1966 Grinch

 

2 days is officially Christmas. It's been busy for the past few days. But now I'm officially off for the holidays. I'll catch up watching some christmas classics. I already have watched a few over the years. 1947 Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Elf, The Muppets and Mickey's Christmas Carol, Home Alone, and my personal favorite It's A Wonderful Life.

But now I'll focus on one I seemingly liked the more older I get. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). 

I always had a soft spot for these colors, this is what got me into the cartoon in the first place. I grew up with alot of the Dr. Suess books, but not particuarly the Grinch. I guess I liked the Bright and Early Books because they had more variety, so this was possibly my first exposure to The Grinch ever.

I was mesmerized by the absolute creativity of Suess's works. The characters were fun to look at, and had interesting and distinctive designs. They were fun and cartoony when I was very young.

In the original book, the characters were not as colorful as in their following film counterparts. I personally do like the color schemes to the 1957 Grinch the best, but in terms of the aesthetic, characters designs and direction, it's easily the best version of The Grinch ever made.

The Grinch kinda creeped me out as a kid, it was mostly the animation that freaked me out the most. Back then I didn't know too much about animation from the theatrical era, so it was hard for me to get used to it.

This was directed by Chuck Jones, who was responsible working on the most famous and iconic Looney Tunes shorts of all time. His animation staff were masters. Since he's animated, he feels more alive to the situation making him more cynical and grouchy. I love this camera angle shot of Grinch tapping with his index finger.

This is easily one of Chuck Jones's best cartoons he made in the 60s. His artstyle was starting to become more familiar. 

Normally I find Christmas specials that average around 25-50 minutes results being interesting and cute, but for this film in particular it's one of my favorite Christmas films. There's so much focus without it being horribly fast-paced or boring. The song is really good, and the message is at it's finest. I love all of the characters, it's a timeless classic.