A long-time tradition in our family (and probably millions of others, I suspect) is a trek to the local cineplex sometime between Christmas and New Year’s (often, more than once) to take in a movie, whether Christmas-related or not. Baggies of candy, courtesy of Santa in our stockings, are slipped into pockets and purses (I know, I know!), and we escape to some fantasy world for a few hours.

Over the last decade or more, with our girls now adults, I’ve not taken in a majority of the new animated films and kid-focused movies, but the wheel has turned, and I now have a grandson who, at four and a half, is old enough to sit through a 90-minute film and follow the plot and enjoy the humor targeted at his level of understanding. His parents discovered on his first trip to the theater last year, however, that the volume was uncomfortably loud for him, and they left before the show was fully underway. As we prepared to take Sean to the latest iteration of The Grinch, we decided to take along his padded Spiderman headphones, which proved to be the perfect solution.

I have to admit that I was more than a little skeptical that the world needed yet another Grinch movie. I’d grown up with the 1966 half-hour television special, perfectly narrated by Boris Karloff, and it and the illustrations from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dr. Seuss’s original 1957 story, are still the first images that pop into my head when I hear “Grinch.” Then came Jim Carrey’s manic version in 2000, greatly expanding upon the original and really its own animal.

Well, I needn’t have been so grinchy in my anticipation of yet another Grinch movie. While including full sections of narration and dialogue from the original book, the new film has additional characters, its own unique snowy vision of Whoville and some added subplots that create a delightful story. I laughed right along with Sean and split my time between watching the action on the screen and observing his reactions to it — equally entertaining.

I’m delighted to have many more years to look forward to sharing this movie-going holiday tradition with the grandkids and a fine excuse to enjoy some quality animated films.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor