Ron Howard pulls off the ultimate holiday fantasy with "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", perfectly portrayed by Jim Carrey. Carrey brings his own unique brand of humor to the role, making this film a must see for your family this holiday season. Joined by Molly Shannon, Bill Irwin, Christina Baranski, Jeffrey Tambor, and Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who, Carrey and company live in a fantasy world on a snowflake, carefully crafting the world of Dr. Seuss and making it come alive, without overdoing it.

Made from the original book and classic cartoon from 1966, the hour and forty five minute film adds rich details to the story of the Grinch. We see for ourselves how the Grinch turned into one, as he is found and raised in the village of Whoville until one fateful Christmas day. We also see his other occasional pranks on the small village, as he slinks into town, reeking havoc as he wanders the streets. Cindy Lou's part is greatly enhanced from one scene in the original cartoon to a major character, as she is the only one who sees good in the Grinch. The film is lavish in special effects and make up, fashioned by make up artist Rick Baker. Carrey has the energy that propels the film into outstanding category, crafting his interpretation of the green furry guy with outrageous gags without going overboard. It's Carrey at his best. Much has been said about the film and its effect and small children. My five year old was laughing all the way through it, and the film actually softens the Grinch character a bit. In the original cartoon, narrated by scary Boris Karloff, the Grinch actually treats Max, the dog, very poorly, making him haul up the overfilled sled to his lair. In this film, Carrey never treats Max as anything other than his companion and friend. I thought his portrayal was mischievous but not hurtful at all. The PG rating is for some crude humor, but there is very little of that considering what is on regular television these days.

Picture-The DVD is clear and sharp, with bright Christmas colors it Whoville and dark, foreboding shadows in the Grinch's lair. The extraordinary makeup by Baker took two and half hours a day for Carrey, who wore it for over three months. Baker's work carefully crafted the costume and facial mask to enhance Carrey's natural ability for facial expressions, making them even better. Fine details, such as the hair on Carrey's fingers are all in sharp focus and the special effects are spectacular, faithfully recreating key scenes from the cartoon. Sound-Excellent sound, reproduced in Dolby digital 5.1 surround, and 5.1 DTS are included on the one disc. The Dolby version is almost as powerful as the DTS, but DTS is still my preference when given the option. The excellent soundtrack includes the original "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch", sung in the film by Carrey. The soft spoken narration by Anthony Hopkins is also a charming addition to the overall film's character.

Sadly, Ron Howard and Brian Glazer decided not to do commentary on the film (maybe for an Ultimate Edition?). However, the disc does pack a lot into one disc. Besides regular extras such as a making of featurette with cast and crew interviews, the disc has a kids section, with rhyming games, dress the Grinch in various costumes, a read-a-long story and two sing-alongs. The disc also includes a technology called DVS, which, when enabled, helps blind people navigate the menus. While this is all well and good, I'm still wondering why a blind person would have DVD. The regular extras include a number of short featurettes on makeup with Baker discussing his crucial role in the development of Carrey's costume and the townsfolk of Whoville, "Who School", where the cast learns to act and move like Whos, Seussian Set decoration, which was pulled off with over 6 miles of styrofoam and great care by production artists to recreate the look of the Seuss style, deleted scenes, which would have been better with commentary, outtakes with flubbed lines from Carrey and more, highlighted with a hilarious bit by Carrey at the end, and a ten minute special effects feature showing how they managed to put together this fantasy world using cgi, puppetry, and blue screen compute generated backdrops. I was astounded to learn that the opening scene involved computer generating over 40,000 trees for the opening shot in the mountains. We are also treated to a Faith Hill musical video, "Where Are You Christmas?", production notes, cast and filmmakers still screens, and three Wholiday recipes, including a mint Brownie concoction that sounds wonderful. The DVD-ROM portion of the DVD includes a demo of a PC platform game called The Grinch, in which as the Grinch, you must get around objects and barriers while you steal presents.

An excellent holiday disc and one the family can enjoy every Christmas. This film faithfully captures the Seuss classic in every way and Carrey's rendition is commendable. Pick this one up and enjoy it all through the holiday season.