Jim Carrey Movie:

				Label: Walt Disney Pictures Salesrank:
		MPAA Rating: Media: Theatrical Release

Editorial Review:
Fans of Robert Zemeckis's brilliant special effects, and of Jim Carrey's transformative acting abilities, will be swept away by their collaboration in the stunning A Christmas Carol. Perhaps more surprising is that Charles Dickens purists will also be impressed and captivated by this version of the oft-told tale--which is dark, complex, and in its way, uncompromising. Which is all to say that this Christmas Carol is an instant holiday classic, easily taking its place alongside the Alistair Sim version, the Patrick Stewart version, and even the Mr. Magoo version of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ultimate holiday redemption. Carrey is dazzling as not only Scrooge, the most miserable, and miserly, man in 19th-century England, but as the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. As with The Polar Express, Zemeckis animates the film over the actors' physical performances onscreen, but here, the emotion is intact--even heightened by the spiffy effects. Joining Carrey in the cast are terrific players, including Gary Oldman (Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and the ghost of Marley), Cary Elwes, Bob Hoskins, and Robin Wright Penn. But the heart of the film is Carrey, whose dramatic acting has shone in films like The Truman Show and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The emotional connection Carrey makes with his characters is what brings Dickens's classic alive--and what connects the viewer with the true spirit of the holidays. "God bless us, every one." --A.T. Hurley

A Christmas Carol [Theatrical Release] Reviews:
Best movie of all time (not just 'cause my Dad wrote the book)
2009-12-09 - I came with an open mind. This, after all was the story my father had told us children, when we were snuggled up warm in our beds. He would plant a dining room chair in the hallway. And from memory he recited "the story of Scrooge." It was a little frightening, to be lying there in darkness, a bit of light streaming in from the hallway, as your father's voice suddenly turned all funny. He became, in turn, three spirits - voices different from Scrooge's own.

Dad did that each Christmas eve. Until we grew "too old for that," as he explained one year while putting his shaving soap on the tree, after putting up all the decorations, including the battered angel - the one my Mom got, that first Christmas in 1936 when Dad planted his first kiss on her lips, as they danced (he said) to English band leader Ray Noble's THE TOUCH OF YOUR LIPS.

Pardon my reverie . . . I just wanted to establish my credentials, for saying . . .

This is not merely the best version of my favorite story (Dad would tell you that; if he were alive this would be his 92nd Christmas). No, no. This is the most amazing "movie experience" that I have ever known. I cannot imagine how any film maker(s) could ever top this.

They had me hooked from the opening. The camera shows a beautifully bound copy of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. An invisible hand opens to the first page and those very words my own father composed . . .

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good . . . for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

We see a corpse, its eyes held shut with pennies. Scrooge himself removes them from the eyes, at the end of the scene saying, without shame to the undertakers, while rubbing the coins together between thumb and finger, "Tuppence is tuppence!" The subtle change in the undertaker's face -- so subtle you might miss it in the half light of the almost dark room -- is one of dismay at seeing someone THAT cheap. The facial expression borders on horror.

Out in the street, children stop playing and dogs duck into alleys at Mr. Scrooge's approach, on his way to his place of business, with its gilt-lettered sign, "Scrooge & Marley Co." That will also be the closing scene of the movie, with Scrooge seen through frosty windows to be dancing with sheer, child-like joy, while outside, Bob Cratchit, for the very first time, turns to the `camera' and addresses us:

(Those very words my father composed out of thin air, Christmas 1949!)

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew [and] ever afterwards, it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"

I could share with you a hundred little details (the sort of details that otherwise concern "God and the Devil"). But "Let there be light!" sums up the effect on your eyes, as we see clearly despite only the very faintest light sources: and that is what sets this movie apart from any other ever made.

You're not conscious of it at first. Then it dawns on you. An entire scene has been done in the light of a distant street lamp. The lamp (never seen) is about 50 feet to your left. Your eyes are drawn to the wrought iron fence outside Scrooge's rather magnificent home. The camera goes in tight, and the texture of the wrought iron - you know the tiny little waves made by a ball peine hammer on the surface of the metal when it was forged . . . the light from that unseen street lamp, 50 feet distant, is just enough for you to see a hint of yellow on the shiny black metal finish.

