A Christmas Carol (2009)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers:

Charles Dickens (novel)
Robert Zemeckis (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Family | Fantasy

Plot:

An animated retelling of Charles Dickens classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions. |

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Motion Capture | Remake | Holiday In Title

US Showtimes:

The Bridge: Cinema de lux

11:30am | 12:30pm | 2:00 | 3:00 | 4:30 | 5:30 | 7:00 | 8:00 | 9:20 | 10:30

(personalize)

Cast

Jim Carrey	...	Scrooge / Ghost of Christmas Past / Scrooge as a Young Boy / Scrooge as a Teenage Boy / Scrooge as a Young Man / Scrooge as a Middle-Aged Man / Ghost of Christmas Present / Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (voice)
Steve Valentine	...	Funerary Undertaker / Topper (voice)
Daryl Sabara	...	Undertaker’s Apprentice / Tattered Caroler / Beggar Boy / Peter Cratchit / Well-Dressed Caroler (voice)
Sage Ryan	...	Tattered Caroler (voice)
Ryan Ochoa	...	Tattered Caroler / Beggar Boy / Young Cratchit Boy / Ignorance Boy / Young Boy with Sleigh / Tiny Tim (voice)
Bobbi Page	...	Tattered Caroler / Well-Dressed Caroler (voice)
Ron Bottitta	...	Tattered Caroler / Well-Dressed Caroler (voice)
Sammi Hanratty	...	Beggar Boy / Young Cratchit Girl / Want Girl (voice)
Julian Holloway	...	Fat Cook / Portly Gentleman #2 / Business Man #3 (voice)
Gary Oldman	...	Bob Cratchit / Marley / Tiny Tim (voice)
Colin Firth	...	Fred (voice)
Cary Elwes	...	Portly Gentleman #1 / Dick Wilkins / Mad Fiddler / Guest #2 / Business Man #1 (voice)
Robin Wright Penn	...	Fan / Belle (voice)
Bob Hoskins	...	Mr. Fezziwig / Old Joe (voice)
Jacquie Barnbrook	...	Mrs. Fezziwig / Fred’s Sister-in-Law / Well-Dressed Caroler (voice)

Also Known As:

A Christmas Carol: An IMAX 3D Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Disney's A Christmas Carol (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for scary sequences and images.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45640) | UK:PG | Finland:K-11 | Norway:11 | South Korea:All | Ireland:PG | Canada:G (British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario)

Company:

ImageMovers

Trivia:

Robert Zemeckis has stated previously that A Christmas Carol is one of his favorite stories dealing with time travel.

Quotes:

[From trailer] [upon meeting the Ghost of Christmas Future]
Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost of the Future, I fear you more than any spectre I have seen.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Jay Leno Show: (#1.30)" (2009)

Younkin Reviews Movies

Robert Zemeckis tries motion-capture animation for a third time, a technology that's been a mixed-bag, creating some very pretty pictures and allowing actors to portray multiple roles but lacking the one thing that a Zemeckis flick always prided itself on in the past, which is a soul.

Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is a miserly old man who clings to money while neglecting humanity, his nephew (Colin Firth) and employee Cratchit (Gary Oldman) included. On Christmas eve night he is visited by the ghost of his former partner Marley (Oldman) who tells him his one chance at redemption is to be visited by spirits of past, present, and future (all played by Carrey). Of course this is a timeless tale, but like the best re-makes of "A Christmas Carol", you want to see something new. There isn't much of that here outside of the visuals. Zemeckis' vision is darker and scarier, but not necessarily better. The appearance of Marley's ghost is more haunting than anything in "Paranormal Activity" and there is a lot of disturbing ghostly and death-related imagery. These are probably the scared-straight type visuals Dickens would have wanted, but parents with young kids should be careful.

The scenery still has that joyful Victorian-Christmas feel and the characters look terrific. Scrooge is perfect as a bony, hunched-over figure with a long scowling face and protruding nose and chin. The ghost of Christmas past looks like aflying flame and is probably the movie's funniest visual. (The other is how much Bob Cratchit looks like Clint Howard.) And the ghosts of Christmas present and future are intimidatingly well-created. The movie works the best when Scrooge is at his meanest and there isn't a scene where Carrey doesn't commit to his performance, but like the rest of the movie, it doesn't have the originality of a say "A Muppet Christmas Carol" or "Scrooged". Michael Caine and Bill Murray are still the Scrooge-champs. The biggest problem though is that Zemeckis is still hindered with motion-capture, which animates the actors faces and movements but also makes them look emotionally hollow (especially around the eyes). And this is one of the few "Christmas Carols" where the Cratchit and Tiny Tim characters seem minimized in favor of stylized visuals and unnecessary action set-pieces, and where Scrooge seems to transform simply because the screenplay requires it. The richness of the story never comes through. Oh, and I still fail to see the benefit of 3-D.