Review

Review Date: 8-November-09
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)

Thanks to Charles Dickens, the only person I have ever considered in the light of a soulmate, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge is eternally gratifying and virtually botch-proof. I have watched, read, and listened to A Christmas Carol so many times in so many ways that it is like a second heartbeat sending an intrinsic pulse of warmth through my psyche at the waning of every year. No wonder Hollywood has been cranking out versions of this tale for decades and will continue to do so for generations to come. Dickens' well of good tidings will never run dry.

So when I sit down to write about a Christmas Carol movie the question is not "Did I like it?" but "What sets this one apart from another?" (A comparison of versions was one of the earliest Jujube Spotlights.) When "Disney" is appended to the title it's a sure bet that animation forms part of the answer. In this newest telling director Robert Zemeckis uses the same performance capture animation that he previously used for The Polar Express. This means that the computer-generated characters look and move like the actors who lend their voices to the roles, principally Jim Carrey as Scrooge plus two ghosts and Gary Oldman as Bob Cratchit. The lifelike quality of the animation is further enhanced by offering the movie in 3D.

While technologically impressive, computer-generated humans can never look like real people and consequently come across as either creepy or remote. No one is creepy here (unless they are meant to be), but Cratchit lacks some of his usual piteousness because you cannot fully reach his kind face and gentle soul. (As for the 3D, falling snow is the best part of that effect.) Yet if the flesh-and-blood folks pale in their pixelation, the ghosts benefit from the freedom of non-reality along with a couple sweeping views of Victorian London. The Ghost of Christmas Past, always a tricky one, is cute and metaphoric as a flickering candle flame, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is frightening as a shadow without substance. Zemeckis, who adapted the screenplay, adds a welcome touch to the scary apparition's message by having Scrooge's tombstone show December 25 as his date of death. Not only will he die unmourned if he does not change his ways, he will do so this very night.

But of course a computer-generated Scrooge learns to "honour Christmas in [his] heart, and try to keep it all the year" like any other. "I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future" the ex-miser concludes in the book, and in writing these words Dickens ensured a long, long future for himself and his icon.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.