Carrey steals laughs as Grinch

Together with a cast of colorful Whovillians and a skilled team of designers, Carrey, Howard and Grazer have created an enthralling comic fantasy.

Accented by narration from Anthony Hopkins, the movie trims out the taut fable with flashbacks to the Grinch's unhappy childhood, which cemented his hatred of Christmas and the Whos. The film weaves in a host of new Who characters around the story's three principals: the Grinch, his dog, Max, and Cindy Lou Who (played by newcomer Taylor Momsen).

There's the ponderous Who mayor (Jeffrey Tambor); the Who he woos, Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski); Cindy Lou's folks (Bill Irwin and Molly Shannon); and the mayor's toadying aide (Howard's brother Clint).

They and their townsfolk are caught up in the crass commercialism of Christmas like Wal-Mart shoppers at 6 p.m. on Dec. 24.

Only Cindy Lou questions the grabby, gift-giving holiday machinery. Her curiosity turns upward to Mount Crumpet, home of the mythical Grinch, the only other creature who seems immune to Christmas madness.

The Grinch is as much trickster as ogre here, giving Carrey leeway to prance and chortle with psychotic glee. He terrorizes "Who-venile delinquents" who taunt him, makes prank calls to Whos and visits Whoville incognito to lob wrenches into the holiday works. Amid a crowd of Whos, he strategically places mistletoe to let them know exactly where they can kiss him.

Many of the strongest moments come with the Grinch alone in his cave, celebrating his misanthropic life. It's not just the green sasquatch makeup that makes the Grinch feel real; beneath the fur is Carrey hurling himself into the Grinch persona as fully as he did with comic Andy Kaufman in "Man on the Moon."

Carrey is a whirlwind of kinetic energy, whose far-ranging intonations and body language flesh out a hysterically funny Grinch.

There's amusing interaction among the Grinch and the Whos early on, though at times it feels like gags slipped in to fill time before he concocts his grand scheme of filching Christmas. But the give-and-take between the Grinch and Cindy Lou truly charms.

"Nice kid," the Grinch utters after Cindy Lou states her conviction that even he deserves a happy Christmas. "Ba-a-ad judge of character."

Taylor Momsen, only 5 when she landed the role, is a marvelous pixie who evokes touching compassion when she confronts the Grinch. Instead of the innocent babe of the cartoon, she plays a pro-active Cindy Lou who is the linchpin to the Grinch's reclamation and the conscience that shakes her community out of its holiday materialism.

Tremendous credit goes to Howard and Grazer's design team, which fabricated costumes, makeup and sets that blaze with color, whimsy and good cheer.

The Grinch's lair is a wondrous collage of gizmos pieced together from found objects in Who trash, which shoots up a pipe and is dumped near his door. ("It's amazing what these Whos throw away," the Grinch mutters. "One man's toxic sludge is another man's potpourri.")

The mix adds up to a juicy roast beast of a movie that's sure to join the book and TV cartoon as holiday perennials.

"The Grinch," distributed by Universal, features a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman and music by James Horner ("Titanic"). It runs 104 minutes and is rated PG for some crude humor.