The Grinch Review

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The Grinch is a pretty classic story although it’s been a pretty long while since I’ve seen any version of it. It’s a story that holds up though and I would have to say that this is the best adaption of it that I’ve seen. The characters are really solid, the animation is on point, and the story is good. When you mix that all together then you’ve got yourself a really solid combo and the movie just flies by.

The movie starts by introducing us to the Grinch. He lives in a pretty fancy cave with his dog Max. They have a pretty nice set up with everything running automatically and Max oversees the whole thing. In general it’s just hard not to like these guys at least with this first impression. Unfortunately for the Grinch he did not have enough food to survive Christmas without going into town. He heads out and decides to make life miserable for everyone else as well. When the Grinch learns that Christmas is going to be even bigger this year he decides that it’s time to shut it down. If he steals everyone’s presents then that should end things right?

Meanwhile Cindy is the main human here. She’s a little girl who is always spreading cheer around and having a pretty good time. Her Mom has to work really hard in order to support her though. Her only Christmas wish is for Santa to help the Mom out but it’s been tough to get in touch with him. She decides that she will have to lay a trap for Santa so that she can explain the wish. She gets some help from the rest of the kids in her neighborhood but will she really be able to take Santa down for the count? Only time will tell.

One thing that stands out about the film right away is the bright and colorful environment. The whole film just looks amazing. It’s some of the best animation I’ve seen in one of these films in a while. Maybe it comes down to the city’s design and the Christmas decorations but either way it really stood out. The characters are all really solid as well. Let’s start with Bricklebaum since he’s more of a side character.

He’s a nice neighbor who always ignores the Grinch’s slights and keeps minding his business. I can definitely respect this guy and his dedication to his craft. That’s the kind of drive that you really want to see from him. He’s also just fundamentally a good person. Naturally to the Grinch he is seen as quite extreme and over the top but it’s all very genuine. So he just really clicked as a supporting character. Then you’ve got Cindy’s Mom who is also solid and does a good job of managing everything at home. Even the other kids at least help Cindy even if they’re all ingrates for having to be guilt tripped into doing it. You know that Cindy would have helped them out with no questions asked.

Cindy is a pretty reasonable character. I’ll give her credit for being such a pro-active character. She was always right there in the thick of things. Her route from home to the cave or town was also a lot of fun. She’s got serious sledding skills that’s for sure. Then we get to the main two. Max is a really solid dog. He’s smart and very loyal. I was glad that the Grinch and Max had a really good dynamic here. They get along and make each other even better. They do have a disagreement in the film but it’s a pretty small one and they get on the same page again.

As for the Grinch, he is an antagonist at first of course. He’s mean to people for no reason like pushing the food that they want away or popping balloons. Whatever inconvenience the Grinch can cause you, he will do it. It makes him a pretty fun villain though. It’s not like he does anything too crazy either. Most of what he does is pretty mean spirited but amounts to just inconveniences here and there. Fortunately the townsfolk are so nice that they don’t pay him a whole lot of attention. It does mean that his character arc can feel a bit cheesy towards the end though. Anyone who knows about the Grinch story knows exactly how this is going to go of course. I thought the execution was pretty good though.

There are other side characters of course like the lone reindeer who hangs out with Grinch. The Grinch wasn’t thrilled about having him at first but ultimately relented which was the first indicator that maybe he had a heart after all. It’s just a nice story with some good emotional beats and quick pacing. The film never drags on or anything like that and the writing is good. At the end of the day those are the key ingredients to having a good movie. The ending is satisfying so then you’ve got a full product.

If there’s any part of the film that wasn’t needed then I would say that I could have done without the narrator. I know that rhymes are a staple of the Dr Seuss adventures so that’s probably why he is here but you don’t really need him. In my mind the film would have been just as complete without him and you can understand what is going on well enough without the play by play. I wouldn’t call it a negative though. It’s just one thing that I would tweak but it’s not something that holds the film back either.

Overall, The Grinch is a pretty good film. It’s always nice to see a quality Christmas film at the ready. This is definitely the definitive Grinch movie in my mind so if you haven’t seen any version yet then I would recommend starting with this one. It really embraces how Whoville is a lot different from a usual town. They go all in on Christmas and with the solid animation they’re able to show how much fun people have when travelling around town.

