:36:04] Josiah: the so nice
[00:36:05] Donna: on we go into what kinda cash cow this became.
We go from good hearts and spirits down to the bottom line. Um, so this book released in October and November of 57, 19 57. So October 12th, it actually appeared in Red Book Magazine, which I think is a hoot because every, this is the shortest thing we’ve ever covered. So. Um, it’s, so, it, this is kind of its own something, you know, its own, its own, uh, event.
And then in the next month, in November of 57, it came out in children’s book form. Uh, the movie released in November of 2000. It was November 8th in LA and November 17th in, uh, the rest of the US and Worldwide. And then the 2018, uh, film came out on November 9th, 2018. And I didn’t tell you, sorry, I left out the television special aired in, uh, November of 1966.
[00:37:21] Rebekah: And that’s the one because Seuss was still alive, right? Yes. Involved, uh, he was able to like be in on that and he could add some of the additional dialogue, et cetera, that was added.
[00:37:29] Donna: Yes. Um, he has. Uh, written a classic that received 4.38 out of five stars in Good Reads. Uh, of course there’s tons of ratings on it, so that’s a pretty solid, and I guess that’s okay.
Honestly, I would make it a little higher. It’s, it doesn’t drag on into craziness. It tells you a story. It’s great. It’s a great children’s book. Um, as far as movies goes, the 1966 television special gets a hundred percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And we talked about this before, older, older things. Uh, it usually hangs onto a high rating or it’s so, so, so bad, or it’s horrible.
Um, but I think that’s fair. A hundred percent to me is fair. What is there to not like about this? Right? The 2000 film, the Rotten Tomatoes score was 49. Which I thought was interesting because everybody raved over Jim Carrey. I don’t disagree with that, but it mm-hmm. Uh, it’s, it’s, uh, critics rating was 49%.
It was a much
[00:38:38] Rebekah: more polarizing movie. It was less well
[00:38:41] Tim: received than it was for sure.
[00:38:42] Rebekah: Like it was, so it went such a direction. And it was dark. It was super dark, was dark. He was, the Grinch wasn’t just like bad. He was also gross. Mm-hmm. Like, I think there was also that was like, could be off putting. Yeah.
So, and it was really, really, really heavily marketed. We watched a video on that yesterday about all the merch and stuff. Yeah. And so I wonder if part of it was literally like, great high expectations and then people being like, wait, what is this? You know? Yeah.
[00:39:08] Donna: Then the 2018, uh, film did a little better, 60% on, uh, critics rating.
So that’s pretty cool. So the IMDB rating in 1966, the television special has kept an 8.3 out of 10. On the, on the site, the 2000 and the 2018 film iterations both carry a 6.4 out of 10. Then Lter audience, what did the audience think? We know what the critics think and they can think all kinds of stuff and sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t.
Audience gave the 1966 version and 93%, uh, the 2000 version gets 59%. Still not huge, and then the 2018 54% and I, I don’t boo. Yeah, it’s interesting that it flipped stupid. Yeah. Uh, told you, we didn’t all agree.
[00:40:02] Tim: Maybe that was because people didn’t like that it went back to an animated version or they were bothered that of the type of animation.
It was maybe,
[00:40:10] Rebekah: I don’t know how you could watch. I like 54%. It’s
[00:40:14] Tim: fun.
[00:40:14] Rebekah: Is criminal. Yeah. I have no idea how. Because it’s so, it’s charming. The music is fantastic. The voicings are amazing. The animation’s beautiful. The additions are just love, like literally. Yeah. I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with it, but it is like as close in my head to a children’s cartoon that you could like too perfect as you can get.
Yeah. And
[00:40:36] Josiah: woo. Yeah. I think it might be because, and this is a flaw in modern critiquing mm-hmm. Is that it didn’t really add much. Mm. And so for us, I think that we can appreciate this Grinch as, yeah, we, we can turn this on in 20 years and it’ll, it’ll be great. Whereas critics are like, we want something that makes sense into 2018 to contribute to this film landscape and the society at large.
Mm. And it was not that,
[00:41:09] Tim: you know, I, I have noticed that in a lot of things that we’ve covered, um. Things that we like, we’ll go and see. Mm-hmm. And that’s, that was really good. And the critics are like, eh, it wasn’t new. It wasn’t cutting edge. It wasn’t so crazy different. And it’s like some things you want them to end up being satisfying.
