2 of 5 stars
Fall break is past, Thanksgiving yet to come, but “A Christmas Carol” already present. This time Disney tries its luck with a performance-captured animation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel. The result can be best described as something like an adolescent facing an identity crisis. It’s unsure of what it wants and goes back and forth between extremes.
And while the name Robert Zemeckis seems reason for excitement because of his earlier successes such as “Forrest Gump” and “Back to the Future,” and previous Disney work “The Polar Express,” the result is disappointing.
The story is classic. Scrooge is punished for his greed and indifference to fellow human beings and is visited by three ghosts: the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. They take him on a journey that will change his life and afterlife.
On the one hand the film adheres closely to Dickens’ novel, with formal dialogue and infamous catchphrases such as “Bah, humbug” and “God bless us, everyone.” But then again, Dickens certainly did not write about Scrooge shrinking to a rat-sized puppet and running through drainpipes high on helium, as Zemeckis interpreted Scrooge’s attempt to stay out of the hands of the quite creepy Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
While the visuals are brilliant, abundant in detail and expression, they could have used a little bit more color. The depressing grays definitely complement the tone of the story but are a bit heavy on the eyes.
This does not prevent the characters to coming to life visually — Colin Firth’s Fred looks uncannily real — but they lack in emotion. Scrooge’s bitterness is never really explained or highlighted, and all of the other characters remain flat.
Jim Carrey does all of the important voices. At first this is admirable. Scrooge’s voice is impressive. But after hearing the same laugh for the 70th time it becomes reason for annoyance.
“A Christmas Carol” never comes to fruition. It tries to be witty, serious, realistic, fantastical, loud, subtle, scary and charming at the same time. But in trying to do all, it achieves nothing.
