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Grinch: Interactive Playset, The
Universal // PG // November 20, 2001
List Price: $39.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I walked out of "The Grinch" last Winter and found myself mildly dissapointed. I'd thought that Ron Howard and Jim Carrey might actually have a sizable failure on their hands - of course, the film has now entered into the "What Do I Know?" catagory, as it went on to be one of the biggest moneymakers of all time, not only raking in over 200 million dollars at the box office, but bringing in untold millions in licensed products.
"The Grinch" does have one wonderfully rich piece of the puzzle: Jim Carrey, who cements his reputation in my mind as something of an "absurd genius" with his performance as the title character. Let me get that out of the way before I go any further. Buried under tons of makeup, he still shines through. Using both his voice brilliantly and his skill for physical comedy wonderfully, he takes the film away. He is a genius, but in this case, maybe he's just too good for the movie that surrounds him. Carrey does the Grinch so perfectly that when he's not on-screen, the movie stalls.
The film revolves around the Whos, who live in Whoville, which is made up of overblown Christmas-themed sets. The Grinch, on the other hand, lives on top of a mountain filled with garbage, hating Christmas - but even more so, hating how he was made fun of as a little Grinch in school. If I remember correctly, we're not supposed to like the Grinch, right? This feature film turns the tables and makes us dislike the Whos, who we hardly get to know in much depth or detail.
The look of the film really doesn't do it any favors, either. The sets are overdone and too artificial looking and the colors seem off, as well. Rather than bright, they seem muddled and murky. The movie seems to also be inconsistently shot with a soft look, which was an odd choice by director Ron Howard and usually reliable cinematographer Don Peterman, who has worked on Barry Sonnenfeld's pictures. This near-hazy look seemed to only succeed in obscuring the detail of the sets.
The film also suffers from a running time that could have easily been shortened by at least 15 minutes. Taken from a rather short source, the story seems stretched out with too many subplots and moments of filler. Above it all, one has to be amazed by Carrey, who not only suffered through what was reportedly a lot of pain with the special contact lenses that he had to wear and general uncomfort with the make-up, but was able to still remain so impressively lively when buried under all that...stuff. It's Carrey's occasionally amazing work which wrings what few laughs come from "The Grinch". Maybe they shouldn't have chosen a screenplay from the writers of "Wild, Wild West"? Just a thought.
While not a total failure (and certainly not a failure at the box office) one wishes that "The Grinch" would have followed a little closer to the original story and went through a few revisions and changes and edits to make the pace stronger, dialogue sharper and "look" better.
The DVD
VIDEO: The DVD that is included with the "Interactive Playset" version of "The Grinch" offers the film in a 1.33:1 full_screen version. Aside from the fact that Universal has missed an opportunity to educate a new generation about the viewing films in their original aspect ratio, this presentation didn't offer the same image quality as the anamorphic widescreen edition. Sharpness and detail on the widescreen edition of "The Grinch", as I discussed on that review, was already not particularly strong, but as it appeared that way in the theater, apparently this was a choice from cinematographer Don Peterman and director Howard. Unfortunately, this full_frame edition of the picture offered a picture that seemed even slightly less well-defined, as the softness often displayed in the picture seemed even a bit softer.
Again, concerns (aside from the occasionally irritating softness) remained minor. A few specks on the print used and a tiny trace or two of edge enhancement were noticable, but no pixelation or other problems were seen. Colors remained rather drab again on this edition of the movie, aside from the reds, which occasionally seemed to stand out. As expected, the anamorphic widescreen edition presented stronger image quality.
SOUND: "The Grinch" is presented in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. The film's sound design was generally appropriate and took advantage of the opportunities that some scenes presented for surround use. While not agressive, the surrounds were put into use occasionally for sound effects, such as a few echoes during the scenes when the Grinch was in his cave. Other than those occasional sound effects, the score was occasionally nicely re-inforced by the rear speakers. Audio quality remained pleasant throughout, as the music displayed nice warmth, while dialogue and sound effects both came through clearly. The DTS edition of the soundtrack remained more pleasing throughout the film, offering a noticably richer and more detailed sound in comparison to the Dolby Digital edition.
