All I want for Christmas is a gimmick

By Jillian Sexton

A Christmas Carol Starring Jim Carey, Gary Oldman, and Colin Firth Walt Disney Pictures 96 mins Rated PG

As someone who starts listening to Christmas tunes mid-October and watches How The Grinch Stole Christmas religiously every holiday season, I was pretty excited to hear that Jim Carey is starring as Scrooge in a remake of the classic Dickens tale A Christmas Carol – and in 3D, to boot.

Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol retells the familiar story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the crotchety old miser with no Christmas spirit who is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come (all three voiced by Carey) in an attempt to warm his heart to the joys of the season.

The film’s script is almost word-for-word from Dickens’ novel. Normally, a film that can bring a novel to life while still remaining true to the text is quite remarkable; however, there have been countless renditions of A Christmas Carol which hardly deviate from the original text, rendering the new film’s screenplay a seemingly unnecessary addition to the Scrooge canon.

However, what Zemeckis’ movie does have is 3D effects. 3D movies have been dismissed as “gimmicky” and accused of relying solely on fancy visual to make an enticing film; A Christmas Carol is no exception, but I loved it.

The visual effects in this film are fantastic. Scrooge, who is a caricature of an older Carey, is amazingly life-like. The attention to detail in his face is a stunning juxtaposition between realistic representation and 3D animation. Both Bob Cratchit and Scrooge’s nephew Fred, voiced by Gary Oldman and Colin Firth respectively, bear striking resemblances to their real-life actors, except movie-Oldman is a bit shorter and Firth is a whole lot rosier.

The film features an interesting interpretation of the spirits, particularly The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Yet To Come. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a candle stick with an attitude. He is the funniest character in the film, and the The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come is a foreboding translucent shadow.

The 3D effects are, quite simply put, really cool. There are several sweeping aerial views of London. Objects fly towards you, and it actually feels like it’s snowing on the audience.

Contrary to what the previews suggest, A Christmas Carol is not a jolly rendition of the story; it’s actually borderline scary. Marley’s ghost, also voiced by Oldman, is eerie. The all-important scene when Marley warns Scrooge of the spirits who will visit him so is unexpectedly serious and creepy that it borders almost on awkward. As Scrooge is visited by the final Ghost, the shadows of death which chase him to his grave also gave me the willies, as a large 3D skeletal hand crept slowly towards my face.

The movie keeps hinting that it might become funny, but it never does. The story is spattered with an occasional comical line, but it feels so out of place that laughing seems to be the wrong response.

A Christmas Carol is, perhaps, an unnecessary remake justified by the addition of 3D effects. But the movie is visually spectacular and Tiny Tim’s “God bless us, everyone!” is just as emotionally cliché as ever. But that’s what Christmas movies are usually about.

2.5 out of 4 stars

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