Two things make this film work: First, the effects team and art department go hog wild, creating a fully developed world that looks fantastic and operates on its own outlandish rules. Every scene is eyepopping and fascinating, filled with tiny witty details that are never on screen long enough to become obvious. And the film's second gift is Carrey, still oddly recognizable despite the thoroughly engulfing costume and otherworldly physicality. He's so perfect for the role that you can't imagine anyone else doing it--combining gleeful vileness with a dormant conscience. The expansion of Cindy Lou Who's (Momsen) role works very nicely, but Hopkins' narration is a strangely strangled and worthy (Carrey should have done it himself). Of course Tambor and Baranski are wonderful as the small-minded mayor and the girl the Grinch lost to him. The humour has a terrific anarchic quality that keeps us chuckling (and includes plenty of gags for the grown-ups), and the whole thing only disappoints when it starts sinking in syrupy sweet sludge at the end. But there's more than one excellent message lurking in here, and none of them are clubbed over our heads. Definitely worth adding to the Christmas movie pantheon, but not at the expense of the original.