Oh. Dear. God. First Fox beat up my childhood with Horton Hears A Who! Then, Universal and Illumination Entertainment turned The Lorax into a pandering piece of colored plastic. Now, as if that was not enough, the same folks who brought us that piece of trite, embarassing hogwash (I wanted to use a stronger word, but this is a family site) have set their sights on yet another version of a beloved Seuss story: How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Yep, Universal and Illumation Entertainment plan to do another adaptation of that beloved children’s book about how Christmas is all about love and togetherness and not conspicuous consumption. Because the live-action Jim Carrey vehicle of The Grinch just wasn’t enough to murder our collective childhood. They’ve got to try it again. Illumination chief Christopher Meledandri is even one of the people behind both Horton Hears A Who! and The Lorax. Great.
This new adaptation of How The Grinch Stole Christmas will be directed by Peter Candeland, a man who has never directed a full-length feature before. There have been no reports yet about how they plan to stretch the relatively sparse little book into a full-length film that is not simply a retread of the ‘hip’ version with Carrey. Here’s hoping that Illumination will at least stick to animation and not go for the live-action again. Beyond the sheer badness of the Carrey film, it was also creepy as hell.
It might be unfair to jump on this one, as I admit I’m doing, and assume that it will be awful. But the track record of modern companies producing adaptations of Dr. Seuss books has not been good. Since the stellar cartoons that came out in the 1960s – including the beloved How The Grinch Stole Christmas narrated by Boris Karloff – there has been a dearth of good Seuss films, live action or not.
Finally, why are we returning yet again to How The Grinch Stole Christmas? What about Yertle The Turtle, starring Kevin James? Or perhaps The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, with Steve Carell voicing one of the plucky little hats? The mind boggles. So many childhood memories to ruin. Get a move on, Hollywood.
What do you think about this latest move to re-adapt How The Grinch Stole Christmas? Is there any hope? Let us know in the comments.