For many years, Christmas movies featured happy tales of bringing joy to the little ones. From the first version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1948 to the Rankin Bass reboot of the same story in 1964, the stories were all about Christmas cheer. Then, in 1966, How the Grinch Stole Christmas changed everything. The made-for-TV special was based on Dr. Seuss's book from 1957.
Dr. Seuss's children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a story that criticizes consumerism at Christmas. In the original story, the Grinch lives on the mountain by Whoville and hates everything about Christmas, so he sets out to destroy it. The only thing that stops him is a little girl who shows him the true Christmas spirit and helps his heart grow. It was a perfect story to adapt into a cartoon and brought in legions of fans with several adaptations of the children's story.
Where To Watch The Original How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966): Stream On Peacock Premium
The movie that started it all arrived in 1966 with the CBS television special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The special had a major name from horror movie history as the narrator, with the original Frankenstein himself, Boris Karloff, narrating the special. This was the one version of the Grinch's story that was word-for-word from Dr. Seuss's tale. This story plays out like the book, with the Grinch wanting to ruin Christmas for Whoville and succeeding until Cindy Lou Who helps show him the true meaning of Christmas.
The movie hit television around the same time as the Rankin Bass Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and The Charlie Brown Christmas Special, and the three movies provided kids of all ages with very different looks at the festive season. This movie has a 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and remains the most beloved of the adaptations of the Dr. Seuss tale. Fans can watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Peacock Premium this holiday season, and it is also available to those with subscriptions to TBS and TruTV.
Where To Watch Jim Carrey's How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000): Stream Now On HBO Max
In 2000, director Ron Howard made a live-action remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and he cast the hottest comic actor of that generation in the lead role as The Grinch. Jim Carrey took on the role of The Grinch and while the story started out the same, this movie was a very different look at the tale. In this movie, The Grinch once again wanted to destroy Christmas for Whoville until Cindy Lou Who stopped him. However, in this movie, The Grinch was not the villain.
The live-action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas showed the past life of The Grinch. It was here that his hatred for Christmas was revealed. This was not about anti-consumerism like the original story, but was about childhood bullying leaving a bad taste for the holidays. The movie was a commercial success, but fell flat with critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a low 49 percent rotten rating. However, for people of a certain age, there remains a fondness for this adaptation. Fans can watch it on HBO Max this holiday season, available as a Prime Video channel add-on, now with a free 7-day trial.
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Where To Watch Illumination's The Grinch (2018): Stream On FuboTV
The most recent adaptation came from the studio behind Despicable Me and The Minions. This was simply titled The Grinch and played mostly as a mix between the original special and the Carrey version of the story. The animation here is colorful, and there are a lot of funny moments in the film. This also has a standout performance by The Grinch's lovable dog, and it has the same setup and happy ending as both of its predecessors.
There was also a major star taking on The Grinch's voice role with Benedict Cumberbatch lending his talents to this movie. Once again, fans flocked to theaters to see it upon its release, and it was a commercial success, and its critical ratings sat a little higher than the Carrey version, but nowhere near the original. Out of the three versions, this is not on one of the mainstream streaming services but is available on FuboTV, now available with a free 7-day trial.