Disney's A Christmas Carol

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" is directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Forrest Gump," "The Polar Express," etc). The movie stars Jim Carrey ("The Truman Show"), Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight"), Cary Elwes ("The Princess Bride"), Colin Firth ("Bridget Jones's Diary"), Bob Hoskins ("Hook"), and Robin Wright Penn ("Forrest Gump").

Since this is about the 87th time that Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" has been adapted in some way, shape, or form, I am assuming that the majority of the human race knows the story. There really is no excuse to not know it...even if it's just "The Muppet Christmas Carol" version you're familiar with. But I guess I'll give a recap anyway since this is the section of the review where I usually talk about the plot. Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey plays Scrooge at every stage of life) is your generally unpleasant person who is obsessed with his job and money and hates everything about Christmas. And following with his nature, he treats his employee Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman) and just about everyone else horribly. Well, anyway, one night, Scrooge gets a visit from the ghost of Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman again!), Scrooge's old business partner. The ghost of Jacob Marley tells Scrooge that he will be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future (Yep...all 3 ghosts are played by Jim Carrey...hmm this is kind of like when Tom Hanks played every single character in "The Polar Express" 5 years ago.) Well anyway, Scrooge is real scared and all since they are ghosts and everything...and...yeah...I won't ruin the end for the one person in the world not familiar with this story thats been around in various forms since 1843 when a man named Charles Dickens first wrote the book.

The voice cast for "Disney's A Christmas Carol" is great. I was impressed at how several of the voice actors were given multiple parts to play and everyone does it so well. I was just about to say how impressed I was with all the English accents then I found out everyone except Jim Carrey (who's Canadian if you ever wanted to know) and Robin Wright Penn are actually British...so that's really not special at all. Jim Carrey by far had the hardest job, voicing essentially 6 characters, if you count the younger Scrooges. And he took the challenge and succeeded. He was able to change the sound of his voice depending on the character so many times that it was hard to tell it was even him. His change as Scrooge from the beginning of the movie to the end was well-done and believable (well, I don't know if that drastic a change would actually happen...but who knows with 1840s London).

Although it has been while since I've read the book, I'm pretty sure that this newest adaption stayed very true to the book. The script was written by Robert Zemeckis and some lines are taken directly from Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." A couple parts I think might have been changed/added for this version but that is to be expected with each new adaptation to the classic story. The only part that I really didn't like was near the end where Bob Cratchit decides to talk to the audience. It feels very weird and unnatural and narration would have worked far better.

The animation in the movie was great. Motion capture was used to animate this movie. This is where the actors essentially have a body suit on and there are sensors all over it so their movements can be recorded. Then this information gets put on a computer and everything else is digitally added. For this reason the characters look like the actors that play them, to some extent. Jim Carrey is probably the most obvious...as his face shows up on a variety of characters. Although motion capture can look a little bit strange and not feel natural, I felt it worked here. The motion capture-animated characters looked better here than in "The Polar Express"...at least that's what I thought. The main area where the animation shines is in the depiction of 1840s London. There are some great scenes where the camera is just moving quickly all through London and it looks wonderful. The animation is just beautiful...and I am usually really judgmental about movies that aren't animated by Pixar. Texture and depth were definitely there throughout. I saw the movie in 3D so this was more evident. Although the 3D glasses dim the color a little bit, it was very well done, giving depth to the scenes, instead of just being gimmicky. 3D animation is definitely getting better...and many movies are using this technology.

Who would have thought that Jim Carrey would be joining the likes of Reginald Owen, Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, and Michael Cane playing Ebenezer Scrooge? But he does and he is actually quite good...although not as memorable as the aforementioned actors. Robert Zemeckis's version of "A Christmas Carol" is true to the book and visually stunning. Overall just a good movie experience...3 out of 4 stars...and I would see it in 3D at least once...Disney Digital 3D is pretty great.

-Joseph Sbrilli