Originally Posted By dshyates I just got home from seeing the 11:45am 3-D IMAX screening. OMG! This is one intense and scary ghost story. They put evey funny bit in the trailer. And thus a little misleading. It is flat out scary. That said, it is a fantastic film. But I would think it is too intense for little kids. I will have to see it again to take it all in, but WOW what a ride. It reminds me in some ways of early Disney films like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty with a little Darby O'Gill thrown in for good measure.
Originally Posted By dizkid The trailer was misleading, but I think most people know the story. I'm not saying dshyates doesn't know the story of A Christmas Carol.
Originally Posted By irishfan I loved it and was impressed with Disney for not trying to "lighten" it up! It's very authentic to the book, and as dshyates mentioned scary in places. My only fault with the movie was the scene where Scrooge shrinks and has a madcap trip around london, kind of unnecessary and detracted from the story for me.
Originally Posted By Kala We saw it in the IMAX with my 9 yr. old nephew and absolutely LOVED it! WOW! My 4 y.o. niece went with her parents and liked it immensley but she loves being spooked, her 4 y.o. cousin probably wouldn't do as well. Go see it but you know your kids if they don't like scary things get a sitter if you think they can handle it take them with you it was very well done and Jim Carrey's scrooge was spot on! ENJOY! I want to see it again!
Originally Posted By dshyates "The trailer was misleading, but I think most people know the story. I'm not saying dshyates doesn't know the story of A Christmas Carol." What was misleading about the trailer is that it makes it look funny and a Jim Carrey fest. But Carrey was very restrained and its not very funny at all. AND they left out any hint that it would be as intense as it is. That said I like it more than I thought I would from viewing the trailer.
Originally Posted By mawnck I saw it in 2D. It's not much of a movie without the 3D eye candy. You can tell that they worked terribly hard at getting Scrooge (at least the elderly version) to look as quasi-realistic as possible. I actually bought his character as a real person a good 30% of the time, and to me that's dang impressive. Jim Carey's performance was quite good until his "transformation" at the end of the movie, at which time he turned into, well, Jim Carey. The rest of the cast, especially incidental characters, are still infected with the Uncanny Valley syndrome <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...y_valley</a> , made worse by the just-unrealistic-enough-to-be-really-disquieting character designs. Teenage Scrooge in particular looked especially deformed. Getting past all that (which I couldn't), the flick suffers from the 3D hoo-ha getting in the way of the story, and the story getting in the way of the 3D hoo-ha. The shrunk Scrooge chased by the fiery chariot part (what was UP with that anyway?) wasn't the only time the story ground to a complete stop for an extended period of technological wizardry for its own sake. They also had an irritating habit of suspending the laws of physics for the allegedly unenchanted flesh-and-blood characters. And what was up with that going all slapsticky for 30 seconds or so in the middle of nearly every high-tension scene? I'm not sure anyone really sat down and thought about what sort of movie they were making here. Either that or there was some particularly heinous executive meddling going on here. The movie would've been somewhat improved by just leaving that stuff out and letting the scares be scary. Supporting character development is almost nonexistent, and I don't think I've ever been as nonplussed by Tiny Tim in my life. I just didn't buy most of what this movie was selling. I would put this near the bottom of the Christmas Carols that I've seen. I would recommend that if you're just dead set on seeing this, insist on 3D. Cause that's the one thing it has going for it, as is immediately apparent when you're watching the conventional version. In 2D, it just isn't worth the time. 4 stars out of 10.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo I think I'll pass, although this is my favorite story of all time, I loathe Jim Carey. Thank you for the reviews.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I loathe Jim Carey.<< Don't stay away because of this. I'm not crazy about him either, but he won't even cross your mind until right at the end. One question I've always had (being that kind of kid) ... why did the ghosts try to save Scrooge but not Marley?
Originally Posted By DAR Here's something I've wondered about the animated version from Disney. So in the story of A Christmas Carol, Marley is said to have been worse than Scrooge during his lifetime. And yet, and I love him because he's my favorite character, they get Goofy to play Marley. I realize as a ghost he's different but I just couldn't picture Goofy being that mean. But that is still one of my favorite adaptations along with the 1951 version with Alastair Sim. And the George C Scott version that was a tv movie in 1984
Originally Posted By DAR Is it as scary as this version? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hA5T1G7rxg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...5T1G7rxg</a>
Originally Posted By dshyates I too loathe Jim Carey, but I really liked this adaption. If you don't loike MoCap, 3-D, or Disney films then I would avoid it, but all in all I thought it was a great effort. The 3-D effects are AWESOME without being in your face cheesey. And the Mo-Cap is what it is. It is, in the end, a cartoon. And for those that say it isn't photo-realistic. My answer is, CARTOON! DUH!!! Even the background characters that some have mentioned as less than human, CARTOON!!! DUH!!! More realistic than Goofy IMHO. I LOVED how they opened with a shot of the leather bound book. VERY Disney. And while my least favorite scene is the one where Scrooge is chased by the death carriage, it was very reminescient of Darby O'Gill.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan My favorite version of this story is the Albert Finney musical version, "Scrooge." I think it's wildly underrated, for both the terrific music and Finney's great performance as Scrooge.
Originally Posted By basil fan IMy three faves are: Mickey Mouse Alistair Sim Mr. Magoo To answer an earlier question, I believe the 3 ghosts only tried to help Scrooge because Marley intervened on his friend's behalf. Kolchak: the Night Stalker <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/etc/kolchak.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...hak.html</a>
Originally Posted By ni_teach I hope most people know the story also... There has only been about 20 to 30 versions of the story made into movies or TV shows. You would almost have to live under a rock to not know the story. As for the best version. I have to say that I saw Patric Stewart do a live one man show performance of A Christmas Carol and it blew me away. No move can live up to that.
Originally Posted By DlandJB I had some real problems with this version, especially since Zimekas (sp?) had said they wanted to stay close to the source material. There is a pivotal line in the original text and in, as far as I can remember, every single rendition that has ever been produced, that was left out of this version. Hopefully this isn't a spoiler, since people are usually familiar with the play/film content. But in the scene at the end of the visit by the Ghost of Christmas Present, he opens his robes to reveal two urchins. The boy, he says, is "ignorance" and the girl is "want." "Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased." In this animated version, the entire section that says "but most of all beware this boy...." is omitted. This made me furious. It was central to Dickens' themes that ignorance was among the the greatest culprits in human suffering of his day...and it was also a pivitol lesson for Scrooge. And yet, they dropped it for no apparent reason! They completely lost me at that moment and all of the stuff that follows that was not at all from the text was just noise from that point on. They have made improvements in Motion Capture, but it is still creepy looking and feels more like a video game than a film. I was very disappointed.
Originally Posted By greenbean I saw it this past weekend and really enjoyed it. I thought the 3D really added to the film. Did anyone else think there were some pretty funny one-liners in it too?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <My favorite version of this story is the Albert Finney musical version, "Scrooge." I think it's wildly underrated, for both the terrific music and Finney's great performance as Scrooge.> Would it surprise you to know that 'Scrooge' is also my favorite version of 'A Christmas Carol'? That Richard Williams version is outstanding -- I remember seeing it as a kid, and it having a real impression on me.
