A Christmas Carol is good holiday fun for the whole family
Posted by The Skyliner on December 2nd, 2009Tommy Lee
Opinion Editor
In the seasonal hit of the year, A Christmas Carol, Robert Zemeckis adapts Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas novel. The man who brought us such films as Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and another holiday film, The Polar Express, tastefully recreates England in 3-D and uses motion capture technology to make the animation look essentially human.
Although one would argue that a live action film would have been better, the movie in 3-D is really a lot of fun. The ghost of Christmas past flies Scrooge through England like it is a roller coaster, taking the audience with him.
If you do not know the story of A Christmas Carol, it is about a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge who is stingy and all around unpleasant, whether it is to his own nephew, or to his impoverished employee Bob Cratchit. Seven years after the death of his business partner and friend, Jacob Marley, Scrooge is visited by his ghost, who tells him he will be visited by three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come. Each one takes Scrooge through their respective time periods to remind him what the spirit of Christmas really is.
This is the first film Jim Carrey has ever done with Walt Disney Pictures. Jim Carrey and Cary Elwes do most of the voice acting in the movie, covering 13 voices between them, although it also features Bob Hoskins, Gary Oldman, and Colin Firth. The film is a Walt Disney Pictures movie, but be cautious if you have younger siblings or relatives, as there are some scary sequences throughout A Christmas Carol.
Most of the movie remains true to the novel. There are only a few scenes that change a little bit. A lot of the dialogue throughout the movie is direct quotations from the novel. It is definitely recommended that this movie be seen in 3-D, as it truly enhances the experience of a Christmas film. In scenes where it is snowing, this is especially true.
Overall, A Christmas Carol is a great film, not to mention a well done rendition of a classic Christmas tale, of which there are already many films. The Christmas carols sung throughout the movie really add to the joy of watching a Christmas film. A Christmas Carol is rated PG for scary sequences and images.
Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 11