"It is the strangest movie. When Ron Howard and Jim Carrey teamed up to make a live-action feature-film adaptation of Dr. Seuss's beloved children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, some might have expected a straightforwardly heartwarming family picture, but the resulting 2000 film was nothing of the sort. Howard had been a fan of the book and the 1966 half-hour animated special, but he wasn't initially interested in making another kids' fantasy."
"Director and star leaned into the tonal challenges inherent in the project: To translate Seuss's world into live action meant truly bizarre prosthetics and costumes, ornately angled sets, and a style of humor that mixed childlike innocence and surreal irreverence. The CGI takeover of Hollywood had begun, but the vast majority of this film was practical, including Carrey's incredible Grinch costume, somehow both cute and deeply unsettling, designed by special-effects legend Rick Baker to give the actor maximum expressiveness."
Ron Howard and Jim Carrey collaborated on a 2000 live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas that intentionally avoided a straightforwardly heartwarming tone. Howard was a long-time fan of the source material but initially reluctant to make another children's fantasy, while Carrey was transitioning through more dramatic, Method-influenced roles. The production embraced tonal risk with bizarre prosthetics, ornately angled sets, and humor combining childlike innocence and surreal irreverence. The film favored practical effects over CGI, featuring Rick Baker's expressive Grinch costume. Production faced major hurdles including Seuss's widow's oversight, grueling makeup and prosthetic demands, and a cast encumbered by single-use foam costumes. Howard later acknowledged he would have used more CGI if made years later.
Read at Vulture
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