I was also pleased to see that Universal has included DVS (Descriptive Video Service) on this DVD edition. What this is is a "narration" of the movie for those who are blind. Not only is this provided for the feature, but it's also available for the supplemental features, as well. Nice work!
MENUS:: A clip from the movie leads into a fun, animated main menu. Even better though, are the well-done animated transitions between the main and sub-menus.
EXTRAS::
Interactive Playset: This "Interactive Playset" edition of "The Grinch" comes in book form rather than the usual keep cases that DVD fans are used to. Once one unwraps the packaging and opens it up, the book folds out into a pop-up, with three different scenes from the film. Some little elements of each scene are interactive and can be moved around. Although there's not a great deal involved, as the book only offers the three sequences and nothing else, it was a sturdy and nicely produced effort. The little ones will likely find this a good deal of fun, but I think that this could have been priced a little lower - maybe $34.98 retail instead of $39.99. The DVD is stored in a little plastic case under the background of one of the scenes.
Spotlight On Location: This is considerably shorter than the usual Universal making-of featurette at about 7 minutes, but it does thankfully get to the point and provide some interesting information in the limited length. The interviews that start off the documentary are rather promotional, but there are some interesting elements later on, such discussion of the effects (matte paintings as backgrounds), bringing in Hopkins to narrate and other tidbits.
Deleted Scenes: 9 1/2 minutes of deleted scenes were presented in this section. Unfortunately, they were neither available to select separately nor with audio commentary. While these extended and deleted sequences were occasionally funny, they didn't really do much for the story and would have really just added additional length.
Outtakes: The outtakes portion of any disc is always welcome, as it gives the viewer a chance to see the actors mess up or simply let loose on set. Although one would expect hilarity from outtakes of Jim Carrey, these were simply ok, occasionally bringing a smile, but no huge laughs were to be found here in this 3 minute section.
Who School: This is an interesting, if unfortunately rather short, featurette about the stunt coordinator's desire to craft a certain physical language for the Who characters, some of whom are Cirque De Soleil performers, which I didn't know.
Make-Up Design: Rick Baker is easily one of the most highly regarded make-up designers in Hollywood and this featurette has Baker discussing his visions for the make-up of both the Grinch and the Who characters. The featurette also shows some of the original concepts and moments of behind-the-scenes looks at application.
Seussian Set Design: This featurette offers interviews with both the production designer and director Ron Howard, who discuss their views about taking the world of Whoville from the page and expanding it outwards for the screen.
Visual Effects: This 10 minute featurette offers visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack discussing his role in the picture. While I was aware that the film involved some visual effects sequences and artificial backgrounds, I was impressed to find that the film involved 600 visual effects shots, including extending the town outward, adding additional virtual people in the backgrounds and other added elements. We're also shown the various stages of various shots as effects are added in. I definitely found this to be the more interesting and informative of the featurettes included.
Also: Faith Hill, "Where Are You Christmas?" music video,Wholiday Recipes, By the Numbers (text list of the impressive amount of some of the supplies used in the film), trailer (Dolby 2.0), promo, "E.T." theatrical re-release trailer, production notes, cast/crew bios, recommendations, DVD-ROM materials, Grinch game trailer, DVD Newsletter
Max's Playhouse: This is an additional area of "kid-friendly" supplemental features. A section allows kids to put the Grinch in different clothes, while also included are: a story ("the Care and Feeding of a Grinch"), 2 sing-along songs, an interactive game and a feature that tells children how to navigate a DVD.
Final Thoughts: While I didn't find "The Grinch" completely without merit, I really would have prefered a less noisy adaptation that relied less on filler and gave the actors well-defined characters and better, funnier material. Universal's DVD offers good audio/video quality as well as a decent helping of supplemental features (for a "Collector's Edition", a commentary would have been appreciated.) Fans of the film - and judging by the grosses, there's more than a few - should certainly seek out the DVD edition. Those who haven't seen it and are interested might be better with a rental first. Although it's unfortunate that this "playset" doesn't offer a widescreen presentation of the movie, I'm sure that there will still be parents seeking it out for their young children. While the "playset" is a neat idea, most will likely find the widescreen collector's edition, which offers the film in its original asepct ratio, is a better value at several dollars less.
