Every portrayal of ‘The Grinch’ ranked from worst to best
The holiday season isn’t complete without a foil. For every merry caroler or festive decorator who embraces the joy and splendour of yuletide cheer, there must be a figure who represents the opposite. Someone who is curmudgeonly and cantankerous, perhaps even wicked and villainous, helps balance out the more saccharine parts of Christmas. For the last seven decades, no figure has been more perfect in that capacity than The Grinch.
As one of the most endearing characters from the world of legendary children’s author Dr. Seuss, The Grinch has been terrorising Whoville inhabitants since 1957. A miserly creature with a knack for schemes and a hatred of all things Christmas, The Grinch is the rightful heir to Ebenezer Scrooge. At this point, he might even be more iconic. He’s certainly the most popular festive grump, with adaptations and merchandise that can be seen in front lawns and living rooms the world over.
Suess spent years trying to find the right avenue for “The Grinch”. He had been a fast-talking salesman and an exotic bird before Suess settled on the familiar creature that would disdain holiday cheer. Just seven months after publishing his most recognisable work, The Cat in the Hat, Seuss dropped the full-length How the Grinch Stole Christmas! into the October edition of Redbook Magazine, with the stand-alone book following a month later.
Almost immediately, The Grinch became an iconic symbol for anti-commercialisation and general hatred for the holly-jolly season. Being a “Grinch” quickly became a household term, especially during the final months of any given year. When Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones collaborated with Seuss on a 1966 television special featuring the character, The Grinch’s status as a holiday symbol was solidified for generations of viewers.
All told, The Grinch has appeared in over a dozen different forms of media, including books, feature films, TV programmes, video games, and stage musicals. Everyone from Oscar winner Walter Matthau to Homer Simpson voice actor Dan Castellaneta has portrayed the character, putting their own unique spins on a creature who has continuously terrorised and eventually embraced the Christmas season.
For this list, we’ve decided to focus on only the major adaptations that have featured The Grinch. Brief parodies in TV shows like Family Guy and Robot Chicken have been excluded, as has the video game adaptation of the 2000 feature film. With all due respect to Stefán Karl Stefánsson and Patrick Page, the stage version of The Grinch is also being restricted to the 2020 NBC adaptation.
These are all the major portrayals of The Grinch, ranked in order of greatness.
Tanking every portrayal of ‘The Grinch’
9. David Howard Thornton, The Mean One (2022)
It should have been a slam dunk: the already-terrifying Grinch character finally embraces his sinister side to a malicious and murderous extent. Although David Howard Thornton, best known as Art the Clown in the Terrifier series, is perfectly cast as the blood-thirsty Grinch, the film suffers from an astounding array of low-budget schlockiness and unlicensed stand-ins. If you have any love for The Grinch, you’ll do yourself a favour and stay far away from The Mean One.
8. Matthew Morrison, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical Live! (2020)
Whereas most Grinch adaptations don’t go far enough in their execution, the NBC-produced live musical version of the story goes way too far. That can’t save the performance from coming off as dull and moronic, however: bright colours and annoying songs can only take you so far. Glee actor Matthew Morrison is horribly miscast as the titular Grinch, and after two hours of nonsensical drivel, even the familiar sounds of ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’ will make you want to hit the mute button.
7. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Grinch (2018)
Currently the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time, the Illumination animated adaptation of The Grinch commits the cardinal sin of any adaptation: it’s phenomenally boring. Cumberbatch decides to embrace the most blasé vocal performance ever attached to the character, and the menace that was always a major cornerstone of The Grinch’s personality is whittled down to nothing. If ever there was a poster child for unnecessary remakes, The Grinch would be it.
6. The Wubbulous World of Dr. Suess (1996-98)
Harmless children’s fare, The Wubbulus World of Dr. Seuss took almost all of the most beloved figures from the author’s canon and transformed them into puppets. The Grinch serves as the main antagonist of the series, but he does little more than grouse and concocts harebrained schemes to stop the unfettered optimism of The Cat in the Hat. Neither egregious nor terribly memorable, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss was there and gone quicker than you could say “Who hash”.
5. Halloween is Grinch Night (1977)
A decade after the original television adaptation of The Grinch, ABC decided to revive the format and place The Grinch in a holiday picture that seemed perfect for his wicked sensibilities: Halloween. Missing the whimsical joy that Chuck Jones brought to the original, Halloween is Grinch Night still provides some solid entertainment and inspired choices, along with a solidly creepy voice acting performance from Hans Conried.
4. The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982)
More silly and psychedelic than Halloween is Grinch Night, the final television cartoon adaptation of The Grinch’s story puts him up against his biggest rival in terms of Dr. Seuss glory: The Cat in the Hat. Although it doesn’t quite have enough story behind it to truly sing as an adaptation, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat is nonetheless one of the first successful crossovers in entertainment (the studio that produced the special would later branch off into the home of crossover media, Marvel Studios).
3. Jim Carrey, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Jim Carrey’s indefatigable and manic portrayal of the Mount Crumpet dweller has officially become canonised thanks to its two decades on cable. Just like he does with the sleigh full of presents, Carrey lifts the entirety of How the Grinch Stole Christmas up on his own, to the extent that it’s a palpable disappointment when anyone else is on screen. Ron Howard struggles to accurately capture the tone of Seuss’ world, but Carrey is pitch-perfect in his rapid-fire on-screen assault.
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957)
The original book from which every Grinch adaptation takes its inspiration, Seuss’ magical portrayal of Whoville continues to be a must-read for every child around the holiday season. Even though he’s missing his familiar green hue, Seuss’ original illustration of The Grinch is the foundation on which all other versions are measured. Still, as good as it is, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is still a rough draft compared to its peak adaptation.
1. Boris Karloff, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
While Seuss’ book was a hit upon its release in 1957, The Grinch didn’t truly become an icon of the Christmas season until Seuss and Chuck Jones collaborated on the 1966 CBS television special that continues to run every year around the holidays. With the perfect mix of Seuss’ whimsical world and Jones’ mischievous cartoon tone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas found the ideal balance to tell the story of the green grump.
Everything in the special, from Thurl Ravenscroft’s ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’ to the simplicity of the animation, continues to make it a timeless piece of entertainment. But the real coup was getting horror legend Boris Karloff to voice The Grinch with just the right level of exaggerated menace. The resulting special is as watchable as it was when it first aired, and it remains the pre-eminent example of why The Grinch is still a beloved Christmas character nearly 60 years later.
