The Who's who of Whoville, and most other places too, already know who stole Christmas, and how the Whos did not cry boo-hoo.

It's all there in Dr. Seuss' famous children's book, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The intriguing new news, as we come up to Christmas 2000, is how the Grinch and the girl steal the spectacular new movie based on the book.

The Grinch is Canadian comic Jim Carrey, who is ferocious, fearsomely and fabulously brilliant as the great green one. Carrey meshes wonderfully with Anthony Hopkins' fluid narration.

The girl is American Taylor Momsen, who is wonderfully, warmly and winsomely charming as Cindy Loo Who.

In the movie, Cindy is the little Who who -- alone among all her kind -- understands the Grinch's personal pain and tries to rehabilitate him. She even believes in him when he spitefully plots to ruin the town's annual Christmas celebration.

As for the new movie, titled Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas -- as if we'd think anyone else's Grinch did something so mean -- it has its minor glitches and even gaffs, but it's certainly good for a bazillion little laughs.

Written in 1957 by Dr. Seuss' alter ego, Theodor S. Geisel, the book has been made into a movie once before, by Chuck Jones in 1966. But that was under an hour and animated and produced for TV (although you could see it on video cassette over the years and it just made its debut on DVD this fall).

The Carrey movie is live action and longer, at 105 minutes. So the story has been stretched out by screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Some of the padding is weak.

But that is a minor quibble. There are also moments, mostly muttered asides by the Grinch, which seem to be pure, unadultered Carrey witticisms that enrich this for adults.

One other quibble I have is with director Ron Howard's visual plan for the make-believe world of Whoville. It looks splendid enough in design and execution, worthy of Seuss.

But Howard and cinematographer Don Peterman chose to shoot too much of the movie with a fuzzy white glow, as if we're watching it through a snowstorm. The film would look better bright and beautiful and in sharp focus.

The Grinch's lair, however, is gorgeous -- and filmed that way. So, too, is Carrey's sensational look, achieved masterfully through latex and Yak hair and gobs of green.

Even more impressive is the genius of Carrey's talent for transformation. Unleashed, he is no mere mimic or some goofy guy in a costume. He embodies the withered, sad spirit of the Grinch and is utterly convincing doing dastardly deeds.

That's why it was critical the filmmakers found the perfect little girl in seven-year-old Momsen to play Cindy Lou. Only one so pure could possibly find a cure for what ails a Grinch.

Together, they let us forget that this is a movie packed with special effects, laden with Rick Baker's makeup and adorned with 8,200 Christmas ornaments and 1,938 candy canes.

So that is how a Grinch and a girl steal this movie -- through heart and emotion. And aren't we glad they did.

(This film is rated F)

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