This `cinematography' - working at light levels so low, they could never be captured by a digital `film' camera - is repeated in scene after scene. It makes the sunshine on Scrooge's face, and on Tiny Tim, held aloft on Scrooge's shoulder at movie's end so . . . welcome! Light has been used (finally!) to underline Scrooge's utter, endless joy (your own too).

I don't know if you, like me, will sit there, tears of joy streaming down your face, watching the closing credits. Only three other people were left in the theatre as the scroll of credits reached its end. (I watched this one with my mentally-handicapped friend "Michael" - please see our review of the last `best' Christmas movie "POLAR EXPRESS").

A couple and their 14 year old son sitting just ahead of us, delayed their departure, putting on their coats, discreetly so as not to block the view of the only two persons left watching intently. As if to explain my tear-stained face, I said to the woman (an investment counselor as it turns out): "I have to see who wrote that stirring `carol' --- a (mainly) men's choir led by a truly great tenor. Sure enough, the music was written by the last great film score composer, Robert Silvestri. He co-wrote all those great songs like "When Christmas Comes to Town" for Polar Express; all the great incidental music for "Forrest Gump" too!

The couple's son explained how the 3-D glasses work. Oh yes. His mother had opened our conversation saying, "I actually caught one of those snowflakes" (felt it in her hand). Her son said (not convincingly to his Dad) "the snow looks (better) the closer you are to the screen." Together, they noticed that my friend Michael was still wearing his 3-D glasses, while sipping the last of his diet coke.

"Michael," I said, is from a L'Arche home," waiting to see if the term `registered.' "That's for mentally-handicapped," volunteered Michael. Oh yes, and Michael agreed with me when I said, "that's the best movie I have ever seen."

Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Manitoba Canada


Honey, They Shrunk the Scrooge!
2009-12-06 - For the purposes of this review I won't bother getting into the on-going debate about "realistic" vs "creepy" in the CGI animated characters such as those here or in Zemeckis' other famed holiday film, The Polar Express (Widescreen Edition), other than to say coming out of the full theatre I heard many comments along the lines of "HOW did they make that look so REAL? You could see every whisker... and the cracks in the leather!" and I heard no comments along the lines of "those characters just didn't quite look right..."

This new version of Dickens' classic marries much of the original prose with the ability to do eye-popping scenes with computer-aided animation. I waited to see the chestnuts that mark a faithful presentation, beginning with Old Ebenezer's opening interaction with nephew Fred:

SCROOGE: What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough.

FRED: What right have you to be dismal? You're rich enough.

Dickens' original text is rather faithfully followed, and many scenes that previously relied heavily on the audience's imagination are more than fully fleshed out. At appropriate times Zemeckis concentrates on important details in a way a stage adaptation could not: Marley's appearance is heralded by a single bell that begins to sway to and fro, then gently clinking, then finally loudly clanging, accompanied by every bell in Scrooge's house.

We know that Scrooge is guided about by the three ghosts - the Ghost of Christmas Past carries him out of London and over snow-covered countryside to the home of his youth. The Ghost of Christmas Present gives a new take on Scrooge's looks at events taking place: the floor of Scrooge's parlor is rendered invisible and the Ghost magically moves the floor over London - to the Cratchit home, then to the party going on at Fred's. The Spirit of Yules Yet To Come is ingeniously manifest as only a shadow, taking solid form only when the Spirit needs to point an eery black bony finger at the next ghastly site in Scrooge's future.

But the filmmakers must have been intoxicated with the animated ability to zoom us back and forth. The trips listed above are interesting and, given the spirit of the tale, appropriate. I'll even fail to criticize the transition between "Past" and "Present", a segue that involves Scrooge mounting the cap of Christmas past - a "hat" that looks like a stainless steel megaphone. The cap blasts off towards the moon like the Space Shuttle and we get to see the silhouette of Scrooge flailing across an E.T. inspired broad moon face.

I cannot give a similar pass to another "chase" scene - Scrooge is chased halfway across the City by a ghostly hearse pulled by demonic black horses with fiery red eyes. You remember that scene from Dickens, right? No doubt you recall that Scrooge escapes by being magically shrunk to six inches and diving into a drain-pipe. Mini-Scrooge is deposited into the scene where his housekeeper is rifling through his bed curtains - perhaps most distracting, six-inch Ebenezer is given a voice about three octaves above Alvin and the Chipmunk - for the LIFE of me I could scarcely understand a word he squeaked before being chased out of the room with a broom alongside a mouse.