Note: A review of the "Widescreen Collector's Edition" version is also available.
I walked out of "The Grinch" last Winter and found myself mildly dissapointed. I'd thought that Ron Howard and Jim Carrey might actually have a sizable failure on their hands - of course, the film has now entered into the "What Do I Know?" catagory, as it went on to be one of the biggest moneymakers of all time, not only raking in over 200 million dollars at the box office, but bringing in untold millions in licensed products.
"The Grinch" does have one wonderfully rich piece of the puzzle: Jim Carrey, who cements his reputation in my mind as something of an "absurd genius" with his performance as the title character. Let me get that out of the way before I go any further. Buried under tons of makeup, he still shines through. Using both his voice brilliantly and his skill for physical comedy wonderfully, he takes the film away. He is a genius, but in this case, maybe he's just too good for the movie that surrounds him. Carrey does the Grinch so perfectly that when he's not on-screen, the movie stalls.
The film revolves around the Whos, who live in Whoville, which is made up of overblown Christmas-themed sets. The Grinch, on the other hand, lives on top of a mountain filled with garbage, hating Christmas - but even more so, hating how he was made fun of as a little Grinch in school. If I remember correctly, we're not supposed to like the Grinch, right? This feature film turns the tables and makes us dislike the Whos, who we hardly get to know in much depth or detail.
The look of the film really doesn't do it any favors, either. The sets are overdone and too artificial looking and the colors seem off, as well. Rather than bright, they seem muddled and murky. The movie seems to also be inconsistently shot with a soft look, which was an odd choice by director Ron Howard and usually reliable cinematographer Don Peterman, who has worked on Barry Sonnenfeld's pictures. This near-hazy look seemed to only succeed in obscuring the detail of the sets.
The film also suffers from a running time that could have easily been shortened by at least 15 minutes. Taken from a rather short source, the story seems stretched out with too many subplots and moments of filler. Above it all, one has to be amazed by Carrey, who not only suffered through what was reportedly a lot of pain with the special contact lenses that he had to wear and general uncomfort with the make-up, but was able to still remain so impressively lively when buried under all that...stuff. It's Carrey's occasionally amazing work which wrings what few laughs come from "The Grinch". Maybe they shouldn't have chosen a screenplay from the writers of "Wild, Wild West"? Just a thought.
While not a total failure (and certainly not a failure at the box office) one wishes that "The Grinch" would have followed a little closer to the original story and went through a few revisions and changes and edits to make the pace stronger, dialogue sharper and "look" better.
The DVD
VIDEO: The DVD that is included with the "Interactive Playset" version of "The Grinch" offers the film in a 1.33:1 full_screen version. Aside from the fact that Universal has missed an opportunity to educate a new generation about the viewing films in their original aspect ratio, this presentation didn't offer the same image quality as the anamorphic widescreen edition. Sharpness and detail on the widescreen edition of "The Grinch", as I discussed on that review, was already not particularly strong, but as it appeared that way in the theater, apparently this was a choice from cinematographer Don Peterman and director Howard. Unfortunately, this full_frame edition of the picture offered a picture that seemed even slightly less well-defined, as the softness often displayed in the picture seemed even a bit softer.
Again, concerns (aside from the occasionally irritating softness) remained minor. A few specks on the print used and a tiny trace or two of edge enhancement were noticable, but no pixelation or other problems were seen. Colors remained rather drab again on this edition of the movie, aside from the reds, which occasionally seemed to stand out. As expected, the anamorphic widescreen edition presented stronger image quality.
SOUND: "The Grinch" is presented in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. The film's sound design was generally appropriate and took advantage of the opportunities that some scenes presented for surround use. While not agressive, the surrounds were put into use occasionally for sound effects, such as a few echoes during the scenes when the Grinch was in his cave. Other than those occasional sound effects, the score was occasionally nicely re-inforced by the rear speakers. Audio quality remained pleasant throughout, as the music displayed nice warmth, while dialogue and sound effects both came through clearly. The DTS edition of the soundtrack remained more pleasing throughout the film, offering a noticably richer and more detailed sound in comparison to the Dolby Digital edition.
