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A Christmas Carol
(2009, CGI)
To be honest, A Christmas Carol is among my favorite holiday
stories. As a result, I've seen many versions, remakes,
"re-imaginations" and shameless parodies, each with their own charm. Yet
in Robert Zemeckis' computer animated A Christmas Carol,
I find that the movie's strengths and weaknesses are
one in the same. On the one hand: nothing new is offered here aside from
computer animation. On the other hand: why reinvent the wheel? The story
is already a classic, so why try to retool it?
Don't get me wrong: reinventing the story can be amusing if done well.
When making a list last year of my favorite holiday-themes TV episodes
of all time, at least two of them were either a Dickens parody (WKRP
in Cincinnatti) or a sci-fi remake (Quantum
Leap). In cinema: my favorite upgrade of the tale would
have to be Scrooged, which retells the tale a la a TV mogul,
played by Bill Murray. However, this isn't to say that even a classic
story cannot lead to utter disappointment if there is no coherence to the
revised story (example: Ghosts of
Girlfriends Past). I guess what I'm getting to is: this CGI tale
apparently realized that the original story needed few rewrites, so very
few alterations to the story are offered at all. Whether that's a
blessing or not depends on the viewer's perspective.
While I doubt anyone needs it, here's the obligatory story summary that
accompanies any standard review. Scrooge
(brilliantly voiced by Jim Carrey) is a bitter old man whose infamous line about the holidays is one big
"Bah humbug." He is approached by the ghost of an old selfish business
partner (Gary Oldman) who arrives to tell Scrooge that the afterlife, to
be candid, is not kind to the cruel. It's too late for Scrooge's
ghostly friend, though it's not too late for Scrooge, who is quickly
visited by ghosts of Christmases in the past, present, and future. We
quickly see what made the man so bitter (in the past), what this
bitterness is doing to his few remaining friends (present), and his sorry potential fate (in the future)...though is his
fate sealed for eternity, or can he mend his ways and be a better
person?
Computer animated in a style similar to The Polar Express, this is one of
those CGI movies with elaborate visuals and astonishingly lifelike
characters...for better or worse. Some people I've talked to did not like
the realistic characters of The Polar Express, and I can
understand why. Sometimes a computer generated "human" is so realistic
they look almost...creepy. However, one can't help wonder, given the
realism of these characters, if this is exactly the movie Dickens
himself would have envisioned, had he been sitting in front of a laptop
PC. The attention to detail is amazing.
This detail is equally apparent with the voice acting. From Jim Carrey's
Scrooge to Robin Wright Penn's "Belle," to Bob Hoskins' "Fezziwig,"
every single voice is brilliantly chosen and performed. What is truly
fascinating, to those unaware, is how Carrey is responsible for not one,
not two, but four completely different characters. You might leave the
theater wondering who did each of the vastly different voices for the
Christmas ghosts of the past, present, and future. Surprisingly enough;
they were all done by Carrey. His Scrooge performance is impressive
enough until you hear he did all the Christmas ghosts as well. If only
there were Academy Awards for Best Voice Actors.
I had the good fortune of seeing this movie in the obligatory "3D"
version that all CGI films seem to have these days. In this case I found
the 3D amusing yet never distracting from the story. Sometimes 3D is a
mere novelty, where random flying objects "come at you" from the
screen. Director Robert Zemeckis never goes for the cheap 3D tricks, and
I think that was a wise move. However, this isn't to say that the 3D in
this film wasn't an appreciated added touch. It is certainly amusing to see a classic story given
not just CGI treatment, though a fully immersive 3D treatment as
well.
Yet in the end; there isn't really anything new to the table here. This
will inevitably lead to pot shots from two fronts. People looking for
something fresh and new will wonder why this is the "same old tale,"
while people who love the tale as-is will still hold true to the
black-and white "Carols" of yesteryear. However, to be fair:
if anyone ever wanted to see A Christmas Carol in CGI animated form (and
in 3D no less), this, I feel, is as good as it gets.
---Techtite
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2009; all rights reserved. Picture of DVD cover is used only for the purpose of review (and to make shopping for
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