Overall 7/10

Arthur’s Perfect Christmas Review

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It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this Arthur Christmas special that’s for sure. It’s definitely a very well made special that’s for sure. It’s nice to see all of the celebrations and the nostalgic Arthur characters running around. This special has aged very well and will continue to be a solid watch each year. It’s definitely rough when a gift doesn’t go the way you think it will so you can understand Arthur’s plight.

The film starts us off a few days before Christmas. Each of the characters are getting ready for the day in their own way. Arthur is determined for this to be the best Christmas yet. I understand the feeling as I always go in expecting each year’s Christmas to surpass the last one and this year will be no different. Arthur is thrown a lot of curveballs though as the tree doesn’t tur out the way he had hoped and the menu is also a lot different. Still, Arthur is willing to give these changes a chance. The only thing that could ruin the day for him now would be if his Christmas present for his Mom were to break…

Then we’ve also got subplots for most of the other members of the cast. Binky is going to be cooking dessert for a soup kitchen he is volunteering at during Christmas and is testing out his recipes on everyone. It’s a pretty noble gesture but his cooking needs a lot of work. He makes rather basic mistakes in each of his dishes. It’s good that he’s trying but the first step of cooking is to try the food out yourself and it seems like Binky is not doing that. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in trying out his dishes now does it?

Muffy’s plot is about how she has scheduled a party while Francine will be observing Hanukkah with her family. Francine told her many times that attending the party would be impossible but Muffy wouldn’t hear about it. In a lot of these cases usually the mix up is because the character was unable to work up the courage to explain this. There is no such issue here as Francine told Muffy over 20 times. I liked how direct she was so the fault is entirely with Muffy this time around. There was no way that Francine could have been any clearer. So Muffy’s got to take the loss here.

Then you’ve got Buster who’s mother has been traumatized by Christmas and always celebrates it a few days early each year. It’s definitely a rather odd situation but at the end of the day she just wants to make sure that the day is a success for Buster. She is clearly trying pretty hard even if the whole thing is pretty exaggerated. Even the fancy restaurant food doesn’t look as good as what Buster would usually get at the Sugar Bowl. There are a few other characters having their own adventures like George, The Brain, and Mr. Ratburn but I wouldn’t consider those subplots so much as quick scenes to show us what they’re doing. They didn’t have any trail to go through which makes sense since the film can only squeeze in so many plots during its run time.

The movie is a little under an hour so there’s only so much it can do. The animation is pretty solid and consistent as always. The character designs are on point and the whole thing is nice to look at. This is the kind of hand drawn animation that will always age well. You can just feel the effort that was put into this. As this is a musical there are also a number of songs included. I wouldn’t say that any of them are all that solid though. It’s not really my style of music but it does still help to get the Christmas vibes in there.

Arthur’s Perfect Christmas also separates itself form other Christmas specials in that it does include some pretty key details like having the group go to Church in one scene and even having the Dad come up with the idea of having an authentic Christmas dinner like what they would have served in Bethlehem. While the dishes naturally may not sound the best next to some classic staples like Mac and Cheese, I like that the topic was broached. The film was clearly acknowledging the history of celebrating Christmas due to Jesus Christ’s birth. It’s always great to see that.

The special is high energy throughout and coupled with the solid writing that naturally makes for a fun adventure. Arthur tends to dream about the worst case scenarios as always. He really lets his imagination run wild even when it’s a positive event. Then you have DW who still panics quite a lot. At least she tried to be happy about the Duck at first even if she wasn’t able to stay strong in the end. I suppose if you’re hoping for a cool toy and get something else that can be tough. She was nice enough to think about Santa by leaving the cookies out which was neat. All of the characters are pretty solid at the end of the day.

Overall, Arthur’s Perfect Christmas is a pretty fun special. It’s definitely a fitting one to check out as Christmas quickly approaches and I’d recommend it. I’ll give Arthur points for being pretty tolerant of all the different things that could have sabotaged his Christmas. He was okay with the menu change, the Christmas tree change, and even handled the songs decently even if they did set him off pretty quick. He definitely doesn’t seem to like any of the fast paced music tracks that DW tends to enjoy which is unfortunate. Who knows, maybe one day he will get on board with these although I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Overall 7/10

