Charles Dickens’ classic story A Christmas Carol is probably one of the most familiar Christmas stories next to A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s been told and retold by everyone from the Muppets to Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to my own dad (who appeared as Scrooge in a musical for the Air Force base we were stationed at in the Philippines). I read there’s something like twenty different film version of A Christmas Carol, which makes it hard for any new film version of this tale to stand out. Well, Robert Zemeckis’ version stands out as not only the first motion-captured version of the story, but also as the most action-packed. That’s all fine and good, but regardless of whether or not it stands out, the real question is whether or not it’s any good.
This latest interpretation of Dickens’ story gets a lot right. For instance, it absolutely understands that this is primarily a ghost story. Many versions of A Christmas Carol overlook that part and make the ghosts far too cute and friendly. This version captures just how spooky and otherworldly it would be to have three ghosts visit you throughout the night, or just how creepy it would be to see your long-dead partner clunking around with a bunch of chains tied to him. It’s because of the slightly more creepy take on this story I wouldn’t take my younger kids to go see this version as it would be a bit too spooky for them. However, older kids (say ten or older) shouldn’t have any trouble with it.
Another reason I probably wouldn’t take my kids is because they would most likely be bored. Charles Dickens didn’t write a children’s story, although it’s often related as such, and due to its faithfulness to the Dickens text, this version really isn’t a kids’ story either. Much of the dialogue is taken right from the text, thereby making it (I would imagine) fairly uninteresting for little kids. Yet what might make the movie boring for little ones made it far more interesting for me. I really enjoyed the fact that so much of the dialogue was directly taken from the original work. Having Jim Carrey (who does a great job) deliver those lines highlights just how funny many of them were. In fact, I wonder if Charles Dickens might have had someone like Carrey in mind when he wrote the dialogue for Scrooge as having the right actor put a voice to these lines highlight just how sardonically witty and funny they really are. Nevertheless, the olde English style of the dialogue will most likely bore younger kids, but again, this isn’t really a kids’ story to begin with.
Now all of that is not to say that this version of A Christmas Carol is a bore, because as I mentioned, it’s probably one of the most action-packed versions I’ve seen; which is both a strength and a weakness. It’s a strength because a lot of it is pretty fun, especially in 3D. You fly around London and through snow covered forests, you rocket into the sky and slide down roofs, you travel through the city in a flying house and so much more. In fact, it’s all so action-packed and Scrooge spends so much time running and falling and flying through the air that I found myself hoping I’m in as good of shape as he is when I’m that old. Heck, I’d like to be in that kind of shape now. With the exception of a chase scene that goes on far too long, most of these moments give the story a kinetic energy and a manic pace in short spurts that keep things exciting.
However, all of that action and spectacle does come at a price. Some of the subtler, more poignant moments of Scrooge’s journey don’t really connect or are missed all together to make room for the more exciting segments. The journey of Ebeneezer Scrooge should be an emotional one as we follow a man who’s confronted with the sins of the past and glimpses how they might not only affect his future but the people around him. As he’s confronted with these moments past present and future, Scrooge slowly repents and eventually seeks redemption. Unfortunately, this version misses many of those moments, or at the very least doesn’t really relate the emotional impact of them very well. Unless you’re familiar with the story, you may be left wondering why Scrooge would want to change at all by the time we reach the end. If the flashy, raucous moments are the film’s strengths, these quiet, reflective moments are far too often the film’s weakness; which is unfortunate because quite the opposite should be true of this particular story.
There are already volumes written about the meaning of this story, so I won’t take much space here to delve into the moral of Scrooge’s journey as it’s pretty self evident. I will, however, add one specific that isn’t mentioned in the film, or even the book (though it is implied). Yes, a life can be changed, and yes, our future can be altered. However, no amount of good works on our behalf, no amount of “keeping Christmas” all the year ’round will ever be enough to undo the chains our sins have forged. There is only way to truly be free from them, and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the one who died on a cross as a perfect sacrifice for sin, and he’s the only one who returned from death to forever break its hold over our souls. These are not things we can do on our own; we must have his help. He is the one who frees us from our chains, and it’s because of that freedom that we can then “keep Christmas” all the year ’round and treat others with grace and generosity; our works will never be able to free us, no matter how good they are. So yes, a life can be changed, but the Bible is very clear it can only be changed through transforming power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without that we are indeed doomed for all time to carry the burden of the chains of our sins.
This new version of A Christmas Carol is certainly the most visually striking and energetic one I’ve seen to date, and in fact it’s well worth it to see it in 3D (the snow effects in particular are quite nice; I almost thought it was snowing in the theater). However, this version is also not without its flaws. It suffers from focusing a little too much on flash and style over substance and emotion, and while I was entertained I never really connected on a emotional level with Scrooge’s journey nearly as much as I should have. Still I’d say Disney’s A Christmas Carol gets more right than wrong, it looks beautiful (although the “zombie eye” syndrome of motion captured characters remains), and it does contain some truly action-packed moments. Perhaps most importantly, it does put one in the mood of the “Christmas spirit,” and ultimately that should be the goal of any Christmas film. As I said, younger kids may be bored or frightened by this fairly faithful adaptation, but for kids ten years old and up, this is a future Christmas classic that you should definitely catch while it’s in 3D on the big screen.