You go to see this thing and that’s the thing you saw. It was well done. So,
[00:41:37] Rebekah: but I will point out, this is not the critics score. The critics score was 60%. And typically for movies that are pretty decent, the flick your audience score is a lot of times like 15 to 30% higher then critics who tend to be a little harder on it.
So I think part of what shocked me is how is the audience scoring this at 54%? ’cause I don’t feel like they’re the people that should even be thinking about, oh, it’s not contributing uniquely to the landscape of whatever. Like to me it’s a lot of times like audience review, bombs are usually because something in a film is like offensive to them or something.
But I don’t know.
[00:42:12] Tim: I will say one thing. It was the first of all of the iterations to use overtly Christian symbolism in, uh, in Christmas. True that they use some traditional Christmas songs, which are missing from all of the other ones. Yeah. Uh, they made Susie and kind of Carol sounding things. Mm-hmm. Um, but the 2018 film actually used some overt references and maybe some of the audience were bothered by that.
Maybe. Maybe they liked the Grinch old Christmas because it had nothing to do with Christianity.
[00:42:52] Donna: The production cost of these shows, we’ll start with 1966, was $315,000, uh, which was a kind of a lot in 1966, I would think. In 2000, they spent 123 million on Jim Carrey’s version. And then wow, 18 years later they decreased that back to 75 million for what happens when you animated, is that the animation would do that.
[00:43:22] Josiah: Illumination is kind of famous for its cost cutting measures.
[00:43:25] Donna: So total for everything these made and I just have for the two films, the television special didn’t really have budget, uh, box office numbers, right? So the 2000 film made a gross $347 million. The 2018 film, 539 million. And that one is the top Christmas movie box office take ever.
That’s wild. 20 18 1. Wow. I’m happy with that. Um, TV guide ranks the original. Television special as the number one holiday special of all time. And I, I would agree, there’s a lot of great things out there. Yeah. A lot of fun things out there. But I think the, the purity of the story, uh, like we’ve, like, we’ve been coming, it, it’s coming out of us Right.
We’ve all kind of voiced it. Yeah. Is just, uh, I think it earns that rating.
[00:44:20] Josiah: But have you seen the Vicar of Ley Christmas special?
[00:44:23] Donna: I have several times. And we have. I love it.
[00:44:27] Tim: Well, there there are a few, uh, interesting bits of trivia that we picked up. Um, when, how the Grinch Stole Christmas first aired on December 18th in 1966.
It was sponsored by someone that you’ve probably never heard of, because they only sponsored it the first year and then they were gone. The foundation for full service banks. Ooh. Um, which. You know. Wow. It was just really strange that, you know, they sponsored this really big thing that became the number one holiday special of all time, and it did not work
[00:45:00] Rebekah: out for them as a marketing employee.
They themselves have
[00:45:02] Tim: disappeared.
[00:45:04] Rebekah: So funny. And it, there was something that mentioned, like those clips where it mentioned the sponsor had to be cut out of each Yes. Iteration when it was replayed again later.
[00:45:13] Tim: Yes. Mm-hmm.
[00:45:14] Rebekah: Uh, Chuck Jones, who was a mid-century like animation legend, was the co-director and co-producer of the 1966 TV special
[00:45:24] Donna: Ted Geisel.
Um, AKA Dr wrote all the lyrics, spoiler to the song for the TV special, uh, with the titular song making its rounds during Christmas ever since. And I can’t imagine. Anybody who has not heard. You’re a weird one, Mr. Grinch. Yeah. I think it’s your a mean one, Mr. Grinch. I love you. Do I know it? I love it. Yeah, that too.
But he was weird. Gimme a little break. True.
[00:45:52] Rebekah: Very true.
[00:45:53] Donna: Um, and then Albert Hague, who made his fame on Broadway, wrote the music
[00:45:59] Tim: and in the TV special, uh, from 1966. There are some recognizable names for those at the time. Uh, some of you may not, uh, recognize these at this point. Boris Karloff, uh, famous for Frankenstein’s Monster and other iconic film Monster roles.