I was also pleased to see that Universal has included DVS (Descriptive Video Service) on this DVD edition. What this is is a "narration" of the movie for those who are blind. Not only is this provided for the feature, but it's also available for the supplemental features, as well. Nice work!
MENUS:: A clip from the movie leads into a fun, animated main menu. Even better though, are the well-done animated transitions between the main and sub-menus.
EXTRAS::
Interactive Playset: This "Interactive Playset" edition of "The Grinch" comes in book form rather than the usual keep cases that DVD fans are used to. Once one unwraps the packaging and opens it up, the book folds out into a pop-up, with three different scenes from the film. Some little elements of each scene are interactive and can be moved around. Although there's not a great deal involved, as the book only offers the three sequences and nothing else, it was a sturdy and nicely produced effort. The little ones will likely find this a good deal of fun, but I think that this could have been priced a little lower - maybe $34.98 retail instead of $39.99. The DVD is stored in a little plastic case under the background of one of the scenes.
Spotlight On Location: This is considerably shorter than the usual Universal making-of featurette at about 7 minutes, but it does thankfully get to the point and provide some interesting information in the limited length. The interviews that start off the documentary are rather promotional, but there are some interesting elements later on, such discussion of the effects (matte paintings as backgrounds), bringing in Hopkins to narrate and other tidbits.
Deleted Scenes: 9 1/2 minutes of deleted scenes were presented in this section. Unfortunately, they were neither available to select separately nor with audio commentary. While these extended and deleted sequences were occasionally funny, they didn't really do much for the story and would have really just added additional length.
Outtakes: The outtakes portion of any disc is always welcome, as it gives the viewer a chance to see the actors mess up or simply let loose on set. Although one would expect hilarity from outtakes of Jim Carrey, these were simply ok, occasionally bringing a smile, but no huge laughs were to be found here in this 3 minute section.
Who School: This is an interesting, if unfortunately rather short, featurette about the stunt coordinator's desire to craft a certain physical language for the Who characters, some of whom are Cirque De Soleil performers, which I didn't know.
Make-Up Design: Rick Baker is easily one of the most highly regarded make-up designers in Hollywood and this featurette has Baker discussing his visions for the make-up of both the Grinch and the Who characters. The featurette also shows some of the original concepts and moments of behind-the-scenes looks at application.
Seussian Set Design: This featurette offers interviews with both the production designer and director Ron Howard, who discuss their views about taking the world of Whoville from the page and expanding it outwards for the screen.
Visual Effects: This 10 minute featurette offers visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack discussing his role in the picture. While I was aware that the film involved some visual effects sequences and artificial backgrounds, I was impressed to find that the film involved 600 visual effects shots, including extending the town outward, adding additional virtual people in the backgrounds and other added elements. We're also shown the various stages of various shots as effects are added in. I definitely found this to be the more interesting and informative of the featurettes included.
Also: Faith Hill, "Where Are You Christmas?" music video,Wholiday Recipes, By the Numbers (text list of the impressive amount of some of the supplies used in the film), trailer (Dolby 2.0), promo, "E.T." theatrical re-release trailer, production notes, cast/crew bios, recommendations, DVD-ROM materials, Grinch game trailer, DVD Newsletter
Max's Playhouse: This is an additional area of "kid-friendly" supplemental features. A section allows kids to put the Grinch in different clothes, while also included are: a story ("the Care and Feeding of a Grinch"), 2 sing-along songs, an interactive game and a feature that tells children how to navigate a DVD.
Final Thoughts: While I didn't find "The Grinch" completely without merit, I really would have prefered a less noisy adaptation that relied less on filler and gave the actors well-defined characters and better, funnier material. Universal's DVD offers good audio/video quality as well as a decent helping of supplemental features (for a "Collector's Edition", a commentary would have been appreciated.) Fans of the film - and judging by the grosses, there's more than a few - should certainly seek out the DVD edition. Those who haven't seen it and are interested might be better with a rental first. Although it's unfortunate that this "playset" doesn't offer a widescreen presentation of the movie, I'm sure that there will still be parents seeking it out for their young children. While the "playset" is a neat idea, most will likely find the widescreen collector's edition, which offers the film in its original asepct ratio, is a better value at several dollars less.
Note: A review of the "Widescreen Collector's Edition" version is also available.
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