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Review

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything relating to the Nutcracker. It’s definitely a pretty classic story though so it’s nice to see it being brought out again. This story does a fun job with it. You get a little action, a little adventure, and a lot of emotion. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly noteworthy like I won’t be remembering it in the future much but I like to think each movie leaves you something to remember. In this case that would be the living rat monster which was pretty intense. Definitely not someone you’d want to have to bump into in a life or death situation.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Clara who has been dealing with a lot now that her mother has passed. Her father has tried to recreate Christmas the way it would usually be but this has not worked. In part this is because it comes off as him trying to get everyone to get on with their lives which is all happening too fast. At the very least Clara does not want to be at a party and doesn’t feel like dancing. She manages to escape into the land of the 4 realms when a rat escapes with her key. She needs this key in order to unlock the last memento from her mother. It turns out that the key has another purpose as well. It’s the only way to unlock the machine needed to bring the toy soldier army back up and operational. The kingdom needs this army to stop Mother Ginger from wiping them out.

Extra pressure is here because Clara’s mother used to help the Kingdom as its queen and has quite a lot of experience here. Clara feels like she can’t live up to such a legendary example. Still, Clara does step up when needed. The beginning of the film also introduced her as a very intelligent character who really knows how physics works. This comes into play later on in the film so it was nice foreshadowing. It’s also hard to blame Clara in the opening scenes because the party didn’t feel appropriate. She was fairly respectful in trying to deny the event so all in all I give Clara a thumbs up as the lead.

The other major character in the film is the Nutcracker Phillip. Phillip has always performed his job really well. He stays at his post and only moves when ordered. He is a very faithful fighter at Clara’s disposal and does pretty well when having to go up against an army. He offers his own advice as well and helps keep Clara on the right path. He ends up having a nice bond with one of the Mice and they even get a good team up. The idea of a Rat monster made from tons of little rats is definitely pretty fun. Certainly a disturbing monster to have to go up against though. You really wouldn’t want to have to square off against such an opponent.

As for Mother Ginger, she’s a pretty interesting character. She can definitely fight really well with her whip as well which definitely comes in handy. She was able to take on several fighters on her own which is really good. I was glad to see action scenes of any kind here since that’s definitely not going to be the main priority here. The film had a good balance of action and adventure though. The heroes may not fight all that much but the climax has several action scenes at the ready. The giant mecha Ginger had was also pretty neat even if sheer numbers were definitely enough to overwhelm it in the end though. That’s the thing about having a giant robot, it’s pretty susceptible against many opponents.

In general the movie goes down a rather predictable path but I always say that’s not a bad thing as long as the execution is good and I’d say it was. The writing is good and the pacing is solid. The visuals throughout the film are also nice. While the soundtrack is rather forgettable I wouldn’t say there were any bad tunes here either. That definitely ends up being an experience I can be satisfied with. It’s certainly more interesting than something like the Lord of the Rings. That’s why it’s good that we mostly stuck in the world of the Realms because the real world definitely wasn’t quite as interesting. Whenever a fantasy world is an option that’s absolutely where you want to spend your time.

There isn’t much more to talk about with spoilers. I will say that the villain’s motivations while not justifiable are pretty understandable. Sometimes offense is the best defense. If you think about it, defense just isn’t good enough if you are always being attacked. If someone attacks you every month, it doesn’t matter that you are able to repel the attacks if you take a lot of hits in the meantime. The best way to get out of the situation is to take the opposing side down and that way you will have the peace needed to get victory right? Of course it’s not so simple but at least the base reasoning makes sense. There are a lot of deceptions involved so you shouldn’t take anything at face value though. I just like when a villain at least has some rationale so I appreciated that.

Overall, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a pretty solid adaption of the classic story. It brings in all of the classic elements you would want to see and we get a nice cast of characters. I’d definitely be game for a sequel someday. There are definitely ways you could go about it. Clara also should come back to visit the kingdom at some point. I don’t see any reason why she would have to stick to the human world, especially since time seems to stop while she’s gone. That’s really the perfect excuse to go back in since there is no risk thanks to that. That’s just how I see it at least.

Overall 7/10

Mr. Soft Touch Review

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Mr. Soft Touch is a film about a guy deciding to get revenge on some gangsters for taking over his shop. It’s a different spin than usual though as he just wants his money back and isn’t going around shooting them all down. While the film has some pretty good writing humor, I ultimately wouldn’t give it a thumbs up because of some suspect characters and the main character just not being all that likable even by the end.