Uh, he added his voice talents to the TV special. Um, he was actually the only one who was credited, uh, at the end of the film, but there were other voice talents. Uh, June Foray, who is said to be. Some people have said she’s the male blank of women, but. Reviewers say, actually, Mel Blank is the June foray, uh, for males because she was so famous for the vast number of characters that she voiced.
But one that she voiced, uh, that she was famous for is Rocky, the Flying Squirrel in Rocky, in Bullwinkle. Mm-hmm. And she voiced Cindy Lou, who Nice also,
[00:46:58] Rebekah: who is Mel Blank. He voiced, uh,
[00:47:01] Donna: bugs
[00:47:02] Rebekah: Bunny. Bugs Bunny, El Elmer Fudd Lou Chase. Nice. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That’s cool. Sorry,
[00:47:07] Donna: I
[00:47:07] Rebekah: forgot. Hundreds and hundreds. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Apologies. Dow McKennan voiced Max, the dog. Uh, he was best known for voicing Gumby and Pokey, which I used to love watching Gumby. I love
[00:47:20] Tim: Gumby and Pokey
[00:47:21] Rebekah: as well as Buzz Buzzard in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
[00:47:26] Donna: Nice. Know truly young baby listeners. These will be like old people names that you wouldn’t know, but you know, but old
[00:47:32] Rebekah: people, listeners, we hope you’re enjoying this a lot.
Yes. Hopefully this is some
[00:47:36] Josiah: nostalgia, you know, who’s probably, uh, gone past the point of being old thorough ravenscroft. Oh. Added his base voice to the off her. You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch. Mm-hmm. He was also the voice of the original Tony the Tiger. Hey, you know what? Thorough Ravens Cross’s last words were.
I am not feeling great. I’m sorry. That’s a Norm McDonald joke. Oh my goodness. Uh, because Okay. Because Thorough was not credited. A lot of people believe, including myself until yesterday, that Boris Karloff sang the song, but he denied it was thorough. Ravens Croft. Wow. Tony the Tiger himself.
[00:48:22] Tim: Well, uh, the TV special followed the huge success of 1960 Fives a Charlie Brown Christmas Aw.
Which allowed it to benefit from the unheard of budget of $315,000 that was bestowed on it. It, that was four times the budget that was used for Charlie Brown the year before. It must have been successful. That’s wild.
[00:48:48] Rebekah: Uh, the special was aired annually around Christmas on CBS who originally owned it until 1987.
So what is that? 66 was the original year. Mm-hmm. Right. Okay. So 21 years. Uh, and then other networks picked it up, kept it alive. NBC currently has it right now, but I’m pretty sure every year it’s aired at some point still. However people watch television, network television. I don’t even know. But how did we watch it?
[00:49:15] Tim: It’s been on A-B-C-N-B-C-C-B-S Fox. Um, we watched on Pluto Broadcasting, T-B-C-T-B-S. Did we watch it
[00:49:23] Josiah: on Pluto? That’s interesting.
[00:49:24] Rebekah: Yep. It’s available for free through Pluto.
[00:49:27] Josiah: Well, you know, the original story was published a month. Before its full publication in magazine form in the Red Book magazine. It was a woman’s magazine, uh, started in 1903 and it went of print in 2019.
[00:49:43] Donna: Uh, the TV special won the Grammy in 1968 for Best Children’s album. The song sat at number 32 of the top 100 Christmas songs of all time.
[00:49:57] Tim: And to Josiah’s point from a few moments ago, they gave the Grammy to Boris Carlaw.
[00:50:05] Rebekah: No,
[00:50:06] Tim: they called him up to, they gave it to the
[00:50:09] Rebekah: wrong guy.
[00:50:11] Tim: They did. Okay. That’s
[00:50:11] Donna: drama.
And we thought the first thing that ha time that happened is when they called up the wrong one on the Oscars. But we’re, are you talking about
[00:50:18] Rebekah: Ade?
[00:50:21] Tim: Well, um. How the Grinch Stole Christmas spawned a prequel in 1977, which was a Halloween special. Halloween is Grinch Night and 1980 two’s mashup the Grinch Grinches, the Cat in the Hat. Oh, thank you Dr. Seuss for making me say those kinds of things. Uh, that was followed by two feature link films we’ve talked about in 2000 with Jim Carrey in 2018 with Benedict Cumberbatch, which is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time.
