His antic gesturing and face-making hit the mark at times, but at other moments seem arbitrary and scattershot. Meanwhile, Toys "R" Us began promoting the film, transforming their locations into Whobilation Headquarters with the most aggressive visual merchandising display in the company's history. He apologizes for his scheme and surrenders to the police, who spare him and ignore MayWho's demand to arrest and pepper spray him.

Fresh from the success of the Despicable Me and Minions films, Illumination turned their attention to The Grinch in 2018 with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the titular fiend. Josh Ryan Evans, who played the eight-year old Grinch, wore the same style of makeup and bodysuit Carrey wore. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, being nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. Carrey's Grinch is a combination of Seuss's creation and Carrey's personality, with a voice that sounds far more like a weird amalgamation of Sean Connery and Jim Backus ( Bond meets Magoo! The Grinch was released and distributed by Universal Pictures in the United States on November 9, 2018.It stayed at the top of the box office for four weekends until it was overtaken by What Women Want and Dude, Where's My Car? Other promotional partners included Kellogg's, Nabisco, Hershey's, Visa, Coca-Cola and United States Postal Service.

In total, Carrey spent 92 days in the Grinch make-up and became adept at remaining calm during its application. With Christmas approaching, an attempt by the Grinch to ruin a tree-lighting ceremony goes wrong, resulting in him having a flashback about his disjointed childhood spent alone and unwanted in an orphanage. However, her cheerful father, postmaster Lou Lou Who, defends her, declaring that she has tried to tell them that Christmas is not about decorations and gifts, but about spending time with family and friends.

Paul Clinton of CNN declared that Carrey "was born to play this role" and noted that "Carrey carries nearly every scene. Just laughing at all the bad CGI and all the cheesy one-liners it was a very good time in spite of or maybe due to the fact that it was a horrible movie.

Her request to help lighten her mother's workload and her advice about listening to the Whos' singing to alleviate his sadness touches the Grinch's heart. Produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the third screen adaptation of the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Over the end titles, we see that The Grinch has created a number of labor-saving devices, which do indeed make her happier and her life easier. Furthermore, his free-flowing tirades, full of catch-all allusions and references, are pitched for adult appreciation and look destined to sail right over the heads of pre-teens. James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote that Carrey's "off-the-wall performance is reminiscent of what he accomplished in The Mask, except that here he never allows the special effects to upstage him.Upon its release, it had the sixth-highest three-day opening weekend of any film, behind Toy Story 2, X-Men, Mission: Impossible 2, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.