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    A Christmas Carol

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    There are a lot of good things about "Disney's A Christmas Carol" (not to be confused with “Mickey’s A Christmas Carol”) The performances are good, it gets quite inventive visually and it stays true to the source material. Still, I feel that the movie can't seem to make up its mind on what it wants to be. It ends up flopping between goofy humor and serious, even frightening scenes. Is this an intentional choice by director Robert Zemeckis? I’m not sure.

    Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carey) is a bitter miser who considers the ideals and the spirit of Christmas pure humbug. One cold Christmas Eve, the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman) appears to him with a warning: he will soon be visited by three spirits, heed their warning and change your ways or risk an eternity of suffering.

    The most distinguishing feature of this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ story is that there is a relatively small cast and that everyone is animated using motion capture. Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman play several characters (Carey does 4, Oldman 3) They pull this off by disguising their voices successfully and fully exploiting the motion-capture technology. I think it’s particularly interesting to hear Carey voice not only Scrooge but also the ghosts who visit him, sort of in a way that’s similar to Moses and God in “The Prince of Egypt”. The characters are intimately linked, so it feels appropriate. I have mixed feelings about Gary Oldman voicing three characters. Not that he does a bad job, and I can even see the logic in Scrooge’s assistant Bob Cratchit and his former partner having similar voices, but it’s not a choice I would have made. I’ve always liked the idea of motion capture and to me the film shows off how it can best be utilized. You can transform someone into a totally different character without prohibiting their movements with the use of heavy makeup or costumes.

    The movie is uneven when it introduces distracting action set pieces, particularly during the third ghost's revelations. I’m sure it would have looked great in 3-D, but these feel like one of those “roller coasters” where you sit in a vibrating chair with a big screen in front of you. They are not legitimate or necessary plot elements. It gives the impression that Robert Zemeckis is desperate to show off what his motion capture technology can do while offering nothing new to the Dickens classic. As for my criticism of the uneven tone, there are several scenes that are frightening but have jokes shoehorned in or off-putting whimsical moments like the “roller-coaster” sequences that are lighter… but to what end? My guess is that these were injected to make it more kid friendly, and it just doesn't. There isn't really much in the original Christmas Carol story that lends itself to comedy, and it shows.

    As one of the greatest Christmas stories out there, even a hit-or-miss adaptation like this one ensures that you'll still have a good time and you’ll find yourself touched. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” is not a bad adaptation of the book. The performances are good, the visuals impressive and it stays true to Dickens’ work. Unfortunately if you do a bit of digging you're likely to find a version you'll like better than this one. It's a disappointment. (On DVD, December 16, 2012)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  31.12.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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