Wow.
[00:50:52] Rebekah: And you can now purchase all three of them as specials, like when we were looking it up on Apple tv. Oh yeah. You can buy the package, just the individual or the whole package with all three of them. Neat.
[00:51:02] Donna: I don’t think I’ve seen those other two have you? No, I, so they didn’t make it to us, whatever that means.
[00:51:10] Tim: Nope. I, uh, I looked at little bits and pieces of them, but I didn’t see much about ’em. I have a mini game question for us, if you guys are up to it. Let’s go. Yep. Yep. What childhood book character, any that you can think of, do you think would make a great Christmas special that hasn’t been done? I named several that you probably wouldn’t pick, like Care Bears, transformers Little Engine that could Dick and Jane, Jimmy Neutron.
Fairly odd parents, but what do you think would make a really neat Christmas special?
[00:51:44] Donna: All right. I’m salty about that because the couple I thought of you put in there.
[00:51:49] Tim: Well, I just, I just thought, thought those might not, you could
[00:51:51] Rebekah: Silk choose this one? Can it be book or book and movie? ’cause you’ve named some that weren’t books, so I wanna make sure if I wanna do a movie I can Sure.
Okay. Great.
[00:51:59] Tim: Characters. It’s a, it’s a character. Okay. I, I said book character, but maybe I should have just said childhood character. Okay.
[00:52:04] Donna: Alright. I’m gonna go first because I’ll get the salt out. My original thought was Dick and Jane. ’cause I thought that’d be funny. Those little of primers You guys didn’t have Dick and Jane primers?
No. Oh my gosh. So dad and I just had a red ball. Dad and I learned to read. Read Dick and Jane books and they were two little friends and they had a little dog. Was it Tippy? Kipp Tippy. So I can’t like can’t remember. Tippy. And there was a ball and it, it was first grade. It was first grade. Reading primers.
[00:52:36] Tim: See the ball roll. That would be
[00:52:37] Donna: interesting. Of course they would find it interesting. People that are hundred years old. Just people. So since I, not too far
[00:52:44] Tim: from the nursing home, so Yeah.
[00:52:46] Donna: Since we could do it at the nursing home. That’s right. We wanna try not to put you in a home.
[00:52:51] Tim: Josiah could write the play.
Yeah. Yep.
[00:52:56] Donna: Wow. Yep. Who knows nothing about it, but. Since I realized that probably wouldn’t be, would be too dated then I thought I I have a perfect one since you said it could be a movie. The Jaws shark could go into Amity and, and he could go in and take their Christmas from them and then he could draw, he could swim out in the ocean.
Laughing Uhhuh with the bags. With the sack. I don’t think it had to be a retelling
[00:53:25] Rebekah: of the Grinch that just a
[00:53:27] Tim: Christmas story. That one might get a copy right in infringement. But
[00:53:30] Donna: telling of the Grinch it’s, it’s what would make a great Christmas special. Right. But he would steal, steal their Christmas. He would be carrying the sack of toys off into the ocean and all the people would be standing on the shore going, we don’t care.
Take our gifts. You dumb shark. Yes, baby shark. Not a baby,
[00:53:49] Tim: baby shark. And I think it would be really cool.
[00:53:52] Donna: I think it would be really cool.
[00:54:01] Tim: I think you may have lost it.
[00:54:03] Donna: I was like a separate armor.
[00:54:08] Rebekah: But they
[00:54:09] Donna: were still happy. Do you think
[00:54:11] Tim: would make a great Christmas special?
[00:54:13] Donna: But they’re like, it’s okay. I still love Christmas. I still love, it’s not about my limbs or the toy,
[00:54:21] Tim: it’s not about my, it’s not about my limbs. There’s something about the one, the one of us that is the most, grinchy being the first one to choose
[00:54:31] Donna: because the next ones will be more me, more remembered after the fir.
The last ones will be more remembered and every forget. I thought it was great if we do them well. Okay, let’s try this. Beat me then.
[00:54:47] Rebekah: Okay. Mm-hmm. I, go
[00:54:49] Donna: ahead.
