Released in 2009, this animated extravaganza was the last of director Robert Zemeckis’ motion capture features. Motion capture was a format to which Zemeckis claimed (in 2004, when the first of those features, THE POLAR EXPRESS, premiered) he’d be devoting the remainder of his career. Unfortunately motion capture is an ungodly expensive process that in the case of A CHRISTMAS CAROL cost upwards of $200 million (which in 2009 made it one of the most expensive movies of all time), and in all of Zemeckis’ motion capture features resulted it box office disappointments (and, in the case of 2011’s Zemeckis produced MARS NEEDS MOMS, an outright disaster).
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, written by Charles Dickens in 1843, is perhaps the most famous Christmas story of all time. This particular adaptation differs from all the others in that Zemeckis, who for the only time in his career got a sole screenwriting credit, took his dialogue directly from the Dickens text.
You know the story: in mid-1800s England the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (an unrecognizable Jim Carrey), finding himself alone on Christmas Eve, is visited by the chain-laden ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman). The latter warns that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits, and if he doesn’t listen to what they have to say his own spirit will be cursed with chains even heavier than those weighing down Marley.
The first visit is from the Ghost of Christmas Past (Carrey again), who takes Scrooge on a visit to his hometown. There he revisits his lonely childhood, his teenage apprenticeship to the boisterous Fezziwig (Bob Hoskins) and his courting of the angelic Belle (Robin Wright), who dumped him. Next the Ghost of Christmas Present (Carrey again), a bearded giant who sits atop a Christmas tree throne in a room that stretches (a shout-out by this film’s financier/distributor to one of its most famous amusement park attractions), takes him to view the life of his underling Bob Cratchit (Oldman again), who lives in poverty with his family and ailing son Tiny Tim (Oldman again). For good measure, this ghost also takes Scrooge to view the doings of an embittered relative and his family, who while celebrating Christmas enthusiastically mock Scrooge.
Next is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Carrey of course), which takes the form of a shadow, and whisks Scrooge off to view his future. In this period Scrooge has died and his colleagues talk about what a “frightful fellow” he was, and he also looks in on Cratchit’s house, where Tiny Tim has died. Eventually Scrooge gets tossed down a pit into a coffin, which awakens him on Christmas day, and of course scares him into becoming a nicer fellow.
The archaic 18th century dialogue (“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest”) doesn’t exactly mesh with Zemeckis’ gravity-defying camerawork that swoops and darts (Spider-Man like) through the air, nor the physical appearances that have a tendency to morph, or the many gratuitous action set-pieces—a carriage chase, a shrunken-down Scrooge riding an icicle, etc.—that seem better suited to a Pixar movie. Further incongruity is provided by a high-spirited Alan Silvestri score that incorporates several holiday standards (“Deck the Halls,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” etc.) to bolster the Christmas movie aura.
Zemeckis and his animators have conjured some powerful, and near photo-realistic, imagery (most notably the flame-headed Ghost of Christmas Past), but it fails to resonate amid all the cacophony (there’s also the fact that such realism tends to undermine the animated process—why not just film it live action?). Jim Carrey is strong and surprisingly unaffected as Scrooge, but his performance is likewise drowned out (by among other things his work as the various ghosts). In summation, those wanting a faithful rendering of A CHRISTMAS CAROL are advised to read the book, while those wanting a good Robert Zemeckis movie should skip this one.
Vital Statistics
DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Walt Disney Pictures/Image Movers Digital
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Producers: Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke
Screenplay: Robert Zemeckis
(Based on a novel by Charles Dickens)
Cinematography: Robert Presley
Editing: Jeremiah O’Driscoll
Cast: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Fionnula Flanagan, Steve Valentine, Sage Ryan, Ryan Ochoa, Daryl Sabara, Amber Gainey Meade, Bobbi Page, Julian Holloway, Jacquie Barnbrook, Molly C. Quinn