NQ#170 pushed several people's buttons! I learned not to mess with one's Grinch!
The powers that be have decided that the holiday favorite, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, needs to be updated.
They plan to dub over the Boris Karloff narration and replace it with a more recognizable, more popular voice.
Their choice is Rosanne Barr.
Do you boycott the new version? Write a letter? Start a petition? Suggest someone else? Buy a gun?
What would you do?
JoyC: I'd buy another DVD of the old version to have just in case something would happen to my current copy; and just not buy the "newer" version.
Suzy Chapstick: Buy the DVD.
Not Craig. Honestly: I couldn't care less, because not only have I never watched or even heard of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but neither has anyone else. If it's such a favorite, how come you got the name wrong? Do you also watch It's a Reasonable Life, Brown Christmas and Miracle on 42nd Street? It's called How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Some favorite. Bah!!! Humbug!!!
Well NCH, you certainly took me to task. Your moderator stands corrected!
Ivory: Here's a solution: read the book, it's awesome.
Wjelb: Everyone has their favorite James Bond and CatWoman, so I suppose there's space for another Grinch.The Grinch has already been usurped by Jim Carey. I'd consider any new version (shudder) a bastard of the original and move on. That venerable special was a family tradition when I was growing up. Now that I'm only growing out, the memory of it is good for a chuckle and a twinge.
Martha: ALL OF THE ABOVE!!! The Grinch is my all time favorite -- Boris Karloff is a genius. Dr. Seuss is a genius. I still will not watch the crappy live Jim Carey version because it is such a bastardization of that wonderful story!!! Why does Hollywood always feel the need to remake classics?? Why can't they leave well enough alone? Does no one have original ideas?? Next they'll be trying to remake "Casablanca" or "Gone with the Wind" or the "Wizard of Oz"!! I know, they'll colorize the beginning and end of that one because kids today don't like black and white!! I HATE TED TURNER -- he started all that! If I do nothing else in my life, I will instill an appreciation for black and white movies in my children. It is a lost art form. And so help me God...if they do anything to "It's a Wonderful Life" -- I cannot be held responsible for what I might do!!
Boy, I just read my response....I think you touched a nerve here, Dan!!
Wien88: Since that sad, sorry state of affairs has already occurred thanks to Ron
Howard and Jim Carrey, I'll answer with how I did react. I did NOT go see
it in theatres. I did NOT buy new Grinch merchandise that looked nothing
like either Suess's Grinch or Chuck Jones's Grinch. When it finally came on
TV I ignored it for years, then finally tried to watch it just to see why it
became a financial hit.....I made it through roughly 20 minutes before the
sheer ugliness on the screen made me turn it off. To this day I've never
seen the movie all the way through. And never will. I consider it an
abomination and still cringe when I see Carrey-Grinch merchandise. It was
so gawdawful ugly to look at. The broadway production looks like the movie
and is just as ugly. UGH!
And you know, the other day the Christmas radio station played Thurl
Ravenscroft singing "You're a mean one, Mr Grinch." When it ended the moron
DJ came on and said: "Ha ha! Can't you just picture Jim Carrey?" I
actually yelled "NO, I can't!" at my radio. "The song is from 1966
lamebrain! It has nothing to do with Jim Carrey!!!!"
According to my parents (who saw it), the Powers That Be also updated and
live-actioned Rankin Bass's classic The Year Without a Santa Claus. They
said it was dreadful. UGH! No desire to see that either.
Leave my durned childhood alone, thank you very much! If someone wants to
create a "new" Christmas classic, they should stop remaking things which are
perfect just as they are, and instead find a way to get the Ed Sullivan
Estate, Walt Disney Productions, and what's left of Jim Henson Productions
to allow the 1970 TV special The Great Santa Claus Switch to finally see the
light of day again.
Serena: That would be a big ol' boycott. Who is "they" by the way?
Stacey: Since I have no desire to see the Jim Carry version, why in the WORLD would I want to see the Roseanne Barr version? But I have too much else to do to take any action. I would simply put in my DVD of the original. [img]smile.gif[/img]
By-Tor: While I don't believe I would be totally opposed to a well thought out
update to a classic, in this hypothetical scenario I would say:
"Roseanne Barr! What are they thinking? When will that woman go away?
Morgan Freeman must have been busy. At least it wasn't William Shatner."
Then I would purchase a copy of the original version as soon as I can.
That way, I could have my cake and eat it too; that is to say, I could
watch the movie and boycott it at the same time.
Dawn: I would not be interested in seeing it. I am a stickler for the classics - not really interested in the remakes of many things. Then I would go out and buy the original on DVD - several copies!!!!
And also, if I am to take a clue from some of your answers, am I to believe that some of us DO NOT have a copy of the original cartoon already?? I think I've had my VHS tape for about 15 years!
Regardless, here's our Non-Committal winner, who has me staggering in disbelief!
CMC: I didn't see the first one, so I don't care about remake.