[00:54:50] Rebekah: I was just personally, I was just gonna say the characters from inside out. Oh ’cause they could walk. That’s great. Her, the main character through the process of like what it feels like to realize that Christmas is more than just about getting toys.
’cause like there’s always kind of a point that you realize grow as you’re growing up. That it’s like, what if I get lots of awesome presents under the tree? That’s great, but actually there’s more to this. And so I think that could make for a very touching Christmas film.
[00:55:22] Josiah: I had a great idea. Casted underpants would be the best Christmas.
That so funny. Silly poo pu Joe.
[00:55:31] Rebekah: That sounds like the most original idea that only you ever suggested. Yeah. Yes. That’s fantastic. And
[00:55:36] Donna: his mom could sow little Christmas bows around the, around the band of his, of his underpants.
[00:55:43] Josiah: About around the bands of his wife fronts. Wow.
[00:55:48] Tim: Before, before we just jump over the cliff, uh, in a moment, um, I would like to see a Paddington Bear Christmas special.
[00:55:59] Rebekah: Okay. So let’s, uh, chat about our final verdicts. I don’t mind going first. I loved the 2018 Grinch and I think the original Christmas special is lovely. I also think the children’s book is lovely. Um, I would probably say in this case the film is better for me because again, I’m just thinking of like, what am I gonna rewatch?
And the book is so small, like it’s so short. Yeah. That I don’t get a lot of like, reuse rereading out of it, I guess. Mm-hmm. And so I love the 2018 especially, and I think that the 1966 special is just such a classic that I would wanna share with my kids and like put on at Christmas time. So probably film is better.
Um, I would write the book. I mean, it’s a wonderful kid’s book, like nine Outta 10. So my ratings probably are not gonna necessarily align, but I would say the 2018 version of the movie, I would give like a nine and a half outta 10. Like it makes me so happy in my heart. I just was like grinning from ear to ear the whole time we watched it.
2000 with Jim Carrey, I would say like 6.5 outta 10. It’s a lot of fun, but the gross stuff really like, ugh, I like it. It’s off putting and distracts me from the story a little. The original special I would give like a 10 outta 10 ’cause it’s perfect for what it was and what it was supposed to do. So my ratings don’t necessarily align with what I said about, you know, is the book or film better?
’cause I think the 2018 film, personally I like the best in terms of like rewatch ability. So
[00:57:24] Josiah: yeah, I, I’m, I’m about about there with you book for what it is, nine Outta 10. Dunno why the Grinch had to wait three hours to have this realization and he was white instead of green. Fatal flaw. So let’s say nine outta 10 for the original book, and let’s go 10 outta 10 for the special and the 2000 Jim Carrey version, from what I remember, it can have a five, it can get a five outta 10 for me, it’s just so ugly to look at and experience.
Yeah. And it’s high energy, but it is that late nineties, early two thousands aesthetic of let’s make a kid thing into a live action thing. Sure. For the whole family. And there’s so many of them that just make me uncomfortable. You ever, you remember the Dinosaurs TV show? Yes, definitely. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm.
That makes me uncomfortable in a similar way. And I think the 2018 was a huge improvement. So I’m gonna go back to nine outta 10 for the. Illumination film. It might be my favorite illumination film. I wanna rewatch, uh, despicable Me. I think they usually do like, yeah, that wasn an okay type film. Most of their films are like that, so I’m gonna give it to the TV special with, without an asterisk of 10, outta 10.
It’s just a perfect Christmas special that I think we’ll be watching in another 60 years.
[00:58:56] Donna: I am very similar to the two of you. I felt like the book was sweet. Um, not that I, I may not go back and read it, but it would be lovely to read to children and, and just appropriate, it’s just good. It’s feel good.
Um, then this, the. Special. I, I don’t know how many times I’ve said this before, or maybe not too many. I don’t like animated films in general. There are a few that I’ve enjoyed and I’ve, I’ve had a good time watching, but over, I’m not just gonna go, oh, let’s go see it. It’s the cartoon version. Um, so it was one though that I could watch again and I could enjoy again.
Um, so I, I really, really had fun with it. So 10 outta 10 for me, it, it’s, it’s a good length. It doesn’t drag on and get weird or, you know, they don’t try to, they don’t try to mess with the original article. And I think that was great because the original article’s really cool. Um, the 2000 film with Jim Carrey, the coloration of the film was dark.