A word must be given in praise of the voice actors: Jim Carrey is frankly magnificent as not only Scrooge, but also as the various spirits. If you're going to make a Holiday tradition of a Jim Carrey film, choose this one over Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Deluxe Edition). Gary Oldman brings the male Cratchits and Jacob Marley to life. You can feel the jolliness Bob Hoskins brought to old Fezziwig, and Colin Firth is perfect as the kind-spirited Fred.

The heart and soul of A Christmas Carol involves Scrooge's transformation from lonely old skinflint to "and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well". Our theatre was full of satisfied customers - but I wish Zemeckis had been slightly MORE inspired by Dickens, and slightly less by George Lucas' mantra of "movement through the frame."

GOD BLESS US EVERYONE
2009-12-03 - Our family of 6 went to watch this at the IMAX and it was awesome! The effects are so great with 3-D, totally mystifying. The story as we all know is the typical Scrooge story, it may be a little scary for the younger kids (under 6 I'd say). But overall a delightful show that keeps your full attention. Jim Carrey is great and of course his eyes are identical to Scrooge! Colin Firth in animated form is a remarkable twin to his real self. I don't think I need to give you the play by play like some reviews, I'm just saying that we enjoyed it. Go see it, for the 3-D effects if nothing else, it's well worth it.

More liberal nonsense from Charles "Marx" Dickens and Hollyweird!
2009-12-03 - Sweet lord, here we go again! Let's take one successful businessman who believes you should work for a living. And it's not like he lacks compassion. He gives his shiftless employee off for Christmas, even though that's 24 hours that could have been spent making money ... OK, whatever... I guess THAT'S not important! Anyway, he's visited by the ghosts of Lenin, Stalin, and Roosevelt, who make him feel like some kind of fool for being a successful businessman and by the end, that successful businessman turns into a Communist, giving away his fortune to a bunch of people who deserved whatever misery they brought on themselves because they're a bunch of shiftless, lazy good-for-nothings leeching off the state. C'mon, read your Bible! The Lord helps those that help themselves. I know, I know. You ask, "What about little Tiny Tim?" Well, what about him? Maybe that Bob Cratchit shouldn't have dropped all that acid back in the day ... Don't be mistaken. Do you think it's any coincidence that the star, Jim Carrey, originally came from Canada, the home of Socialized medicine? And that this film is being released during the big health care debate going on right now in Congress? Don't let Jim's new American citizenry fool you. Behind that American flag t-shirt beats a heart that looks like a maple leaf. You've been warned.

Zemecki's Technology Matches The Story - Beautiful
2009-12-02 - I actually liked Robert Zemeckis' new film "A Christmas Carol", which surprised me.

A few years ago, Zemeckis began to use and develop his own motion capture technology. Basically, in motion capture, an actor wears a special suit with pinpoints all over it. A special camera films the live actor as they perform and this is transformed into an animated character. This technology allows the filmmakers to create a more human animated character with more fluid movements. The main advance of Zemecki's work seems to be they are able to use this same technique for facial expressions, allowing the characters to be more emotive and responsive to the action going on, The first film using this new technology, "The Polar Express" starring Tom Hanks in a number of roles, is a strange film. All of the people in the film look like zombies and have soulless eyes. The second film was "Beowulf" and it was a SLIGHT improvement, but not much. Now, we have a new retelling of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey as Scrooge and a number of other characters. A vast improvement.

There are a couple of things at work, contributing to make this film more enjoyable. In the past few years, the use of Digital 3-D has exploded and it seems particularly suited to animated films. Now, some studios will only release an animated film in 3-D. Why? The premium charged for the 3-D glasses helps the box office. And I don't mind paying the premium either, because this new 3-D technology is heads and shoulders above what we are used to. I decided to see "A Christmas Carol" in IMAX 3-D. If I thought regular old Digital 3-D was good, IMAX 3-D is AWESOME. There is a product trailer at the beginning, which makes you feel like you are being transported into the screen. The screen size, enhanced projection and great sound system all work in concert to create an almost immersive experience, exactly what 3-D is trying to accomplish in the first place.

When I initially heard about this film and the use of Zemecki's technique, I as skeptical. I just didn't like "The Polar Express" or "Beowulf" that much. Why is Zemeckis so enamored of this technology? He can have all of the actors on one completely bare soundstage and transport them to Victorian London. It must save a fortune to not have to physically create all of the sets, props, costumes, etc.

