*** Official A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009) Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

We saw this movie last night with a packed house. I'm not sure what this movie was trying to be. There was very little slap stick. The movie was very serious but tried to be funny in a few parts. It was scary though. I kept thinking "All these people brought their kids expecting a nice quiet Disney movie" but they got a little more than they bargained for. They didn't cry but there is a lot of in your face scary type 3D.

All in all I really didn't enjoy it like I was hoping I would.

 

Saw this today and loved it! The 3D was the best I have ever seen. A truly spooky and thoughtful rendition of the classic yuletide tale. Very somber and introspective. Carey was wonderful, as was the rest of the talented cast. This has skyrocketed to the top of my list of Christmas Carol adaptations.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Except for a few thrill ride moments, it was a very faithful adaptation that used almost exclusively Dickens's dialog and hit all of the key beats in a lean, brisk 95 minutes. Many of the character designs seemed directly inspired by John Leech's illustrations from the first edition. I'm not sure it's my favorite adaptation of the story, and I know Jim Carrey isn't my favorite Scrooge, but it's undeniably a valid adaptation.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

As a big fan of this story, my personal favorite being the 1984 George C. Scott version, I had to check this out and was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I also loved The Polar Express and I thought this brought about the same sense of childhood that film conjured in me, it made me feel and remember what Christmas was like as a child and that is something that I will always be grateful for if a film can pull that off.

 

Exactly, Hammer. There is something about both of these Christmas movies that sways from the traditional view of celebrating Christmas as a busy, bustling event and focuses on the holiday in a quiet and personal way. It's like the stories are speaking to you as a person. I liken it to Christmas Eve, after everyone has gone to bed and everything in the house is peaceful and quiet, with only the sparkling Christmas tree looking back at you, reminding you of your childhood and filling you with a magic that can't be described in words. Maybe it's just me, but I'm thankful for that feeling.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "A Christmas Carol (2009)". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

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Crawdaddy

 

[Scott-S]

I enjoyed the movie. One bit of warning though. I think parants need to be warned that some scenes would probably be a bit scary to the younger children. The Marley ghost in particular.

The only thing I would say I didn't really like was the slap-stick parts that didn't seem to fit in with the tone of the rest of the movie. It sort of went back and forth between serious and slapstick.

The 3D was quite good. It is the first movie I have seen in 3D in the theater for a really long time, and I was impressed.

 

[Patrick H.]

Well, it took him three tries, but Zemeckis has finally wowed me with his 3D motion-capture animation. I think he found a balance in making the images "painterly" enough (while still insanely detailed), and having the characters be "cartoony" enough, that he avoids falling into the uncanny valley. This was also the first one of these animations that I've gotten to see in digital 3D, and both the process and Zemeckis' usage of it are jaw-dropping!

As for the movie itself, I was expecting the worst, and aside from one protracted sequence involving the Ghost of Christmas Future which felt like it was added to beef up the running time and show off the animation, this was a strikingly faithful adaptation. The spirit and, indeed, much of the language of Dickens' original was well-maintained, and Carrey (with ample help from the animators) was a surprisingly credible Scrooge. The rest of the casting was great, and I noticed a number of small touches which were overlooked in other adaptations made it into this one. The shifts in tone from festive to somber to downright scary were handled extremely well...I loved that they pulled no punches with the ghoulish stuff! And somehow, all the fancy shots flying over and through London, which could've come off as merely flashy, really worked wonderfully in this context.

Overall, a classic story done justice with some cutting-edge technology. Definitely see this in a theater while it's out there...I think I might make a return visit myself.

 

[Jbug]

My wife and I saw this twice already and by that you can tell that we liked it very much. Did anyone notice that the scene where the snow flake fell on Scrooge's nose (in the preview) and he blew it off was not even in the movie. I knew where it would have went but for some reason it was left off. I wonder why? Anyway we saw this in a Imax Theater and the audience applauded at the end on both showings. There was nothing that I didn't like about the movie and Victorian London looked great in 3D. We've seen just about every 3D movie since Journey To The Center of The Earth a couple of summers ago and I'll be first in line when the 3D HDTV sets roll off the assembly lines and this movie is definitely one that I will purchase. I can't get enough of 3D movies.