THE GRINCH (2018)

Yes — happily, without reservation. This is Movieguide's kind of Christmas movie: gorgeous animation, real wit, and a story that puts the birth of Christ at the center of the season rather than at the edges. The Grinch's arc from orphaned, alienated meanness to a heart that grows is handled with genuine feeling, not sentimentality for its own sake.

What you get for your family's time: a loving mother-daughter relationship, a community that actually celebrates Jesus in its Christmas carols, and humor and heart that never curdle into anything cruel. There's nothing to weigh against it — no language, no sex, no nudity, no substance use, nothing objectionable in the miscellaneous category either.

Gather the whole family for this one. It's a rare film Movieguide simply fell in love with.

Whoville is bursting with anticipation for its favorite holiday. Watching from his mountain fortress with a heart three sizes too small, the Grinch decides he's had enough — he'll dress as Santa, borrow a sleigh, recruit a reindeer named Fred, and steal Christmas away from every home in town. Standing in his way is Cindy Lou Who, a girl with one wish for her overworked mother, who's determined to show the Grinch what the season actually means.

Four stars means this one earns every bit of its praise. The animation is colorful and full of imagination, the humor lands as genuinely delightful, and the film is well-designed, well-written, and well-organized from open to close. The Grinch himself gets a real character arc rather than a simple redemption switch-flip, and the affection between him and his dog, Max, plus the reindeer he recruits, gives the film unexpected tenderness. Cindy Lou is an especially compelling character, and her relationship with her mother carries real weight. This is craftsmanship matching its message.

This film exalts what a Christian family hopes a Christmas movie will exalt: the birth of Christ, celebrated openly in carols and hymns that name His divinity and lordship, not just generic "holiday spirit." The Whos' community is marked by the fruit of the Spirit — kindness, joy, love, loyalty — and their understanding of the "real reason for the season" is front and center, not a footnote. Parents and children are portrayed with a warmth too rarely seen on screen; the film even models loving care for animals.

The Grinch's meanness isn't excused — it's traced to real alienation, an orphaned childhood watching others' joy from outside — and Christmas triumphs over that meanness not by force but by love reaching him where he is. That's a genuinely biblical shape: grace meeting a hard heart and softening it.

The ache at the center of this story — a heart too small, longing (without knowing it) for belonging and love — finds its answer where Scripture puts it: "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). A heart three sizes too small is exactly the kind of heart God specializes in enlarging.

This is a Christmas movie made with real craft and a real heart for the true meaning of the season — carols that name Jesus, a family worth rooting for, and a redemption arc that earns its tears. Our answer is simple: worth the trip. Gather the whole family, pop the popcorn, and let your hearts grow right along with the Grinch's.