The Grinch That Could Have Been

I do not have high expectations to see Illumination Entertainment’s take on How The Grinch Stole Christmas, one of the most beloved and iconic tales from Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, when it premieres (supposedly) in 2018.

Now for the most part, I try not to dismiss certain movies before I see them, but then there are ideas that I feel are doomed from the start. This is one such case.

When it comes to adaptations of the classic book, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, two spring immediately to mind: the Chuck Jones animated special from 1966, which I watched often as a kid around Christmas time and still consider one of the greatest Christmas specials ever made, (certainly better than most of Rankin/Bass’ crap,) and the Ron Howard movie that came out in 2000, which I saw and, even with all of its faults, did get enjoyment out of a good chunk of it, particularly Jim Carrey’s manic portrayal of The Grinch. So it seems unthinkable to me that someone would adapt this story again. Has it seriously been THAT long since a movie version came out?

Whoever designed this should be deeply ashamed of themselves...

But that’s not my only problem with this upcoming adaptation of The Grinch. There’s also the little fact that it’s being made by Illumination Entertainment, the creators of the Despicable Me movie and the highly marketed Minions. Why is this an issue? While the movies they made tend to make a surprisingly large amount of money, they also tend to be hit-or-miss when it comes to the quality, with most of them never reaching above mediocre in ratings, and I tend to have a huge amount of contempt for them in general, especially because of the attention they’ve been getting. I’ve only seen two Illumination films to date: the aforementioned Despicable Me, and The Lorax, their previous adaptation of a Dr. Seuss work. Now, Despicable Me was alright, nothing extraordinary, but it had its fair share of funny moments and cute moments, and the premise was certainly an interesting one. The Lorax, on the other hand…

"Fantastic Fun for Everyone", my foot!

The Lorax just sucked. I mean, yeah, it does look nice and it does have the occasional funny bit and the occasional decently executed scene, but overall it was severely underwhelming. As an adaptation of the book, it fails, and even on its own terms, it’s still not all that good. The leads are boring, the storytelling is very paint-by-numbers, there are pointlessly phoned-in songs, most of the decisions made are highly questionable, and making the Once-ler a human has only led to cringy DeviantART fanwork.

But the biggest sin is how hypocritical it wound up being. The Lorax, as written by Dr. Seuss, was not only an environmental tale, but also one that criticized corporate greed and big business practices. This is especially ironic and cringe-worthy when you consider that Universal, before the movie’s release, used The Lorax to market jeeps and iHop pancakes, among other things.

The Lorax was previously adapted into a special in the 70s by DePatie-Freleng, and while it’s not the best Dr. Seuss animated special, it’s still far more faithful to the book than this movie was, and one of my brother’s favorite Dr. Seuss quotes came from it:

“They say I’m old-fashioned and live in the past,

But sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!”

Truer words have never been spoken…

And even though Illumination’s take on The Lorax was a financial hit (at least, from what I heard,) it’s baffling to think that Audrey Geisel (Dr. Seuss’ widow) would make this same mistake of allowing these guys to work with MORE of her late husband’s material. You’d think with such a disgraceful adaptation, she’d sever ties with Illumination completely, like with how The Cat In The Hat put an end to the live-action adaptations, but for some reason, she’s allowing them to adapt more Dr. Seuss works. Illumination Entertainment really shouldn’t be allowed to touch any of these stories with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole, especially if they release posters that look like THIS:

Seriously, what the hell is this? Who came up with this? Who APPROVED of it?

So yeah, I have absolutely no faith in Illumination’s take on this classic story. Especially since I know of another attempt to adapt How The Grinch Stole Christmas that didn’t make it off the ground.

Sometime before the Ron Howard movie, cartoonist Berkeley Breathed (of Bloom County fame) did some concept art work for his own idea of a Grinch adaptation, an animated film with Jack Nicholson voicing the Grinch, and I find these drawings far more interesting and appealing than what Illumination is planning to dump onto box offices. These pieces showcase a Seussian sensibility while also displaying Breathed’s off-beat sense of humor. And yes, this includes his bizarre obsession with tighty-whiteys.

He showed these drawings to Audrey Geisel, and while she did like them, she ultimately decided to go with Howard’s vision. Shame, too, because while I’m fine with the 2000 movie adaptation, even if it does have problems, I think this would have been a fun take on the Grinch, especially since I adore Berkeley Breathed’s work. He always approaches satire with both a sharp edge and a sense of whimsical charm, his drawings and artwork can be both beautiful and hysterical, and his writing is funny enough to appeal to both kids and adults. If anyone should be allowed to do a new adaptation of the Grinch, he’d be my personal pick. Sadly, that seems to not be the case, as people seem to be content with letting the chuckleheads responsible for the Minions adapt such a sacred story.

But hey, different strokes for different folks. If this movie ever does get released and doesn’t get cancelled by some unforeseen incident, people are free to watch it if they want. Me, on the other hand, I’ll just be staying at home, wondering about the Grinch movie that we could have seen…

Picture Books In Danger?

Not too long ago, I read this article from 2010 telling that picture books are no longer a staple for children. Part of it was due to the economic downturn, as was mentioned, but what got my attention was the mention that parents were pressuring kids to read text-laden chapter books over picture books earlier in their lives. And I don’t mean 10 or 12-year olds; I mean kindergarteners and first graders.

To hear parents instilling that kind of thing to their children this early in life absolutely DISGUSTS ME.

I’ve been reading since I was a toddler, and if there’s one aspect of literature that has always fascinated me throughout my childhood, it was the picture book. The illustrations that were contained in these wonderful tomes were one of the reasons why I got interested in drawing. I even came up with my own silly parodies that my mom would type on the computer while I dictated them, and then I would draw my own illustrations in them, even if, at the point in my life that I came up with them, they were very crude stick figures done in marker.

