How Effects Stole 'Christmas' / Supercharged 'Grinch' stays true to Seuss but amps up Carrey's character

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS: Comedy. Starring Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon and Taylor Momsen. Directed by Ron Howard. (PG. 102 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

---

Nobody could play the Grinch better than Jim Carrey, whose rubbery antics and maniacal sense of mischief are so well suited to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Dr. Seuss himself might have turned to Carrey as a model for the classic curmudgeon had the actor been around in 1957.

Audiences face an odd though delicious frustration with "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." They're getting a full dose of wacky, crude and barbed Carrey-isms, but not really Carrey in the flesh. That's because he's a snouted, green, fuzzy and slightly repellent mix of costuming, makeup and special effects. His fans might prefer to see the real Carrey, but they'll have to do with the fixed-up version buried in the suit.

Dr. Seuss' stylized but heartfelt story -- about a man who becomes a monster because his heart is too small and his isolation too great -- is a tough one for filmmakers to adapt. The 1966 made-for-TV animated version, created by genius Chuck Jones and featuring Boris Karloff as narrator, is a classic.

The new film, directed by Ron Howard, is true to the spirit of Seuss (the late Theodor S. Geisel), and one of its great pleasures is Anthony Hopkins' narration of portions of the rhyming, infectiously lyrical book. There are new characters in the screenplay by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, but the story still centers on the Grinch (Carrey) living in a cave on Mount Crumpit and Whoville's button-cute kid, Cindy Lou Who, played wonderfully by big-eyed, 7-year-old Taylor Momsen. Jeffrey Tambor is May Who, the town mayor, Bill Irwin is Cindy Lou's postmaster dad, Molly Shannon is her mom and Christine Baranski is the somewhat slinky Martha May Whovier (a fun Martha Stewart send- up).

Overall, the film sparkles. But it's a curiously unaffecting sparkle, an example, almost, of how the special effects stole Christmas. It goes so far beyond Dr. Seuss' framework of the fanciful that it feels punishing, so fake, revved up and padded out that the human heart that's supposed to be at the story's core is constricted.

The film is a wonder in so many ways that it's almost curmudgeonly to knock it. But knock it one must, for ultimately the very bloat and overreach run counter to the eloquent brevity of Seuss' great book. No cinematic blather can live up to the work's lyrical power in its rhymes and rhythms and deceptively restrained artwork.

The only constant reminders of Dr. Seuss' down-to-earth approach are the Grinch's dog, Max (why not an Oscar for this heart-stealing performance?), and Hopkins' moving narration.

The new "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was assembled by a mighty crew of effects people, including makeup whiz Rick Baker and visual-effects ace Kevin Mack ("What Dreams May Come," "Fight Club"). The film has a staggering effects freight list -- nearly a dozen studio soundstages, 300 props, 225 makeup designs, 8,200 ornaments, 1,938 candy canes, 443 wardrobe outfits and enough fake snow to cover nine football fields. An envious Cecil B. DeMille was heard pacing the heavens.

The result is that viewers just can't turn away from the fantasy Howard and Co. made of a Whoville that is really a Whewville. All the characters are fitted with snouty faces, buck teeth, wacky hairdos and nutty costumes. Whoville itself is a fantastical community of overstated coziness and stylized bubble designs.

Carrey's Grinch ratchets up the notion of a demonic loner and puts it over the top. It's a bit of a mystery, however, why he made himself sound like Sean Connery. A gadgeteer who feeds on the garbage of Whoville, Carrey's Grinch is more than bitter and heartless -- he's a fiend. At first he hardly responds to the earnest, wide eyes of little Cindy Lou when she comes calling under the naive assumption that no being could be all bad. He taunts her and plays mean tricks. Thankfully, the movie keeps her smiling and even giggling to take the edge off, but the Grinch's intensity may frighten small children.

Though the film is inflated, giving Carrey the chance to show off his churlish style of comedy, the story finally hews quite well to the book and is most affecting when the Grinch actually embarks on his mission to expropriate Christmas and all it stands for from the misguided (he thinks) Whoville crowd.

Getting on with the tale is just what the movie needs -- suddenly there's energy and amusing interplay between the Grinch and the townsfolk. And Max . . . well, he just keeps lighting up the screen.

Advisory: This film contains crude humor.