OBS BOOK VS. MOVIE: HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

“Then he got an idea! An awful idea! THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!”

Brought to you by OBS staff member Erin

The Grinch lives just North of Who-ville, and hates when the Who’s celebrate Christmas. So he decides to stop it – by stealing Christmas!

One of the most popular Christmas movies ever, How the Grinch Stole Christmas almost didn’t get made. At first, Dr. Seuss was reluctant to animate the Grinch. But once he began seeing the animation and hearing the songs, he began to get excited. Some lines have been added to lengthen the movie, but Dr. Seuss wrote the extra lines and song lyrics, so they stayed true to the book. Dr. Seuss teamed up with Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny fame) to animate the classic book for the new audience of children. Boris Karloff narrates, with Thurl Ravenscroft (who was also the voice of Tony the Tiger) singing the iconic theme song.

Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones had been work partners before the Grinch; before World War II they created an Army training film featuring a character called Private Snafu. They continued to work together, creating Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax.

The Similarities:
– It’s almost word for word from the book
– His heart still grows three sizes
– The animation stays true to the book

The Differences:
– The thread the Grinch uses to tie an antler on Max is black in the movie, red in the book
– The Grinch is even more mean in the movie
– There are additional lines, and songs

Overall Accuracy: 5 out of 5

Check out the forum post for another poster and discussion HERE.