To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of picture books were the actual illustrations themselves. I mean, yeah, the stories and the wording did interest me as well, of course, but what really sucked me in and actually made me want to read them were the illustrations. The artwork of standouts like Dr. Seuss, Dav Pilkey, Bill Peet, Jack Kent, Lane Smith, Chris Van Allsburg, Mercer Mayer, Maurice Sendak, Stan and Jan Berenstain, H.A. Ray, Shel Silverstein, Berkeley Breathed, and the Little Golden Book artists, among others, always appealed to me somehow, whether it was the design, the detail, the colors, the visual humor, or even the atmosphere of the piece, and proved that some of these illustrators really knew how to create books that were visually interesting, stimulating for the imagination, and, more often than not, fun to read. And if they were writers as well or they teamed up with writers who acknowledged their skills and let them show off their work, that made it all the more better.

"Uggh, what a stench! So THAT'S why they're green!"

Too Dumb To Win An Award? Sure. Too Dumb To Not Be Funny? Heck No.

Uh, heh, I hope they don't mean "lost his head" in the same way that I'm thinking of...

"HEY, SHUT UP, YA MANGY ANIMALS! CAN'T A MAN GET SOME SLEEP AROUND HERE?!!?"

Or "How The Wolf Unintentionally Got The Negative 'Big Bad Wolf' Stereotype Associated With Him."

Notice that "Now A Major Motion Picture!" sticker in the corner? Yeah, that's not an out-of-date addition to the book at all.

You can tell that this is a very early Little Critter just by how it was drawn. It does make me wonder if Mayer was considered a "Poor Man's Maurice Sendak" at the time, though...

"Let the Wild Rumpus St- HEY, YOU THERE! NO SLEEPING AT THIS TIME!!!"

It amazes me how the Berenstain Bears went from fun, silly antics to cutesy moralistic fluff to having some religious "Living Lights" books published by Zonderkidz starting in the late 2000s for some reason. Talk about going Lighter And Softer! 

"This is Major George to Ground Control, I just stepped through the door, and I'm floating in a most peculiar way..."

"Now, Boy, I want you to give this special apple to a girl named Snow White..."

Who wants to guess that they just caught someone skinny dipping?

A staple in young children's reading since 1942, and let's hope it still IS...

But again, to hear of parents that are like that just makes me cringe, because it only further instills the stereotype that modern children grow up too fast. If I ever saw one of those parents telling their children they can do “better than this” or encouraging them to read this much text at such a young age, I’d feel the desire to take them away from their children for a second, and scold them furiously, something like, “Screw you, you insensitive jerk, just let your kids live their childhood out while they still have it!” I wouldn’t actually try a stunt like that, since I wouldn’t know what consequences it would bring about, but I would still want these people to learn a thing or two about raising their kids right. Childhood is one of the most important times in a person’s life, the point when they’re the most developmental, and to hear of parents that do such things really pisses me off. It makes me wonder if they ever took child psychology, like my mom did.

I myself have an interest in making picture books of my own at some point. Sometimes, I’d visit my local libraries to take a look see at their picture books and re-live some childhood memories of reading these stories while creating new ones from reading books I haven’t read before.

In 2011, I also ordered a picture book from Barnes And Noble done by an artist that I had taken an interest in, Brianne Drouhard, an animator who has done design and storyboard work for stuff like Teen Titans, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Class of 3000. That book was Billie The Unicorn. It had a cute and surprisingly interesting story and endearing characters, and of course, Brianne’s incredible artwork. Every page explodes with stylish design and eye-popping color that demonstrates her incredible skill and instantly made me a full-fledged fan of her work.

(This last one isn't from the actual book, but it's still associated with the character and it looks great, so I felt like adding it, regardless.)

(A rough piece of fanart I drew for Brianne as a way for thanking her for the book. She felt I got the characters down with this one.)

Also, I’ve been checking out the work of illustrator William Joyce lately. You may know of him for recently being responsible for Dreamworks’ “Rise Of The Guardians,” and the incredible, highly-recommended, must-see 2011 Academy Award Winning Animated Short Film, “The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” created in association with Shreveport-based Moonbot Studios, (which can be seen on Youtube, for those curious,) but Joyce is a familiar name in both children’s books and animation, creating such books like George Shrinks, Rollie Pollie Ollie, A Day With Wilbur Robinson, (which was adapted into Disney’s Meet The Robinsons,) and The Leaf Men And The Brave Good Bugs (which has been adapted into the Blue Sky Studios film “Epic,” and was released this year,) just to name a few. I’ve only read some of them so far, like Santa Calls and Dinosaur Bob And His Adventures With The Family Lazardo, but I’ve really enjoyed what I read and definitely look forward to reading more. What amazing artwork! What imaginative storytelling! William Joyce has proven himself to be a creative powerhouse, and I’ve grown to really admire a lot of his work ever since learning of his name. I may be a young adult now, but I still appreciate picture books for reasons like those.

Just so you're aware, this isn't a screenshot from the actual animated short of "Mr. Morris Lessmore," but rather the book adaptation of the story.

Even though I have read chapter books and longer novels myself in my later childhood, I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with children reading picture books, as long as they are visually interesting and tell good stories while stimulating imagination and being fun to look at. I don’t know if things have changed much since 2010, but hopefully, there may be a resurgence of this format of literature, a day when parents will realize their mistakes and allow children to read more of what they want rather than what the parents want them to read, because no matter what anyone else says, picture books really are a great introduction to both the art of storytelling and the art of illustration for children.