The Grinch

You know the story, of course. This time, in the hands of writers Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow and directors Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, the smoothly animated result isn’t as dreadful as the Jim Carrey live-action version, but it’s almost as wrong-headed. The simple pleasure of Dr. Seuss’ original, stretched to feature length, gets pulled out of shape, digressing from the Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) stealing Christmas into the playtime adventures of Cindy-Lou Who (Cameron Seely) and her pals, elbowing the big green guy into a supporting role. The 1966 TV cartoon remains peerless, and this remake, like the Carrey version, remains superfluous. It doesn’t have director Chuck Jones or narrator Boris Karloff—and truth to tell, it doesn’t have all that much of Dr. Seuss either. J.L.