Story
The Grinch is a Christmas tale based on a Dr Seuss book. It tells the story of the Grinch (Jim Carrey) who lives on Mt Crumpit, a lonely place in the hills behind Whoville. The Grinch is a grumpy character, and most of the residents of Whoville are afraid of him. One little girl, Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen), sees past the Grinch’s surface and wonders why he’s so grouchy. Cindy Lou also wonders whether the hustle and bustle of Whoville at Christmas shows the true Christmas spirit. Cindy Lou decides to show some Christmas spirit and find out why the Grinch hates Christmas so much.
When Cindy Lou invites the Grinch to the annual Christmas ‘Who-bration’, he doesn’t want to go at first. But he’s lonely and eventually decides to give it a try. The people in Whoville accept the Grinch with open arms, and he gets into the celebration. But then his childhood nemesis, Augustus May Who (Jeffrey Tambor), turns up and reminds the Grinch of his traumatic childhood.
Themes
Bullying
Violence
This movie contains some violence. For example:
Sexual references
This movie has some sexual references. For example:
- Martha and the Grinch have a crush on each other. They flirt a little bit. A flashback scene of when they were young shows Martha swooning about the Grinch’s ‘brute strength’.
- When the Grinch is reunited with his carers and they hug and touch him, he says, ‘Don’t touch me there’.
- Cindy Lou’s mother says to her father, ‘Merry Christmas, you hunk of burning Who’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some use of substances. For example:
- The Grinch eats a wine bottle and says that it’s an ‘excellent year’.
- The Grinch asks Max, his dog, to bring him his sedative.
- The Grinch takes a liquor bottle from one of the Whoville residents and drinks it.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Mr and Mrs Who (Cindy’s parents) kiss each other.
- Martha jiggles her chest at the Grinch.
- At an adult party, the adults dance and ride on each others’ backs. Then they pull each others’ house keys out of a bowl.
Product placement
This movie has no product placement of concern.
Coarse language
There’s some coarse language in this movie.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Grinch is a Christmas tale of the grumpy Grinch and his attempt to steal Christmas. It’s also about how one little girl tries to stop him and bring back the real Christmas spirit to the town of Whoville.
The main messages from this movie are about finding the true sprit of Christmas in your family and loved ones.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include forgiveness and family togetherness.
This movie could give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as bullying. You could talk about what effect bullying has on the Grinch, as a child and as an adult. Would things have been different if one of his school friends had stood up for him instead of laughing at him? You could also discuss difference. How might it feel to be different? How do you like other people to treat your differences?