A Christmas Carol (2009)

Genre

Animation | Drama | Fantasy

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Steve Valentine, Julene Renee-Preciado, Fionnula Flanagan, Kerry Hoyt, Molly C. Quinn, Ryan Ochoa, Daryl Sabara, Sammi Hanratty, Lesley Manville, Fay Masterson, Ron Bottita, Jacquie Barnbrook, Paul Blackthorne, Julian Holloway, Michael Hyland, Leslie Zemeckis

Storyline

Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Opinion

Over the past decades, many have made their own version of Charles Dickens's famous tale, A Christmas Carol. Disney tried before, and succeeded with 1983 'Mickey's Christmas Carol'. They tried again, this time with 3D animation, but bah humbug.

A Christmas Carol is yet another adaptation of Dickens's classic tale that has no real reason to exist.

After the awful 'Polar Express' and the decent 'Beowulf', Zemeckis's interest and love for fully motion captured CGI films got the better of him, and offers a new take on the novel. But, frankly, it doesn't add much to the tale, besides the rich in details, still creepy and horrible animation that would have been hundred times better with with regular CGI animation.

The director, who also wrote the script, captured the moral behind Dickens's tale, but, since he did not soften it a bit, the film doesn't feel very suitable for children: they are more likely to be frightened to death than entertained. 

Despite his efforts, Jim Carrey never captures the spirit of the character of Scrooge as Michael Caine in 'The Muppet Christmas Carol', or Bill Murray in 'Scrooged'. Overall Carrey's performance is fine, but his youthful voice just doesn't match with the age of his character. The supporting voices, especially Gary Oldman and Bob Hoskins, are fine.