Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
The Grinch meets Halloween. This does sound like an actually pretty good premise. The involvement of Dr. Seuss, Gerard Baldwin and Friz Freleng as well as many talented (voice) actors certainly offers more hope, but the outcome is a bit of a disappointment I must say. The main problem for me was that, unlike the title suggests, these 25 minutes felt a lot more about an annoying little kid with glasses (and his family) than about the Grinch. This movie here was made roughly 10 years after the very famous Christmas-themed short film about the Grinch and the latter will have its 60th anniversary soon. It is also superior to this one here. It has a bit of everything: comedy, drama, horror, family movie..., but sadly, it does not really deliver in one of these genres. The animation is pretty similar in terms of style and level to the 1966 movie I mentioned earlier, so it's not exactly a modern work for the late 1970s. Then again, this decade was fairly disappointing in terms of animated (short) movies anyway. This one here is no exception. Not recommended, not even during Halloween.
anthony-rigoni
As I did for the Cat in the Hat movie, I'll do this review in rhyming. Run for your lives, my friends, because the Grinch from the classic 1968 TV special is at it again! This time, he's going to give Whoville a lot of fright in Dr. Seuss' "Halloween is Grinch Night!" However, he's about to be foiled by a rather small who. A who by the name of Ukariah Who. Lost on the way to the outhouse(called the euphemism) as the sour-sweet wind blew, Ukariah is about to run into... you know who! Ukariah, determined to the stop the evil Grinch, must use his brains to outsmart him in a pinch. Will Ukariah Who save the day or will the Grinch blow Whoville away? Find out in this Halloween classic that is sure to delight, Dr. Seuss' "Halloween is Grinch Night!" Starring Hans Conried as the Grinch and the Narrator, Gary Shapiro as Ukariah, Henry Gibson as Max's singing voice, Hal Smith as Josiah, Jack DeLeon as Sergeant Samuel McPherson, and Irene Tedrow as Mariah. Featuring more than 5 spooky songs and lots of Seussian fun, "Halloween is Grinch Night" will always be #1!
Kristie Ann Webb
Let's get the record straight. I love "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". It's my favorite special ever since I was a little girl. Man, it's such a warm classic. "The Grinch Grinches The Cat in The Hat" was not as warm as the Christmas special, but it had its moments. "Halloween is Grinch Night", on the other hand, is beyond charming. It's pretty bizarre. However, the additional nonsense is the only abomination in this special. It's bad enough when this little who boy enters the Grinch's wagon, which is filled with demons, singing a lousy song. Unlike the other two Grinch specials, the Grinch never changed his wicked ways on here. The Halloween Grinch special suffered a great deal between the other two Grinch specials, but I will give the director credit for the way the Grinch is drawn. If you are an adult, you'll find out how bizarre this special is.
chuchubanana
Ah, the lesser known Grinch holiday movie. In my family it's always been regarded a classic, kept on a dingy old VHS recorded from TV when I was just a small child. It is truly a bizarre film, much different than it's Christmas counterpart, and probably wouldn't appeal to lots of people. But for me, it is pure DECADENCE. I ADORE it. This is a quality film, undeniably, and anyone who says different, well, it's just not their thing I guess. But really, MAX SINGS!!! Can it get any better than that?? I think not. There's actually quite a bit of singing. As well as fun creepy creature things. I dunno, I'm weird, but I love this movie. It's excellent in a very bizarre way, I can't describe. I'd say it helps to be a bit abnormal yourself, as an indication of whether u may like it or not. Mmmmm yes.
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