The movie starts by introducing us to Joe. He has stolen a ton of money and is trying to escape the country but unfortunately his friends were unable to find a boat that leaves before Christmas. He needs to survive for a night somewhere but that won’t be easy since the Mob is everywhere. Joe is able to masquerade as a criminal and get taken to a settlement home where a social worker named Jenny will look after him. Joe figures this will be a decent safehouse as a last resort since there is literally no alternative but when he sees how much help these people need, will he really be able to leave? Some tough choices will have to be made.

Soft Touch has some fun moments and good bits of humor throughout. One nice moment was when the tough guys at the home try to scam Joe out of some money with the dice. He takes them down and clearly has some kind of experience with these games from a while back. He knows a scam when he sees one but does a good job of playing dumb the whole time. This lets him claim the upper hand. It was a nice subversion where usually the main character would have gotten suckered. The main tough guy also reminded me a lot of Spider-Man from the recent movies so it was interesting to see him in more of a villainous role.

You can tell that the people at tis place all meant well. It was a nice cast of characters here. At first they weren’t all happy to see Joe and it was hard to blame them since he wasn’t playing ball but eventually they all formed a pretty good group. In particular I liked Rickle. He had a tendency to go off on long rants about everything but that’s the kind of character who is always good to add levity to the equation. It’ll help keep everyone’s spirits up there which is really important.

Then you have Jenny who is a solid heroine. She does a whole lot for her community and really tried to help Joe out when she thought he was someone else. I would make the case that she is far too lenient though. Her job is about mercy and it’s an important function but since the guy who was charged was an abusive drunk then it seems like he was already too far gone for any of this to help. Jenny also had a traumatic backstory as a kid which makes it all the more impressive that she is putting herself out on the front lines and helping out a bit. She may be a little extreme but I would definitely say that she is a good person.

Then we get to Joe. I just couldn’t find myself being able to root for him. I understand him taking the money back after the mobsters stole it. That makes perfect sense since it was his and the whole thing seems unfair. Why does he not help Clara get away from Victor though? That seems like a pretty toxic relationship that he just looks the other way with. The film would have been a lot better without those two characters since they just hurt Joe a whole lot by extension. Then you’ve got the fact that Joe doesn’t do anything to help out the people in the settlement house before it’s too late. Byrd offered him a rather decent deal at the time but Joe wouldn’t hear of it.

Joe tries to make things right by the end but it is far too late for that. Even the scene where he gives his jacket and the money to the little girl comes off as rather suspect. At first it seems like a nice gesture but then Jenny points out that it was also a way to take the risk off and it’s hard to see it any other way at that point. The girl’s life was in serious jeopardy with the mobsters finding that kind of cash on her. Joe just puts too many people in harm’s way. He has some good plans but they all end up putting people in more danger while he escapes. It’s not a very heroic approach at all.

As for Byrd, I thought he was a pretty solid reporter. The guy put the pieces together a lot quicker than you would have initially expected. He clearly has some bad history with Joe but the guy did make a good offer to call the cops in. He just wanted some intel. I wasn’t really sure why Joe wouldn’t tell him at this point since his partner is dead and the mobsters are everywhere. Maybe it was a pride thing or just because Byrd was partially responsible for his partner dying since he didn’t do anything. Byrd did save Joe’s life a few scenes earlier though which is hard to forget. Byrd surprisingly doesn’t take this all that personal later on when they meet up again.

At times the movie seems to move really fast with characters sort of going through a character arc off screen. One example is the romance between Jenny and Joe. It goes from nowhere to suddenly she’s begging him to stay and some of the big speeches you would expect if they had been together for a long time. It doesn’t always flow as organically as you would expect. I suppose the film just wanted to move straight on ahead to the next moment but some scenes would just happen really suddenly like that.

Overall, Mr. Soft Touch would have been better with a better main character. Someone who was actually standing up for justice to stop the mobsters, not just because they crossed him. I would have liked better reasons for why he didn’t accept Byrd’s help or also a scene of him helping Clara out of just confirming Victor’s innocence. From what we saw of Victor he just seems like a very bad guy and Joe not doing anything about it doesn’t help in the slightest. The film’s pretty light hearted for the most part I’d say and has a nice Christmas theme going. It mainly just gets serious at the end with the ending being a little surprising. Definitely not the smartest move on both Joe and Jenny’s part. I think they could have handled the whole thing a lot better. Either way you can do better than this if you’re looking for a good Christmas film to watch this year.

Overall 5/10