"Nice Kid...Baaaaad Judge of Character!"

I suspect I was not the only one whose eyes widened with astonishment at the prospect of a live-action version of that undisputed Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. How would they be able to create, with real people, the utterly fantastical world that Dr. Seuss created which translated so well into animation? And the animated movie had to add quite a bit of narration (in verse, of course) and drag out the descent from and ascent to Mt. Crumpit and the midnight raid of all the houses in Whoville. Not to mention those songs, which included the infamous You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch. All of this to fill thirty minutes; how could they possibly stretch it out to ninety?

Christmas is a time of many wonders, and one of the marvels it has brought this year is a movie that lives up to its legendary predecessor. Directed by Ron Howard, Grinch begins with a snowy winter sky. We are drawn into one snowflake by the camera, and we follow the enticing verse narration of Anthony Hopkins into the heart of the snowflake, a microscopic town called Whoville.

Now, these are not the Whos whose love transcends the lack of material possessions. Indeed, their society appears to be driven by consumerism, and through them we see an exaggerated mirror of our own country's holiday madness. As the whole town bustles about buying mountains of gifts and trying to outdo one another's decorations, only little Cindy Lou Who seems to see beyond the sales.

Atop Mt. Crumpit, overlooking Whoville, is the Grinch, a furry green curmudgeon who lives with his much more mirthful mutt Max and abides in a cave littered with recycled trash from the Whos' junkyard. When he comes to town for a little trickery, he has a run-in with Cindy Lou. From this point on, the little girl is determined to get to the heart of the Grinch that she knows is there and hopefully reclaim Christmas at the same time.

We all know how the story ends, but how we get there is considerably more complicated here. Jim Carrey, recognizable only by his inexhaustible energy, is not only hilarious in his portrayal of the Grinch, he is sympathetic. We can see that his heart is fighting to outgrow its two-sizes-too-small position. Through the detective work of Cindy Lou, we find out how ridicule by classmates turned the Grinch into a bitter recluse.

Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou is too adorable for words, but in a much more heart-rending fashion than the little tyke who asked "Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?" Her soul, unadulterated by consumerism and societal biases, has the strength to challenge her own people to remember what's really important and to bring light back into the life of one who has lived in the dark for such a very long time.

The cast is rounded out by Josh Ryan Evans as the young Grinch, Molly Shannon as Cindy Lou's mother, Bill Irwin as her father, Jeffrey Tambor as the mayor and Christine Baranski as the Grinch's love interest, Martha May. As for the sets, costumes, and make-up...stunning is not too strong a word. Whoville is exactly as I would have imagined it, with all sorts of creative details worked in that never had a chance to come to light before. Likewise, the Grinch's lair is deliciously putrid.

And the Grinch is no less so. He is covered from head to toe with green fur and has glaring yellow eyes. The transformation is so complete that only those wacky facial expressions give Carrey, whose deepened voice is menacing and sinister, away. Each of the Whos sports a strange hairstyle -- the most elaborate of which finds a home on Cindy Lou's head -- and a nose befitting a small furry creature. No character remains unchanged.

It's always dangerous to try to build upon perfection, and Grinch could have been a major disaster. Fortunately for all, this is a film that Theodor Geisel himself would have been proud to view. In it, the magic that Seuss first created is brought to life more convincingly than ever. Amidst all of the craziness that now surrounds Christmas, take a step back and dare to catch the true holiday spirit from a little girl named Cindy Lou. After all, as a fitting Christmas carol proclaims, "At Christmas time we all can be children for a while."