Dr. Seuss - How the Grinch Stole Christmas/Horton Hears a Who

Rating:
Summary: Yellow? Green? or In Between?
Review: It's great to have the Grinch and Horton Hears a Who together on a DVD which, as far as I can tell, is much more lasting that a VHS tape, and there is no rewinding.

Funnily, in the Seuss book, the Grinch is drawn with india ink and the Grinch himself isn't any color at all except for reddish eyes and a red Santa suit, when donned. On my daughter's bedroom wall, we have hanging an original Chuck Jones cell--the color of the Grinch in the cell is somewhere between the green of the VHS tape and the yellow-green of the DVD. Isn't Technicolor wonderful?

My four-year old daughter noticed that the string used to tie the horn to Max's head is red in the book, black in the cartoon, and this seems to be the major deviation from the text as written. Was this a mis-read by Karloff or was it intentional?

Rating:
Summary: How can you not give this cartoon special 5 stars?
Review: This cartoon special, along with A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, is one of the few Christmas specials that is almost enjoyable to me now, as an adult, as it was to me as a child. I still enjoy watching the transformation of the Grinch from a Christmas criminal to the Christmas hero. I still enjoy singing, "You're A Mean One Mister Grinch", with Mr. Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger). I still enjoy the rhyming story written by Dr. Seuss and narrated by Boris Karloff.

The DVD is nice but people are right to complain about the color. The "green" Grinch you see on the cover is not Grinch you'll see when you watch the DVD. My Grinch was more of a greenish-gray color. I don't know what is involved in digitally cleaning a film but I suspect that is what is ruining the colors. I had a similar problem with my DVD version of WHITE CHRISTMAS. It, like HTGSC, had muted colors that failed to match the earlier VHS release. However, the muted and slightly distorted colors were not bad enough for me to reduce my rating of this Christmas special. It is still a 5 star special to me.

Rating:
Summary: The best grinch, but does need a little work
Review: I've seen the Jim Carrey version and think it is fine, but the original is better. The JC version is a bit intense and perhaps even scarey for the little ones. The original has exactly the right tone - you might call it 'deviousness' or 'impishness' on the part of the grinch, while JC's grinch is more angry and malevolent. It may just be my impression, but there it is. The original, in my opinion, is better suited for younger children, while adults might like JC's version better.

Other reviewers have noted the less than perfect transfer quality. I noticed this as well, but did not seem to be as irritated by it. It would have been nice to see a cleaned up movie, but it was not really that bad. I certainly would not say it should prevent any fans from purchasing - but that is just my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Too bad about the color
Review: I can't give it a full 5 stars because of the "mustard" Grinch.
Love the story, hate the color and the audio. At least you don't have to rewind it everytime you get done watching it.

I did discover on my tv sets that turning the tint abnomrally toward the green side mostly fixes the color of the Grinch while watching the DVD. Interestingly enough, all the other colors also seem to be ok with this tint setting. Someone really screwed up the color settings when mastering this one...

Maybe Horton's color is all wrong too? There's nothing to reference it to except maybe the original book version. ;^)

Overall, Christmas with a mustard Grinch is still more fun than going without!

Rating:
Summary: The color of the Grinch is the same on DVD &VHS
Review: I almost didn't buy this DVD because of the reviews about the grinches color being yellow. I've owned the VHS for about 10yrs and am upgrading my movies to DVD. I wanted my son to see the grinch because it's a Christmas tradition for me.. When I received it I popped it into my DVD player to find out that THE COLOR OF THE GRINCH IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT IS ON THE VHS! Kind of a pea green color. I'm so glad I didn't listen to the negative reviews! My son loves the Grinch (cartoon and movie) but he LOVES Horton Hears a Who (he's actually watching it right now for the 2nd time in a row). This alone paid for the DVD. DON'T HESITATE BUYING THIS DVD! It's well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: Forget about this one...
Review: It's true what other people have said about this. The colors are WAY off! Not only that, but there is lots of dirt and other artifacts that are now more visible than on previous versions (you can especially see this if your DVD player has the capability to view a movie frame-by-frame). This movie is in serious need of re-mastering and touching up. One would hope that the studios would fix this title so that the masses can enjoy it. This movie would rate 5 stars if it received a little TLC.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Treasure!
Review: I have been watching the Grinch as far back as I could remember! My dad taped it off of the TV back in the late eighties and then I re-recorded it back in 1994 when TNT had their big November Seuss-a-bration specials.
When I found out this classic was on DVD for the first time, I was jumping for joy! Sadly, I by-passed it for the next year. I decided it was time to get it so I went to Best Buy one day for the sole purpose of just buying this DVD. Abd let me tell you, IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY! The presentation of the show is great and it contains some nifty extras including a half-hour documentary on how the film was made hosted by the late Phil Hartman.
But there's more! You also get Horton Hears A Who! Another one of my all-time favorites in the Dr. Seuss animation dept. The extras on Horton are really thin but you bought the DVD for the main purpose of seeing the Grinch. There is also a neat 10-question trivia game included with the Grinch extras on the show and is fairly easy. But the kids will surely enjoy it!
All in all, this is a childhood favorite; both films are actually. No one should celebrate the Christmas season without watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas at least once!

Rating:
Summary: the true x-mas icon!!
Review: this is quite possibly oneof the greatest x-mas movies ever made.lets see theres a christmas story,the bad santa,silent night deadly night,grandma got run over by a reindeer,home alone and the grinch that stole x-mas in both its forms.the grinch hates the whos of whoville and decides to steal everything representing x-mas from thiuer homes.every light,present,tree.............................its an all time great so buy it!the lyrics to the song youre a mean one mr grinch are beatle worthy.that is if they ever did a soundtrack like this which they didnt.its better traditionaly than the newer one but its color is old school and it just doesnt have that hollywood bang like the new version.this one is true to the dr,dr suess though.the other has little in common with them.there are also many other grinch related movies and books out there like how the cat in the hat ungrinched the grinch and how the grinch got so grinchy.kids like it.between the x-mas theme,the horror of a stolen x-mas,the nolstalgia of a timeless x-mas classic and the grinches powerful mood swings even a hardened criminal could get teary eyed.this movie is outstanding in its capacity to touch people!the only chick per say is little cindy lou who who finds the grinch stealing her tree.so no hot mamas here.this film follows the book to the letter unlike the new one with jim carrey.the grinch,in my opinion,tells a better x-mas story than anyone out there.theres the epitoime of horribly shattered and battered souls dragging his poor old heart around.the only thing that stops him from his apocalyptic plunge into lifelong depression is his sudden revelation that stealing x-mas would end his harrowing torment.so he rises from the ashes of his former blue world and sets out to make things right in a way he belives to be theraputic and helpful.only hes pulled himself done so far,that he completely goes overboard.then he has another startling revelation that really does set everything right.so,the point being even the most horribly emotionaly scarred beings can make a emotional comeback through the magic of x-mas.