Release Date: November 6, 2009
Rating: PG (for scary images and sequences)
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Christmas
Run Time: 96 min.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors/Voices: Jim Carrey, Steve Valentine, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Oldman Sage Ryan, Daryl Sabara, Ryan Ochoa, Bobbi Page, Sammi Hanratty
No doubt about it, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a timeless story with plenty of relevance, particularly in light of our nation's still-fragile economic situation where many people have been forced to reevaluate what's really important in life.
And for those who haven't had to give that reality much thought, well, a plea for soul-searching and generosity always gets a better response at Christmas, right? Hence the power of the story of Scrooge and his eventual transformation from miserly curmudgeon to a caring member of the community…
But considering that the familiar tale has even made its way into a
Matthew McConaughey rom-com this year, namely
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, there needed to be something, anything that made
A Christmas Carol worth revisiting yet again—classic or not—because it's really all been done before.
However, with the casting of rubber-faced comedian
Jim Carrey, not to mention the innovative technological wizardry that director
Robert Zemeckis brought to
The Polar Express and
Beowulf, there was definitely a glimmer of promise. Surely, with a funny guy like Carrey on board to play Scrooge (not to mention seven other characters, including all three ghosts), there was the potential for an alternate take, whether it was satirical or something new altogether.
Unfortunately, that glimmer quickly flickers out as Carrey is stripped of all his charm and usual hair-brained antics. By forcing him to play it straight, it doesn't do the film any favors, no matter how hard Carrey tries. Simply put, it's a mostly humorless affair that fails to stir up those Christmasy feelings of family, hope and nostalgia that are essential for a flick like this to have staying power for years to come.
Instead, all viewers are left with is a familiar story with little discernable heartbeat. See, it seems any shred of inventiveness was saved exclusively for the visuals, which are gloriously thrilling at moments and as impersonal as an action sequence from your average video game the next.
While's it's quickly apparent that Zemeckis' favorite technological gimmick, the art of motion capture, has rendered the characters more lifelike than his previous efforts, the aesthetic still doesn't do much to support the actual storyline. Sure, it may look cool on occasion, but that's where its effectiveness ends.