A Christmas Carol

1/16/2020

A Christmas Carol sings the haunted verses of Dickens through disjointed emotionless motion capture. “Bah! Humbug!” Zemeckis had always been fascinated with digital cinema. ‘The Polar Express’ was technological innovation at its more pure, yet ‘Beowulf’ stabbed itself through contrived art direction that failed to suit the dark environment it was showcasing. So when he heard the “House of Mouse” were adapting Dickens’ universally known tale (again...), he clearly joyfully jumped at the chance of producing more digital art. The inevitable question though is: why? Does a Victorian-era Christmas story warrant the unrefined technological advancement of motion capture? Yes and no, is the answer. The tale itself remains intact, following closer to Dickens’ words than any other adaptation that

8/17/2020

A tale that almost feels as old as time itself, one that is very much overtold. However, this <em>'A Christmas Carol'</em> is a good retelling of Charles Dickens' work. Jim Carrey isn't necessarily firing on all cylinders, but is entertaining enough as Scrooge. Gary Oldman (Bob) and Colin Firth (Fred) are welcomed members of the voice cast, also. I quite like the tone of the film, as well as the design of the animation - which isn't amazing, some parts look like what you'd see in a video game, but it works well to set up the ambience of the London surroundings. There's good music from Alan Silvestri, too. Overall, I'd recommend it - admittedly I do enjoy the story of Ebenezer a lot.

12/1/2023

It takes a bit of getting used to the rather angular style of animation, but thereafter this is quite an enjoyable adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale of the wealthy miser "Scrooge". He hates Christmas with a vengeance - all that good will malarkey - humbug! Luckily for his eternal soul, his long-dead partner "Marley" mysteriously appears and forewarns him of three visits he is going to receive in the early hours of Christmas morning. His past, his present and his future are going to flash before his eyes - all with a view to him realising the errors of his ways and changing for the better before it's all too late. The story is told in a similar fashion to Ronald Neame's version from 1970 - only without the music - and it's well paced with plenty of creative and expressive use of the anima