Christmas Countdown: Film #18 - The Grinch & Film #19 - A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

Yesterday we had a bit of a film marathon. Having spent Mr. Click's birthday watching the Toy Story films we needed to get caught up on some of the Christmas films, so we decided to watch four throughout the day on Saturday.

First up was The Grinch (also known as How The Grinch Stole Christmas). Last year we'd been unable to watch it because our copy at the time was a version of the DVD from Germany. For some reason our blu-ray player refused to play it in English and wouldn't let us change the language. This year we have an English DVD (which for some reason our blu-ray player still was a little unsure about playing it) so we didn't have to worry about missing 'Der Grinch'.

We felt a little like we were watching an entirely new film, both of us kept on noticing little things that we hadn't seen before, like when the baby Grinch arrives the Christmas party in the house appears to be a swingers party, hehe! It's quite nice that there's plenty for the adults to pick up on while the children are enjoying their film about the mean old Grinch.

I love the style of the film, it doesn't surprise me learning that Tim Burton had been in line to direct it because it really makes me think of some of his films. It's captured the style of the books really well and I noticed that the signs are all in the same sort of font as the text in the books.

The set looks fantastic and you can get totally lost in the world created there. It feels magical and Christmassy, and I love the clothes and the decorations. It's wonderfully zany and Jim Carey makes a brilliant Grinch. You get the idea that he's adlibbed a fair bit during the making of the film. He is upstaged a little by the dog who is just lovely.

And at the end of the day, it has a lovely message, that it's not the presents and toys that matter at Christmas, but being with people you love. Which is kind of a theme that I've noticed throughout all of the Christmas films that we've watched.

We followed The Grinch with It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. I can't remember when it was that I first saw this one, but I know we had it on DVD for a while. For me The Muppets means Christmas and this one is definitely a firm favourite. I'll even got so far as to say that I prefer this film to It's a Wonderful Life, I'm not sure what it is about adding the Muppets to classic films, they only seem to make them better.

I like the idea behind this one and although it's starting to show its age, it's still funny and sweet. It's clearly a made for TV affair and you can pinpoint where the commercial breaks would have been in the original. The cast of celebrities who pop up will probably seem incredibly obscure in ten years time, but right now I recognise them and it reminds me of when I was that little bit younger.

I love the idea of the play that the Muppets are putting on in the Muppet Theatre. When I heard that there was going to be a new Muppet film coming out, part of me was desperately hoping that it would be a feature length version of Moulin Scrooge. I love all of the little nods to other films, like The Grinch (which we'd watched just a few hours before watching this one).

David Arquette as Daniel the angel who doesn't really seem to know what he's doing is funny, and it's good to see the Muppets as they would have been without Kermit. I especially like the bit with Gonzo as well, I have a huge soft spot for Gonzo. I also like the little nod to Yoda as well when Daniel 'accidentally' takes Kermit to a different world. Plus it has Whoopi Goldberg in it as well.

I think it's a lovely little film. Just a bit of fluff for the run up to Christmas, and everything turns out right in the end (as you knew it would at the start). Plus it always reminds me that I really have to get hold of the complete series of Scrubs on DVD and watch it all again at some point.

I'm not sure when I'll next get to update with the other films we've been watching, we've just got a few left to go so I'm guessing I'll have to spent my post Christmas holiday getting caught up with things then. For now, I've got to go write some Christmas cards!