How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

It was around this time last year when I complained about the fact that there are not enough animated Christmas movies out there and Dell from Dell on Movies suggested How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Being a bit of a Grinch myself, and annoyed by Jim Carrey's version, I decided to give it a shot. 

As you know, unless you've been living under a rock for your entire life, this short animated film tells the story of the Grinch (voiced by Boris Karloff), a grumpy and hateful creature who hates Christmas and all the people having a happy time celebrating it. For this reason, he disguises himself as Santa and his dog as one of Santa's reindeers and raids the village to steal all the Christmas things so that everyone will have a very sad Christmas this year.

It's a very simple and predictable story but, unlike the 2000 film which got entangled with subplots, more subplots and a background story to explain why the Grinch hates Christmas, it goes straight to the point and successfully delivers the important message that every one of us needs to hear: Christmas doesn't/shouldn't come from a store, but it means/should mean a little bit more. It's not about the gifts and all the commercialism, but it's about family and friends, spending quality time with them and being grateful for everyone and everyone you have in your life. Unfortunately, nowadays it's all about the presents, who's got the best Christmas decorations, who's hosted the best Christmas party, the reason why I'm a bit of a Grinch.

As for the characters, given the length of the film —only 26 minutes—, they too had to be very simplistic. This, however, doesn't take away from them at all as they still manage to have nice personalities, be charming and lovable. The Grinch is nasty without being too scary, Max the dog is adorable and little Cindy Lou Who is sweet and adorable —way more than Taylor Momsen's in the 2000 film.

MGM Television, Warner Bros. Television Distribution

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! also benefits from Boris Karloff's performance which is so good, you forget that his voice is pretty much the only one we hear —he narrates the story and also voices the Grinch. The music is very catchy and fun, and the colourful animation, while very simple, is very charming.