After bombarding audiences everywhere with one of the most annoying ads to play during the Pyongchang Winter Olympics back in February, The Grinch remake — from Illumination Studios, the makers of the Minions — took a long and necessary break, lest audiences everywhere strike out in anger. Now, given that Incredibles 2 is right about to hit theaters, every single children’s movie coming out in the rest of this calendar year is getting a big and splashy trailer so that it can capture the ephemeral attention span of the American family in hopes that they remember it six months from now.
In that way, Illumination has their work cut out for them: who isn’t going to remember that there’s a Grinch movie coming out, especially one starring that English fellow who can’t say the word “penguin?”
Well, have hope, folks, because this trailer isn’t terrible! Take a look for yourself:
Now, it’s a bit weird that Cumberbatch decided to do a Dan Aykroyd impression for his take on the mean and green Christmas icon, but we’re kind of here for it, we guess. What’s really cool is that this looks to be a return to Illumination’s bread-and-butter when it comes to humor: Rube Goldberg-influenced slapstick. It’s safe to say that they’ve gotten a bit lazy with their humor in the Despicable Me sequels and spin-offs, only roughly approaching the highs of that first installment with The Secret Life of Pets, but we’re kind of hopeful about this one.
The reindeer gags in this trailer (both the one involving the Taylor Swift fan and the one involving whipped cream) are funny, and we’re glad they’re keeping the actual meat of the film — the Christmas robbery — out of the advertising. We’re not so thrilled that they’re offering up explanations for the Grinch’s grumpiness, but that’s just what we do to our characters these days. Still, it ain’t half-bad!
The Grinch hits theaters on November 9.
Featured image via Universal Pictures.