Purely Joyful Movie!

Pretty Good

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977)** 1/2 (out of 4)This twenty-five minute television special is a sequel to HOW THE GRINCH STOLE Christmas but of course this doesn't feature Boris Karloff's voice sadly. As far as the film goes, this time out the Grinch decides he needs to return to Whoville and make sure they don't have any fun at Halloween time.HALLOWEEN IS GRINCH NIGHT certainly isn't the masterpiece that the original film was but to be fair one really shouldn't turn this on and expect it to be. For the most part this is a mildly entertaining special that will probably keep the kids a lot happier than their parents. Once again we're treated to some wonderful animation and there's no question that the Grinch character is one of legend. The major problem that I had with the film is that I didn't really care for any of the musical numbers. They were decent but just not good enough to hold my attention throughout the running time.

Halloween is Grinch Night is not going to appeal to everybody, people will find it hugely entertaining and others will find it bizarre. I do belong in the former category, but I can certainly understand the latter opinion as well. It is not as good as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but is still very impressive. The animation is very good, it is full of colour and the Paraphanelia Wagon sequence is memorably trippy. The music is wonderful, I love the jauntiness of the incidental scoring and the songs are very catchy. Max also sings and his song I found touching as a child and still do at 20. There are more faithful Dr Seuss adaptations out there, but the rhymes that form the dialogue are witty and elegant at the same time, while the story is briskly paced and bewitchingly oddball. The characters are ones you engage with, The Grinch himself will live long in the memory, and the voice acting is superb especially the soothing then terrifying narrator/Grinch of Hans Conreid, a worthy successor to Boris Karloff. So all in all, a great and underrated special. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I never heard of this movie, and when I discovered there was an Emmy- winning Grinch sequel written by Dr. Suess, I had to see it. Unfortunately, it's not very good. I realize I'm going against the tide here, but I suspect all these glowing reviews are by those who first saw the movie as a kid, and thus have an opinion based on a child's mind. From an adult perspective, it's really not very good.The most surprising thing is how poor the writing is compared to classic Dr. Suess books. I had to check the credits to make sure this was really written by Dr. Suess, because the meters and rhymes are much less elegant than one would expect; it actually sounds like someone trying to copy Suess and failing. I can only suspect that he simply wasn't putting the same effort into perfecting the rhymes of the show as he did in his books.While the original Grinch story had a wonderful fable-like quality, this is pretty much just standards kid fare, with an overly busy plot and poor songs. But apparently if you're a kid there's a good chance you'll love it.

Nasty old killjoy the Grinch (superbly voiced with deliciously oily aplomb by Hans Conried, who also does the charming narration) plans to pay the Whos in Whoville a decidedly unpleasant visit during a fierce wind storm. It's up to brave little Who Eukariah (an endearing sweet voice by Gary Shapiro) to stop the no-good Grinch. This typically offbeat and imaginative tale by Dr. Seuss not only offers the expected oddball creatures, catchy and witty songs, and trademark wacky rhymes, but also a spot-on central message about one can only effectively surmount fear by facing it head on. The Grinch makes for a delightfully sour and glowering buzz-crusher villain while Eukariah is a likable protagonist. The sequence in which a creepy array of spooky ghosts and grotesque ghouls try to scare Eukariah is wonderfully trippy and macabre. Henry Gibson as the voice of the Grinch's hapless browbeaten dog Max sings a hauntingly sad song. The animation is extremely vivid, colorful, and creative. Joe Raposo's infectiously jaunty score further enhances the enjoyably kooky merriment. A pleasingly quirky romp.