From Minions creators Illumination, Pharrell Williams narrates this adorable animated remake of Dr Seuss’s 1957 children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. This version is softer than the 1966 cartoon original (narrated by Boris Karloff), smoothing out his sinister smirk and imagining his bright green fur as fine and strokably fuzzy. Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, the Christmas grouch is an emotional eater who wears “Mold Spice” deodorant and lives alone with his pet dog, Max, in a cave on the outskirts of Whoville, home to a community of Santa devotees. Whoville promises festivities three times the size of the year before, but this film steers clear of any sort of capitalist endorsements. Instead the focus is on selfless Cindy Lou Who (voiced by The Greatest Showman’s Cameron Seeley), whose Christmas wish is not presents, but that her overworked mum (Rashida Jones) feels happy and appreciated. Sounds like pure sugar, but really it’s just sweet.
