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23
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34
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60
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78
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55
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69
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58
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47
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67
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86
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30
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83
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45
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88
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71
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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63
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73
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16
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75
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83
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61
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70
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66
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59
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34
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54
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76
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79
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40
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89
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69
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64
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74
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69
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70
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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Family/Kids
Written by:
Dr. Seuss (book)
Jeffrey Price
Peter S. Seaman
Directed by: Ron Howard
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 17, 2000
DVD: November 20, 2001
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some crude humor
Starring Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, and Anthony Hopkins
Ron Howard directs comedian Jim Carrey in the title role of this live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss's beloved Christmas tale How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Boston Globe Jay Carr
With Carrey hitting a career peak, this Grinch doesn't steal Christmas; it restores the season by helping energize us enough to make it through the whole thing.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
He's (Carrey) a marvelous Grinch in this spirited, bustling and mostly faithful spin on Seuss.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Opulence almost interferes with the movie, weighing it down when it should seem lighter than air, surrounding the inarguably brilliant Carrey with too much frosting and frou-frou.
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Carrey is excellent, making the most of his comic gifts even in a cumbersome Grinch outfit, and the eye-spinning color scheme is dazzling to behold.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Not likely to become any landmark achievement, yet it's sure to earn a berth among the perennial Christmas film classics.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
If anything, the real surprise here is how affecting he makes the Grinch's ultimate big hearted turnaround, as Carrey the actor sneaks up on Carrey the wild man dervish. In whichever mode, he carreys the movie.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
By far the best and cutest thing about How the Grinch Stole Christmas is the dog Max.
San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
Leave it to Ron Howard to turn a plaintive Dr. Seuss ditty into a C-grade Tim Burton psychodrama.
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
One overstuffed movie, but it's by no means a turkey.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
The scenes involving just him (Carrey) are funny and full of life. All the other scenes are not.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Overall, the film sparkles. But it's a curiously unaffecting sparkle, an example, almost, of how the special effects stole Christmas.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
The movie rises to another level whenever its star has a chance to cut loose -- leading the ensemble in a conga line, winning a sack race in slow motion, torching the Whos' Christmas tree while screaming, "Burn baby burn."
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It's a big stuffed turkey of a movie, just in time for the holidays.
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Noisy, random and hard on the eyes.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I am not a mind-reader and cannot be sure, but I think a lot of children are going to look at this movie with perplexity and distaste. It's just not much fun.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
The heart of this movie isn't two sizes too small; it's just slightly misplaced.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Misfires on nearly every possible level.
LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
This new feature has replaced the original's benevolence, taste and wit with cynicism, armpit humor and manic, desperately unfunny padding.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The dullest, clunkiest, big-budget fantasy since Steven Spielberg flattened Peter Pan in "Hook."
Washington Post Desson Thomson
It's not Christmas that's being stolen here. It's the spirit of Dr. Seuss.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
You will not like it on the screen, you will not like it -- not one scene!
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Profoundly unnecessary -- cluttered, padded even at 90 minutes, indifferently narrated by Anthony Hopkins, and consistently misdirected by Ron Howard.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Shrill, strenuous and entirely without charm, Ron Howard's attempt at a Christmas classic is an elaborately wrapped empty box that will fool many people into buying it but will not greatly please its recipients.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
So clogged with kooky gadgetry and special effects and glitter and goo that watching it feels like being gridlocked at Toys "R" Us during the Christmas rush.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ryencoke gave it a10:
I can't believe all of the negative reviews on this film. I saw it in theaters years ago, and to this day I still will gladly consider it the best Christmas movie of all time. Jim Carrey, is without question the best grinch anybody could have asked for. Amazing and very well done.
Jared B gave it a10:
From reading other critics' reviews, I can only assume that they were expecting something along the lines of Shakespeare. This is a Jim Carrey film. So, obviously, that's not gonna happen. My advice is to just take the movie for what it is: a light, breezy, and very funny adaptation of one of Dr. Seuss' best works. This has something the animated version didn't have. This one actually explains what made the Grinch such a jerk. Trust me, if I had been picked on as much as he was, I'd have anger issues too. I loved the way this movie dared to explore his attitude from that angle. This film was directed with an enormous amount of energy by Ron Howard. The casting was probably the most brilliant thing about this film. Besides Carrey, the best casting decision was a little girl named Taylor Momsen, who is absolutely wonderful as Cindy Lou, the heroine of the story. I also enjoyed Jeffrey Tambor as the Mayor of Whoville. All I can say is, some critics just need to lighten up and enjoy movies for what they are instead of what they could be.
John T gave it an8:
I think it was good.BUT........why make a movie about someone STEALING CHRISTMAS!!!!!!Bad subject,ok movie.By the way..........the grinch has a heart and just needs to let it out.
Jeff F. gave it a3:
Very depressing. With one of the worst soundtracks of all time.
Squeegie B. gave it a2:
This movie was a massecre of the origional cartoon. never in my wildest dreames have i thought that i would see a good movie be slapdashed in such a way!!!!
[Anonymous] gave it a4:
Okay in itself, but the Grinch seems pedophilic... the Whos are obsessed, and the mayor is just wierd... It strays off the whole POINT of the book, and Cindy Lou is an annoying little stalker.
Jill S. gave it a0:
An abomination. The opposite of the Seuss message plus they gave the grinch a love interest. ugh.