[01:00:10] Rebekah: Yeah. It like, because we
[01:00:11] Donna: watched the two together, it
[01:00:12] Rebekah: made everything mm-hmm. In Whoville, like, look dirty. Yes. Even though it’s like supposed to be this like bright fun Yes. Super Christmasy place. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I, so I think that threw me off for sure. Yeah. And
[01:00:24] Donna: it, it, I didn’t, I felt like, uh, when you said you thought it was, it just seemed dirty or whatever, I thought about him pulling on his Grinch pants and I thought, okay, that was funny.
And Jim Carrey is an amazing physical actor. Like he’s, he slapstick, would Josiah, would that be the right way to categorize him? He is a slapstick, the falls, the, mm-hmm. The very physical. He does that well. But it didn’t help me, it didn’t help me with the story. It didn’t make the story more special or more important.
And so I’m gonna go low there, five and a half, six, maybe. The 2018 film. Honestly, I remember seeing it, I remember liking it, but I didn’t realize it resonated with me this time when we watched it in prep for this in a great way. I want to see it again. I, I enjoyed it. I mean, easy nine, nine and a half. I thought it’s, I thought it was great.
I, uh, enjoyed it and I’m really glad we covered it. I, I’ve had a, a great time talking about it. We’ve laughed a lot. We’ve had, you know, we’ve in, we’ve discovered new things about it, but we’ve also remembered the, the warm fuzzy feeling it gives us. So, yeah. Mm-hmm. I enjoyed it.
[01:01:50] Tim: Well, I love Christmas, um, Rebecca and I share that for sure, uh, Josiah as well.
Um, but I really enjoy, um, enjoyed the 66 special. Um, I’ve watched that since I could remember. Um, along with the others, the Charlie Brown Christmas and Frosty the Snowman, uh, and a few others that I watched as a child and watched with my children. Um, I would give that, uh, I would give that a, a nine out of 10 or a 10 out of 10.
Um, it is what it’s supposed to be. Yeah. It leaves you with the right kind of feeling, you know, you, you want to feel happy about that and that things can change and bad things can become good. And so I really like that. I, I didn’t care for the Jim Carrey 2000 film. There’s something about it that Al always just felt very strange to me.
Mm-hmm. And it’s not one that I have rewatched, probably I’ve seen it twice, maybe. Um, but the 2018 Cumberbatch one, I think it has the same feeling that it leaves you with. Um, it’s just, you just feel good about it. It, it feels good to watch. And even when the Grinch is trying to be bad, you see that there’s still good that he’s trying to push out.
Yeah. Yeah. And he’s trying to push aside. And so I would give that one, um, an eight out of 10. I could watch that one again. Sure. Yeah. Um, without any problem. So I really enjoyed the book, uh, for what it is. I would give it an eight out of 10 as well. Um, it’s very short and very quick, but I think that there’s been a lot of improvement on it.
Some from Dr. Seuss himself with the, uh, 66 special and some with others who’ve taken up the mantle and said, let’s do this justice. Let’s do a really good thing here. So I enjoyed them all.
[01:03:54] Rebekah: Awesome. Well, if you are still searching. For your gift idea for the book is Better Pot Crew. You know what to do.
Leave us a review. Oh my gosh. That rhymed every time. I did. Not every time. Every single I didn’t intend for that was totally on accident.
[01:04:14] Donna: Oh, it was a verys like Freudian slip. Susie, its And Susie and Slip.
[01:04:20] Rebekah: Yes. Well, if you don’t have the time to leave us a review. Maybe subscribe on Patreon. We’re live there now.
Got lots of fun rewards for you as part of a free or paid tier. Free tier is a great way to just get notified every time we have new episodes. Uh, we also have a free Discord that you can join at the link in the episode description. We’re pretty active on social as well, so follow us anywhere. At Book is Better Pod.
But thanks, just for listening and from all of the hosts to you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas,
[01:04:52] Josiah: Mery Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Yes. Aww.
[01:04:56] Rebekah: I love it. Bye.
[01:05:12] Josiah: Arche. Isn’t archeology a funny word? Archeology.
[01:05:18] Music: Oh my gosh, about
[01:05:19] Josiah: that today.
[01:05:19] Music: Wow.