Movie Review: A Christmas Carol

So I'm finally in the holiday spirit, and I went and saw Disney's new version of Dicken's classic Christmas fable, A Christmas Carol. Though it's generally received mixed reviews from critics, I'm officially in the camp that is loving this eye popping, fresh yet faithful retelling of the perennial holiday favorite.

I've always been a big fan of this story, ever since I was a kid, and it remains not only one of my all time favorite Christmas tales, but one of my favorite stories in general. At it's heart, A Christmas Carol is about redemption, and how it's never too late to seek it. It's also about the transforming power of the holiday season and what it means to so many people. And it's a ghost story for Christmas, which means I was meant to like it.

Aside from a few action sequences thrown in to spice things up (you'll know them when you see them) this version is very faithful to Dickens original text. This may mean that some naysayers out there will find some of the slow parts a bit boring. To them I say, it's called building suspense. Just let it all unfold. The added action scenes balance the quieter moments nicely, and there are some genuinely frightening scenes as well (so I caution all with small children, this may not be for them).

Jim Carrey stars as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Say what you will about Mr. Carrey; you may write him off as the rubber faced comedy actor from the Ace Ventura movies. But given the chance and the right circumstances that dude can act. He's held his own with the likes of Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet in other films, and here he convincingly plays not only Scrooge at different stages of his life but also the three ghosts of Christmas. It's quite the feat.

The posters and commercials all talk about Carrey, but there's a full cast of actors involved in this. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright-Penn, Bob Hoskins, etc., many of whom also played multiple roles. It was fun trying to guess which characters they were (see how many you can get right).

The special effects are just incredible; I can't stress that enough. Digital 3D is such an awesome technological step in movie making, and here it's used to the hilt, at times making you feel like you're flying through Victorian London. And the motion capture technology used to create the characters seems to have come a long way since The Polar Express. The animated figures look much more life-like and the 'dead eyes' that were complained about in Express are long gone.

My Verdict: Go see it, preferably in the theatres where you can take full advantage of the 3D (you can't get that at home, you know).