Customer Reviews

Dr. Seuss - It's Grinch Night [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This DVD contains four digitally remastered (great image quality) classic Dr. Seuss stories:
* Green Eggs and Ham: about Sam-I-Am and his never ending quest to make people sample the dish he loves best.
* The Sneetches: about a narrow-minded and prejudiced group of creatures who don't accept others who don't look exactly like them.
* The Zax: about two hardheaded and proud beings who waste a whole lifetime for not yielding the right of way.
* Grinch Night: about a courageous kid who faces the Grinch and saves his whole town from his malicious Halloween tricks and terrors. (A must see on Halloween night).
It also contains two wonderful sing-along songs: He Will Eat Them and Grinches Inches Closer.
Not only does this collection of cartoons contains the marvelous songs and poetry of Dr. Seuss, it is also a great way to teach kids about human values like open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance, humility, courage and selflessness. They are filled with original art and are also very entertaining.
Buy this DVD for your kids and enjoy it with them. I would also recommend buying Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat and Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar

My earliest memory is the first time I saw "Grinch Night"--when I was about two years old. Bad mistake on my parents' part...that movie scared me silent. I hardly understood the plot, but I remembered very specific aspects of it: the line about Eukariah's glasses, the weird orange bird that's always featured on the cover, the Grinch's flying eyebrows, and this big hovering ballon-thing with huge eyes...I had nightmares for years.

I watched it again when I was seven (actually I was forced to watch it because we watched it in class for Halloween), and it still scared me to death--even more so because I understood the plot. And then I didn't have the courage to watch it again until I was thirteen years old.

And, even though I still have nightmares about it, I have an awesome new respect for it--the combined efforts of Dr. Seuss and Joe Raposo created the perfect spooky atmosphere for a children's Halloween special that wasn't even remotely corny. Highly recommended--just not for two-year-olds. :)

My review is on the Emmy Award winning "Halloween is Grinch Night", shortened later to just "Grinch Night" for some reason. It's a 30 minute Halloween special that originally aired on CBS in 1977. The Grinch Night story is not well known, but those that have seen it hold a special place for it in their hearts. Obviously not all of the animated specials of Seuss stories have been on the same level as the "The Grinch that Stole Christmas", but they are very enjoyable in their own right. The narrator and the Grinch is voiced this time by Hans Conried. There are two Seuss songs, "He Will Eat Them", and "Grinch's Inches Closer", both hilarious as you might expect.

Without giving away the whole story, you see the Grinch didn't stay good after Christmas and is back to being dastardly and mean. The citizens of Whoville notice the sour-sweet wind blowing and know that it means GRINCH NIGHT is coming. The "Whos" lock up their doors and windows to hide as this wind means that the Grinch is coming to terrify them on Halloween night. A boy named Eukariah decides that the Grinch must be stopped, so he faces his fears and confronts the Grinch and his countless monsters and spooks he has brought to attack the town. It is an enjoyable tale for the holiday.

Dr. Seuss personal influence is always apparent in his specials. He was the Producer this time along with Warner Brothers Studio's Friz Freleng. His original story and artwork comes alive. There is a different, more muted color scheme than most of his other films, but that is mostly due to the story occurring at night and the Halloween theme.

There are about 4 different releases of this story on vhs. This story also appears on a newer DVD with Green Eggs and Ham and 2 other short stories.

Three out of the four cartoons on this DVD run at about 10-15 minutes average length. While the fourth (Halloween Night is Grinch Night), runs at about 20-30 minutes. So all in all, you are getting around 52 minutes worth of Dr. Seuss entertainment, which really isn't all that bad.

Green Eggs and Ham- A decent cartoon but with it being based off of a book, it seems to kinda get on your nerves after a while with all of the rhythms and rhymes. But not too bad. The sound is top notch on the DVD but the color seems to be kinda bland.

The Zax- The shortest of the cartoons on the DVD, this one is pretty entertaining even though it is extremely short. The coloring and sound are great!

The Sneetches- My second favorite cartoon on the DVD. A story that has a true message to it. Sound is good and the color is pretty much intact but there are a few scenes where the color seems to have faded a little.

Halloween Night is Grinch Night- One of my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss cartoons! The creatures in the story are kinda creepy and it is very appropriate for Halloween, hence the title. This is obviously the longest cartoon since it was made for CBS back in the early seventies I believe. This one seems to be absolutely intact with sound and coloring.

Overall, while the only thing that seems to be suffering the most from these four cartoons is the fading of colors. But it's not the DVD's fault. These films were made back in the sixities and seventies and have been shown many times on television since their creation. I am surprised that their condition is not as worse as shown on the DVD. Definitely worth the money if you're a Dr. Seuss fan!

Grinch Night is the best Halloween special never ran on TV these day. It was a truly memorable expereince on those cold October nights of my childhood. And although it was released (and purchased by myslef) on VHS the grainy picture and sub-par sound really doused the viewing. But now we have it on DVD and a whole new genration of children (and adults) can enjoy this priceless treasure digitally. Thank you Universal reincarnating this masterpiece.

Oh, my only complaint about this volume; shoulda' entitled it "Grinch Night and Other Favorites" with the Grinch's snarling visage on the cover......

The much rarer Grinch video. Everyone knows how the Grinch stole Christmas, but fewer people realize there's more to the story. The look of the animation is more Suess-ian than the Christmas one and while I love 'Christmas,' I actually prefer the animation style of Grinch Night. Plus the music is catchy and fun. Get how the Grinch stole Christmas, then get this movie and enjoy them both. Also great for Halloween.

My kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this movie. I love that after you fast-forward through the annoying ads/previews and get to the menu, it starts automatically and then keeps restarting itself, but does NOT replay those annoying ads/previews every time; it plays JUST the movie.

However... the case is AWFUL!!! This is the THIRD time I've bought this movie because the release button in the middle is VERY hard to push, so my children end up just pulling on the movie disc and eventually it breaks. The first time I thought it was a fluke, the second time I realized it wasn't, and this third disc has been transferred into a different case to prevent it from suffering the same fate as it's predecessors.

Classic Dr. Seuss - excellent purchase for my growing teens who sometimes like to re-capture youthful events with mom.

This review is directly for Grinch Night rather than Green Eggs and Ham as Grinch Night is the sole purpose that i purchased this DVD. Yes, I have been waiting some time for this particular animated special to appear on DVD as it is definitely a "Must-Own". For those people like myself, who grew up watching "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" as well as the various Charlie Brown holiday specials, not to mention all those wonderful Rankin & Bass collaborations, Ginch Night will always have a place in my heart(as well now in my DVD library). Maybe not as memorable (or popular, obviously) as it's Xmas predecessor, the few times as a child that i watched Grinch Night enraptured me. It will always be required viewing around Halloween time right along with "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" & "A Garfield Halloween". I'm 32 now but will always feel like a child all over again while watching this show. And someday, I hope to share the magic of Grinch Night with children of my own...

We thought this was a Halloween show, but it has nothing to do with Halloween except for the fact that it is meant to be a bit scary. This is a good choice to introduce younger kids to scary movies. Since the animation is so fanciful, kids don't come away thinking this could happen to them in real life. After all, when have you ever seen anything close to Dr. Seuss animation in our world. This is a great choice all around, and a true gem for Dr. Seuss fans.