Bah Humbug, Saith They.

 

Boy, when I scanned the Letterboxd crowd, Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) sure takes a shellacking. The number of one star reviews or two star reviews stack up in quite a hurry. Even if it isn't exactly the most iconic or classic adaptation of the Dickens novel, I personally don't consider it such a wash. And as a horror fan, Zemeckis including some really eye-popping art designs of London and how The Ghost of Christmas Present deteriorates into a skeleton, his bones turning to ash as his condition worsens as the big clock's chime bangs loudly, it was my jam. I love the design of Scrooge, too.

I love how Scrooge's fingers are so bony and how he's basically a skeleton with flesh clinging for dear life, a skinny ogre with a crook-back, tilted in walk. When he moves your direction, you wonder if a toll must be paid. Carolers grow silent in his presence. Carrey, I admit, probably should have only voiced Scrooge, though. I would have liked other voices and face personalities under the motion capture process. Similar to Hanks in "The Polar Express", Carrey takes on multiple characters, particularly The Ghost of Christmas Past and Christmas Present. Still, I enjoy Carrey well enough. He wins me over as the miser, rejecting the kindness of others, Bah Humbugging anyone that tries to bring merriment his way. I think where I check out is the big action setpieces that sort of take me out of the Dickens story, as if Zemeckis felt obligated to wow audiences in theaters. It feels desperate on a smaller screen. And the motion capture doesn't quite win my heart when Scrooge finds redemption, his hard heart softened by what he experiences through the visitations. Sim and Scott always do while Carrey within an animated face and body, just doesn't. I think he tries, I'll credit him that. But there is a gloomy, dreary London in the film at night, even during the day, and Zemeckis has this Victorian London brought to life incredibly, and the animation allows him to sweep us up. I guess I'm one of those that could be won over. But, I'll tell you, plenty certainly weren't.