10 Underrated Movie Characters That Fans Really Hate

2. The Grinch - How The Grinch Stole Christmas

The GrinchWhy's he hated? Well, this one is a bit mixed. How The Grinch Stole Christmas was an enormous success and actually earned Jim Carrey a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the title character. At the same time, the film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry (an award invented by copywriter John J.B. Wilson to mock bad films) and several purists said Carrey's portrayal wasn't respectful of the original. Whereas the vocal performance and animation for the original Grinch was malevolently understated, Jim Carrey was very much in "wacky" mode. Add to this the fact that, by 2000, Jim Carrey's shtick was showing its age, and it made his zany performance here an easy target for critics. Why's he underrated? First off, I really liked the film (at least as a kid, I did). Secondly, while I agree that Carrey's performance is nothing like the original's, it's important to remember that the audience and intent was very different. The animated film was made when mass appeal animation could still be a bit deranged (Looney Tunes is the best example). Not to say we don't have animated series like that now, it's just that once it's taken to the big screen, unless your intro has that big 'ol Magic Kingdom in the beginning, you can't get away with much. Because of this, the Grinch had to turn down the malevolence (which Carrey did). If the Grinch was as creepy as the original version, parents would get antsy about letting their kids view it. Carrey's performance hits a comfortable medium, -he's still clearly threatening when it's necessary, but someone you could imagine being a decent guy deep down. Also: whereas the original Grinch was a 2D drawing, Jim Carrey was a 3D person. As such, one has to appreciate the amount of skill it took to act through a costume so uncomfortable that Carrey had to learn pain-relieving exercises just to get through it. Golden Raspberry award my ass.
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I'm a nice dude, with some nice dreams See these ice cubes, see these Ice Creams? Go to http://blackcomicguy.wordpress.com/ to read some of my thoughts on comics, film and television.