Walt Disney Pictures | USA | 96 min.
Robert Zemeckis’ take on A Christmas Carol is a story that has been told a countless number of times to a point of tiresome. With that said, this is actually a refreshing take on the material and works in the end. While this isn’t a new christmas classic and doesn’t live up to its fullest potential, it remains as a highly enjoyable ghost story.
On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) gets a nice visit from the ghost of his ex-partner Jacob Marley, who’s there to warn him about a few more not human who’ll be visiting him. Scrooge is a man who despises christmas, is annoyed by most people and treats most people around him with very little respect. He has no christmas spirit and will soon find out why thats a bad thing. His dead partner warns him that he will be visited by three ghosts of the past, present, and future. He’s taken on a trip that teaches him the true joys of christmas. Scrooge is taken to his past experiences of christmas, sees how his acquaintances spend Christmas and even gets a look into his dark future.
It’s almost pointless to describe the plot since it’s so ingrained into pop culture by now. Again, Zemeckis hasn’t done anything particularly new with the story but thankfully keeps it fresh. The first act of the film, however, doesn’t start the film off on a good note. The tiresome set up of Scrooge being an old crank has especially grown tired and weary. It’s slow and is filled with the same old exposition. Where the story picks up is exactly when Scrooge is visited by Jacob Marley. It becomes an adventure of sorts where one sees Scrooge’s natural transformation into cheerfulness. The second act is where Scrooge truly starts to grasp his effect on people and his selflessness. Nothing about it comes off contrived nor too sappy. The last act is where the film truly shines. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows up to show Scrooge his future it becomes more darker and even carries some emotional weight. It puts the cherry on the top of Scrooge’s ultimate life change.
Zemeckis once again brings a classic tale to the big screen and, of course, with his motion capture technology. With each film Zemeckis seems to be improving upon the beautiful wonders of mo-cap, but it’s not quite there yet. One flaw to be found is the supporting character’s facial design. While Scrooge contains incredibly detailed facial features, a few of the supporting characters look more so like video game characters, most notably Tiny Tim and Scrooge’s nephew. That’s the true flaw to be found in this overall beautifully lush-looking film. Zemeckis fills the screen with plenty of fantastic sweeping shots and a color-popping aesthetic. At times this a true visual marvel to behold with Scrooge’s wonderfully detailed facial expressions to a few tremendously composed shots.
Carrey ends up delivering an excellent performance that ranks amongst the best Scrooges ever to grace the screen. Early on he’s mean spirited, dark, and yet carries a sympathy to him. He’s immediately an involving character that’s easy to care for. Another aspect worth noting is that Carrey keeps his slapstick humor to a low. While his comedic shtick pops up here and there, he actually earns the laughs a long with his character’s happy ending. His performances as all the ghost are also praise worthy especially the Ghost of Christmas Present, who’s last scene is the film’s pinnacle moment of greatness. Most of the supporting characters are played by some of today’s best working actors such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and even Bob Hoskins. Out of the three, Oldman fares best. He brings an instant likability to Bob Cratchit with his softness and well natured personality, illustrating this acting veteran’s versatility. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Firth and Hoskins. Neither of them feature genuine character arcs and contain inexpressive facial designs.
This is spin on A Christmas Carol is a journey that’s worth taking. It doesn’t take as many liberties with the story as it should, but only a few aspects of this same old story fall flat.