Disney's latest rendition of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol flattens its poignancy and evocation. Robert Zemeckis retains the fundamental premise of the eternal classic intact, but he adds unnecessary slapstick and high-flying humor to explore with the limits of his medium. The story's soul has been erased using motion capture CGI, as in The Polar Express and Beowulf. The film's technical prowess is enormous, but the exposition isn't magical. The plot is irrelevant, as we are all familiar with Dickens' renowned story. Scrooge, the Christmas ghosts, underpaid Bob Cratchit, his ailing son Tiny Tim, and Scrooge's last-minute atonement are all well-known. And Zemeckis doesn't change the story, but turns it into an amusement park show. In the director's hands, Victorian London becomes a funhouse, with the frame bouncing around like a Disneyland ride. This is a physical show, not a story about Scrooge re-learning to love Christmas. As for the 3-D presentation, it gives the setting a sense of false corporeality. As an actor performs a performance, a computer captures their gestures and converts them into digital format. So every celebrity in the film does more than just speak. With names like Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, and Robin Wright Penn in the cast, the majority of performances are lacking. It's a shame that the characters' eyes are lifeless inside. Their looks and motions seem photo-real, yet something is missing in Zemeckis' depictions of the soul windows. They resemble living wax sculptures. It's frightening and likely to startle little children.
Scrooge, as well as the first two Scottish-accented Christmas ghosts, are all played by Jim Carrey. He never really disappears into his characters, so you can see the actor underneath. It's like Tom Hanks' numerous parts in The Polar Express. Carrey's over-the-top manner exaggerates every facet of his roles, including his zaniest Scrooge ever. Scrooge falls down some stairs, outruns a phantom stagecoach, and soars high above London, all to the joy of tiny children who may otherwise be scared by the film's grim tone. The film's technical innovations aren't enough to elevate Carrey's portrayal above the likes of Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, and Scrooge McDuck. That Zemeckis would rather make a full-fledged ghost story than another retread of Dickens' overexposed tale suggests Zemeckis is more interested in testing the darker possibilities of mocap animation within the story, particularly the ghost components. Like Grendel in Beowulf, scenes with Marley in chains and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come are actually frightening and come alive like no other in the film. Since Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Zemeckis has been experimenting with adulting his animated films. Maybe he should quit animating famous literary works and instead test his mocap capabilities with a story that better fits the animation style. Most likened to A Christmas Carol is Ron Howard's abominable How the Grinch Stole Christmas, another Christmas movie starring Jim Carrey as himself. Both films utterly lose their origins' hearts by exploiting their star's wackiness through outrageous stunts. Some audiences ate up Howard's film, and they may do so again. Zemeckis tries to personalize the story with some creepy ghost images, but the result lacks spirit, which Dickens intended to convey. We'll have to explore beyond the mocap film for better holiday amusement than this.
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