Technically, the animated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” from 1966 is a TV short. This tv flick’s got it all: compelling characters, a fun story and deeper moral impact than one would expect from a children’s feature.

The main reason the film has lasted so long is the reason I still watch the film every year: it’s entertaining. It’s only about a half hour long, and the music, animation and voice acting that goes on here is significantly better than other similar films of the time like the stop-motion “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” While the latter is arguably as essential (or more) to modern Christmas culture as “Grinch,” it’s not nearly as fun to watch. “Grinch” is less creepy than the stop-motion flicks as a whole, simply because stop-motion is a tad on the creepy side by default.

One thing that makes “Grinch” much easier to get into as opposed to its cartoony counterparts is it’s exemplary characters and acting. Boris Karloff, the legend that portrayed Frankenstein’s monster in Universal Studio’s earlier films, gives us a Scrooge-like but comedically misunderstood monster that “steals” Christmas. Karloff manages to give us a Grinch we pity and love and hate all at the same time. This makes the acceptance of his act of redemption at the end a much easier process for me.

Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is a towering achievement in animated holiday entertainment. This staple in my childhood holiday traditions has been and will continue to be one of my favorite classics centered around the rapidly-approaching Christmas.