The Grinch (or, as nobody calls it, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) has just landed back on Netflix in time for the festive period and if you think everybody is bored of it now, it's perched at the top of the most-watched movies list in the UK.
With a genuinely Oscar-worthy performance from Jim Carrey, actually Oscar-winning make-up, and a darkly zany tone that ensures adults don't get bored and fall asleep, it's a movie that's earned its place among top Christmas classics like Home Alone, Elf and the many varieties of A Christmas Carol.
However, a dark fan theory about the origins of the Grinch's loyal pet may just change your perception of the film forever – even if it does clear up a slight plot hole.
For those miraculously unaware of the story, the Grinch is basically a fluffy green Scrooge who lives at the top of Mount Crumpit with his dog Max. Every year, his hatred for Christmas grows stronger as the freakish mouse-faced citizens of Whoville stuff their unwanted presents and rubbish in a trash chute that leads directly to his humble abode.
The Grinch first moved to the mountain when he just a prepubescent (but still very hairy) child. It's only after receiving decades of people's discarded gifts and trash that he finally decides to go back down to Whoville and gleefully tear the place up.
However, TikTok user @dogmom_af drew attention in 2020 to a potential flaw in that premise. If the Grinch hasn't visited Whoville in decades, where did Max the dog come from?
While they leave the question open-ended, the implication is that Max was just another unwanted Christmas present that someone stuffed in the chute and sent to Mount Crumpit. Sad face.
Dogs are for life, not just for Christmas, people.
Naturally, the theory sparked a major reaction from Grinch and dog fans alike.
One distressed individual tweeted: "I saw a TikTok where this girl was talking about the Grinch and how he lives on Mount Crumpet and he gets all of Whoville's trash thru the chute, so the reason he had his dog Max is because he was a Christmas present that was thrown away and now I'm sobbing."
Another wrote: "I'm today years old when I realised Max the dog in The Grinch was just a Christmas present that a kid didn't want and got rid of by dumping it into the "Dump it to Crumpit" trash chute. Poor doggo."
Importantly, some fans have pointed out that the Grinch actually visits the mail room towards the beginning of the movie, which suggests there are plenty of occasions where he could have picked up Max.
However, in the 1998 book The Grinch Meets His Max (admittedly, not written by Dr Seuss), the pooch is discovered by the green grouch after being lost on Mount Crumpit, which could still support the theory that he was dumped there.
After being bombarded with angry comments from people trying to disprove the theory, @dogmom_af returned with a second video, pointing out that other Grinch stories have hinted that Max was an unwanted present.
In any case, this rather gloomy theory is actually quite in keeping with the tone of the movie, which has more than a handful of bizarrely inappropriate gags aimed at adults (see the swinger party scene where everyone places their keys in a bowl and baby Grinch is left outside to cry).
How the Grinch found Max may be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but now we'll never look at the makeshift reindeer the same way again.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is available to watch now on Netflix.
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