How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a fanciful movie based on Dr. Seuss' classic holiday poem. The Grinch, a hairy, green, cantankerous beast, looks down on the town of Whoville from his home on a mountain of garbage. What he sees disgusts him. The people who live in Whoville (called the Whos) love Christmas and all its trappings. Possessions, decorations, lights, and partying consume the Whos. The Grinch's disgust originated when he was mocked as a child because of his odd looks and the Christmas gift he hand made. The Whos hate the Grinch as much as he loathes them.

Intent on destroying Christmas, the Grinch single-handedly devastates Whoville by stealing all their presents and Christmas trees. Tucked in his hideaway, he prepares to destroy all the loot he has stuffed into a gigantic pack. But before he can, he hears the townspeople singing in the valley.

The narrator explains: "Then the Grinch heard a sound rising over the snow. It started in low and it started to grow." The Grinch grimaces as the narrator continues: "But the sound wasn't sad, but merry…very. Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, were singing without any presents at all."

The Grinch is bewildered by these people who are robbed of their possessions yet are happy and singing.

So explains the narrator: "He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow or other it came just the same. And the Grinch with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow stood puzzling and puzzling how could it be so."

Finally, the Grinch speaks: "It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

His eyes grow warm and soft and as big as saucers. Suddenly, he throws himself to the ground, convulsing as his heart grows three times the size it was before. He laughs. He cries. He claims to feel all toasty inside. Unfamiliar with tears, he thinks he is leaking, while a brilliant shaft of sunlight bathes his green face and reveals a sincere smile. The conversion of the Grinch is matched by a brilliant sunrise.

But then it dawns on him that the stolen gifts are about to slide off the mountain and be destroyed. For the first time, he actually cares. Transformed, he risks his life to keep the gifts from falling from the precipice. The Grinch's changed heart is matched by changed behavior.

Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 1:22:21 and lasts approximately four minutes.

Content: How the Grinch Stole Christmas is rated PG for some crude humor.