Illumination's animated The Grinch movie has gotten a first look TV trailer for the 2018 Winter Olympics on NBC, revealing the Grinch's secret love for figure skating. The film's animation is being overseen by Illumination Entertainment, the same studio responsible for the hit films The Secret Life of Pets and Hop, as well as the Despicable Me and Minions franchises.

Based on the classic character created by Dr. Seuss, the upcoming Grinch movie will retell the classic children's story How The Grinch Stole Christmas using three-dimensional computer animation. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is signed on to voice The Grinch, following in the footsteps of Boris Karloff, who voiced The Grinch for the original 1966 animated television special based on the same book. There was also a live-action film adaptation of the story in 2000, directed by Ron Howard with Jim Carrey in the role of the grouchy green monster.

Related: Here’s What The Grinch Looks Like As A Youngster

Illumination Entertainment released the trailer on their official YouTube channel. The trailer shows The Grinch and his dog, Max, watching The Olympics as The Grinch grumbles about a cheerful singing bird outside his window.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas Universal Movie

The Grinch's mood changes, however, as the figure-skating competition is announced on the television set. Soon The Grinch finds himself in a fantastic daydream, ice-dancing to Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" as thousands cheer. He is just as quickly brought back to reality by a lick from an enthusiastic Max, and swiftly composes himself.

Amusing as this advertisement is, with the big-bottomed Grinch throwing his weight around on the ice and trying to maintain his forced facade of hating everything, it will do little to ease the worries of Dr. Seuss purists who view any adaptation of the classic children's stories with dread and worry. Despite Illumination Entertainment finding great financial success with their 2012 adaptation of Dr. Seuss' environmentalist epic The Lorax, many fans disapproved of the liberties that the film took with the classic story. They also disapproved of some of the marketing tie-ins to the film, particularly the heretical idea of The Lorax being used to sell SUVs.

While the merits and pitfalls of using The Grinch as a pitchman to sell The Winter Olympics are debatable, it cannot be denied that the animation for The Grinch as a character looks fantastic and well up to Illumination Entertainment's usual high standard. The one oddity is that Max the Dog looks far more cheerful and cute than he did in the original story, more like an extra from The Secret Life of Pets than the emaciated figure Seuss depicted pulling the Santa Grinch's sleigh. It is unknown if this was because of some aesthetic choice or because the studio feared offending dog-lovers by showing a poor, abused pet in this day in age. Either way, fans will have a lot to talk about as they wait for The Grinch to arrive in time for Christmas this year.

More: How Illumination Became An Animation Powerhouse

Source: Illumination Entertainment

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