Back When Ghosts Made House Calls ~ A Movie Review of ‘A Christmas Carol’

Aw, the holidays are upon us.  Thankfully it seems as if the local radio stations have thus far resisted playing Christmas tunes the day after Halloween, but to tide us over until the start of the real holiday film season (you know, Oscar contenders, tearjerkers, and really bad comedies where Christmas is an underlining theme) ‘A Christmas Carol’ has been released in both 3D and Imax 3D versions.  Of all of the 3D movies I have seen, I would have to say that ‘A Christmas Carol’ is probably the closest to being something that mainly adults would enjoy.  Can you guess that this article was originally written in November? 

 

I think what is so beloved about this story is that is it a tale about redemption after most of a life has been lived without much love and kindness to the rest of humanity.  I don’t think it translates well to really young children because the old man in the story isn’t jolly until the end and there isn’t really a whole lot fun with Tiny Tim and his lameness…unless you are lucky enough to have David Sedaris reading the story to you.  With that said, the film deserves its PG rating and I would highly advise not to take very young fidgety children or children who are easily afraid.  Further, though it is animated, the film doesn’t have an explosion of color like most animated films of this sort have (‘Monsters vs. Aliens’, ‘Up’, and ‘Coraline’ are three examples) that typically appeals to younger children.  I imagine that color pallet is muted due to the time and place of the story – London, early 1840s.  Back at that era, London was a dreary place because of the massive use of coal for heating thus London looked as if it was imprisoned by fog when it was really a form of smog (the clean air laws in the 1950’s helped eliminate the condition).  Check out the big head on Lisa!

 

                There was a lot of familiar talent attached to this film including Robert Zemeckis who both directed and wrote the screenplay based on the original novel/novella by Charles Dickens (the book was originally published on December 19, 1843, sold six thousand copies during its first publishing, and has never been out of print).  Zemeckis has a very impressive film resume, particularly when it comes to animation including ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, ‘The Polar Express’, and ‘Beowulf’ (‘Beowulf’ was also in 3D and definitely wasn’t a kid’s movie).  Jim Carrey plays several roles including Ebenezer Scrooge and all the Christmas ghosts.  The animators do an excellent job with using Carrey’s rubber like facial expressions to great advantage.  Honestly, the Ghost of Christmas Present, probably was the best Ghost of Christmas Present I have ever seen including the 1938 versions which starred Reginald Owen as Scrooge…I’ll even go one step further and proclaim that this current version of the Christmas classic is probably second best only to the 1938 version.  Along with Carrey, are Gary Oldman who is Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and even Jacob Marley.  Colin Firth, Mr. Darcy himself, is cast as the Scrooge’s fun loving nephew Fred.  I thought the production did a wonderful job in making the characters of each of these actors look very much like them with a few alterations – except for Carrey’s nose as Scrooge, that thing was sharp and could theoretically put an eye out.

 

                Overall, I would highly recommend seeing this film in the theater particularly in 3D.  Further, I will give a tip of my hat, a la Stephen Colbert, to Disney for producing a film like this that is technically a family film, but instead of appealing mostly to the youngest in the family it appeals to the older set.  My folks saw the movie, and though they can’t hear (at times assuming that everyone in the theater was similarly affected) they enjoyed the visuals and didn’t mind being deaf so much since they already knew the storyline.

 

                Thus I end with a simple wish of a Merry Holidays to all!

 

Westerfield © 2009