Hello everyone, and I’m back to report on the release of the second trailer to The Grinch. And let me just say, doing coverage for this movie has been quite an interesting trip. First, I offered an argument as to why we don’t have to hate this film months before the first trailer was released. Then the first trailer came out, I talked about it, and the reception began to improve. Now with the release of this trailer, things sure have taken a turn, because everyone is now actually looking forward to it. And let me just say that I sure am impressed.
But how did this happen? What in this trailer caused everyone’s hearts to grow three sizes for this film? (Okay, maybe two-and-a-half.) And what do I personally think of the new trailer and these developments, and what it might mean for the film’s critical and financial performance?
I don’t know about you, but it’s time to slide that sleigh into it!
The Official Second Trailer
With this new trailer, a lot of new stuff about the film was presented. Surprisingly enough however, it was not completely new, being a mix of old and new footage. This makes it all the more interesting that the trailer was still received the way it was, meaning that the trailer delivered even with the limited new footage it presented.
We begin with more Minions Max on a flying apparatus of the usual Seuss-pecuiliarity, as the Grinch once again uses him to inspect the people of Whoville. This is actually better than the Grinch going down to Whoville himself before the famed Christmas heist as he did in the first trailer. He is still technically hiding out in his cave like the hermit that he is, but he is simply getting a better view of what is going on.
As well as himself.
But after this hilarious sequence, the tone quickly changes, and to me, I think that this is the scene that sold everyone, and it shows what I’ve been saying this whole time. We finally get our first footage of the young Grinch, and an idea of the filmmakers’ interpretation of how the Grinch became mean. As the scene appears to show, the Grinch was once like everyone else in Whoville, wanting to experience Christmas like the rest of its inhabitants. But as a result of being orphaned at an early age, the Grinch became alienated from the rest of society, which denied him that chance of learning what Christmas was really like. This set the stage on his path to becoming a hermit, wanting to take Christmas away from the very society that took it away from him. It’s a great villain origin for the character, and is way less complicated than the largely convoluted version in the live-action film.
Clearly, audiences agreed. For once, instead of talking about how bad the film was going to be or how unnecessary it was, people were actually having thoughtful, insightful conversations about the scene, as should be done with nearly all other upcoming movies. What’s even more impressive is that this was only the second scene in the trailer, so Illumination wasn’t done with us yet.
Though this is when the footage from the first trailer is shown, with the remade version of the iconic “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” song playing yet again. By the way, I didn’t know this when I was writing the breakdown for the first trailer, but this rendition of the song is actually not original to the movie, which is obviously a huge plus that they didn’t try to make their own version. It is actually that of a version sung by musician Bob Malone, which was recorded in 2004. Pretty neat!
Anyway, despite the old footage, there were some new brief scenes shown inside the Grinch’s quarters, the most notable one being him cheating his way in chess with Max. The footage of him walking down to Whoville is also presented again, but then comes the really interesting part: the famed Christmas heist itself.
The next scene that they show is the footage of the Grinch attempting to snatch that reindeer as the synopsis stated, only to fail miserably as a result of a hilarious goat cry. After the reindeer run off, he is forced to go after a much fatter reindeer that was too physically unfit to run, only to fail to catch this one as well.
The film’s logo then appears, and we see the Grinch and Max attempting to sneak inside a house that appears to be a random one for now, yet he is not yet in his Santa outfit. Instead, he is in a simple hat and scarf, eventually stressed out about the fact that he forgot how loud snow can get.
The final scene shows the Grinch and Max arriving back in his quarters, which reveals that the Grinch eventually did catch the fat reindeer. And the reindeer…well…let’s just say he doesn’t have much knowledge on how to consume processed foods.
I’m not going to lie – I was honestly expecting to see the Santa outfit in this trailer, yet Illumination is curiously keeping it in hiding. I was afraid that people would start complaining that they’ve held it back long enough, which wouldn’t help the already mixed outlook on the film. Yet this was not only not the case, but the reception in general was the complete opposite, which of course had me relieved. Of course it wouldn’t be good news if the Santa outfit actually wasn’t in the movie, but I’m largely doubting this for now. Instead, based on the final two scenes in the trailer, as well as everything we’ve got so far, here’s what I think is going to happen.
The Grinch will get caught sneaking towards that house, making him realize that infiltrating other houses on foot will yield the same results. Sliding on a sleigh will probably provide a quieter means of transport, and the fat reindeer will be used before Max. However, look at the reindeer! It’s pretty obvious that the big lug isn’t going to get the Grinch anywhere. Max will be his last resort, and sometime during these events, he will don his iconic Santa garb. There’s obviously more to this story, but I’m liking where it’s going, at least from what I’m getting from it.
So Will This Actually Be A Hit Now?
Well, there’s a good chance. The live-action film made $345 million worldwide with a 53% Rotten Tomatoes rating, so this film has much room to outpace it both critically and financially. With the mixed reception for the film mostly gone now, it shouldn’t hurt the film too badly if at all, assuming it does deliver, of course. Though it should be noted that a lot of positively received children’s book adaptations don’t make a lot of money for some reason, so even without the negative press, it’s perfectly possible that The Grinch ends up being more critically successful than the previous outing, but ends up on equal footing as the live-action film financially or even makes less money. Inflation and competition are obviously factors that could make or break this, and it could still be a modest success depending on the budget. Illumination is notable for their cheap budgets, so the film underperforming is incredibly unlikely. But who knows? With the Illumination name attached, the box office numbers could blow us away, but based on history, I’m personally leaning towards the former scenario. Now, all that needs to happen from here is that things only go up, so that audiences hearts grow to the full three sizes. If Illumination can do that, that would be great in these last days of Universal-produced Dr. Seuss films.
With still much to show, I’m not sure if I’m going to make a post on every new trailer they put out, but chances are I’ll discuss noteworthy updates on the film as it gets closer to its release. Until that sleigh begins to get pulled, folks. 😉
Naimoli Children's Books Blog 