But from the first moment of the new film, you feel as though you are being transported to a new time and place. The book opens and we see the first words of the immortal tale and a line drawing before the drawing becomes the film, dropping us next to Scrooge as he inspects the dead body of Jacob Marley, his longtime business partner.

With each new scene, Zemeckis and his team recreate a different part or aspect of Victorian London and they leave no small detail untouched. Some of the scenes look like paintings, but in a good way, lush, beautiful and evocative of a different time and place. Others look dark and foreboding, scary and haunted. These compositions really seem to come to life and help to make the story seem real and authentic.

There are still some problems with this technology. They seem to have fixed the problem with the eyes, but now the characters have this weird look to the faces. For instance, Colin Firth plays Scrooge's nephew, Fred. Fred looks a lot like Colin Firth, but they have given the character a larger chin, a Jay Leno chin. I guess because Scrooge has the same. But the chin makes his face seem odd. Gary Oldman plays Bob Cratchit and he seems to be a short man, shorter than even Gary Oldman is in real life. To accommodate for this, they have made his head more squashed and round than it is. His face still looks like Gary Oldman, just squashed and round. Each of the characters looks like the actor portraying them, with 'make-up' enhancements, but their faces seem to be stretched onto mannequins, a little like examples of plastic surgery gone bad, like the skin is stretched a little too tight. This and the combination of the odd enhancements make most of the characters seem unpleasantly weird.

Because the filmmakers create the exact look and feel of the characters, one actor can play multiple roles. Jim Carrey plays Scrooge as an old man and at different times throughout his life and all three Ghosts of Christmas. Carrey does an excellent job and brings Scrooge to life, making him seem like the most despising miser ever. The film opens with Scrooge visiting his recently deceased partner Jacob Marley at the funeral home. Convinced his partner is dead, he pauses the undertaker and quickly takes the coins resting on Marley's eyes. Seven years later, when he returns home on Christmas Eve, he walks through his dark house, reluctant to light lamps. He gives his assistant, Bob Cratchit, a dressing down for merely looking at a new lump of coal as he shivers uncontrollably at his desk in the cold office. But then you probably know all of this already because I have no doubt you have seen at least one version of this story already.

Carrey has already proven he is an adept comedian, willing and able to do just about anything for a laugh. He has also done some good work in more dramatic roles. In "A Christmas Carol", he does more dramatic work giving a real depth to Scrooge and all of his personal prejudices against the poor, his family, happiness. At one point, there is an extended chase that feels odd, almost as though it has been included to up the comedy level, to ensure Carrey has access to some slapstick.

I find it odd that Carrey is listed as the actor providing the voice for the Ghost of Christmas Present. In the film, this ghost is represented as a semi-opaque black specter, very scary and very much like you would imagine a ghost to be. But this ghost doesn't have a face and I don't think he utters a single word. What exactly did Carrey do to portray this character? Stand and point?

The Ghost of Christmas Past looks the most like Carrey, like the filmmakers used his face and simply pasted it on a flame. The Ghost of Christmas Present looks like a cross between Santa Claus and Jim Carrey. What I am describing to you probably sounds very familiar, again because you have no doubt seen another version of this same story.

Zemeckis and his team have done a great job of making all of the familiar bits of the book look real and they have adapted the book in a way that seems more faithful. For instance, the Ghost of Christmas Future is a scary specter and would give anyone a fright. It actually might be the scariest representation of the ghost I have ever seen. Marley's Ghost is also pretty terrifying and the darkness, the cavernous of Scrooge's lonely, empty home has been brought to life in a way that most film adaptations couldn't even attempt. Strangely, the spaces don't only look real, they seem to have depth.

The depiction of Victorian London, at Christmastime, is really beautiful. Even the dirty, rundown, awful parts they show look like you would imagine Victorian London to be. But the good parts? These moments are what many of us think Christmas should be like. It really puts you in the spirit for Christmas.

Which makes me wonder why Disney released the film so freaking early? November 9th? I know they didn't want to compete with Avatar for 3-D screens, but releasing the film three weeks before Thanksgiving when people just aren't in the mood yet? If I were Disney I would have switched the release dates of "A Christmas Carol" and "The Princess and the Frog". The traditionally animated "Princess" would have already transformed the box office. Instead, "A Christmas Carol"'s box office seems a little miserly.