The story
About How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A sour green recluse living in a cave on a snowy mountain above a cheerful little town cannot stand the noise of its Christmas. So on Christmas Eve he stitches himself a Father Christmas suit, dresses his long-suffering dog up as a reindeer and goes down every chimney in town, taking the trees, the decorations, the stockings, the presents and the Christmas dinner. Then he waits at the top of the mountain to hear the town wake up miserable. Chuck Jones's half-hour cartoon of the Dr. Seuss book, narrated by Boris Karloff.
The CineClaus verdict
Twenty-six minutes, and not one of them wasted.
Chuck Jones gives the Dr. Seuss book its colour and its timing, the green recluse's slow, spreading smile is the best bit of villainy in any cartoon, and Boris Karloff reads the whole thing as if he is enjoying it as much as you are.
The long-suffering dog steals every scene he is dragged into. The ending works because it is so simple. Of all the versions, this is the one to start with, and the one to come back to.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: rated U by the BBFC. The only rough stuff is slapstick, mostly the dog getting buried in snow and run over by a sleigh, so the kids can watch this one, though the very youngest may mind watching the presents vanish.
Content advice & accessibility
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official U certificate, and never looser than it.
