Stax's look at HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS review

Hey folks, Harry here. Yesterday I posted up Mysterio's review of the script for HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. Mysterio liked it and thought that Ron and crew were on the right path to making THE GRINCH a wonderful bit of family entertainment and perhaps something a bit more. Well, today... ol Stax of the Flixburg site, a script review site, posted up his feelings about the same draft that Mysterio had read and reviewed. They are on the exact opposite side of the field from one another. Now, I should be receiving this draft any day now, so I will be reading it asap and writing my own thoughts upon the script, but let me say something as an introduction to Stax's review link.

Script reviewing is not necessarily an easy task. There are... many people that simply can not read a script. It's not like any reading format that people usually have access to... other than plays, and how many people do you know that buy and read plays... outside of Shakespeare? Well, there are scripts that are incredibly easy to read. Dramas and action films... Mysteries and Suspense. Horror films and so on. I have a great deal of trouble reading comedies. When I read a visual pun... well, it's in the presentation. It's sometimes comes off as being a 'groaner' yet when that same joke appears on screen, like in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY... you suddenly get what they were going for.

Another type of script that is very hard to read for some people is the fantastical script. You see, in a script... traditionally, setting isn't described very well, amazing things like flying robot skiffs... they'll be described on paper as just being a Stap. That's it. No explanation.

On the Grinch, you combine both of these aspects into a single script. Visual gags and humor in a fantastical world beyond the imagination... or at least that is what they are aiming for. Everyone in town is a WHO, the world is silly and whimsical. The dialogue won't read like it does in any other film. When they are talking about a Whobilation, what the hell is that? What does it look like, how does the song sound, what's happening?

Well... I'm not saying Stax is wrong or that Mysterio is wrong... I am just pointing out that for a film set in the Dr Seuss universe, it's very difficult to read just words and judge the film. I've seen so much that is right with the film, that I'm dying to see if the script is a piece that fits... or if it is a turnip in a fruit salad. We'll see soon enough. But if you want to read the Flixburg review... Click here