Disney's A Christmas Carol
Disney's A Christmas Carol might have been better titled Dickens' A Christmas
Carol as screenwriter/director Robert Zemeckis has very faithfully adapted the classic short story by blending the original text, as set similarly in the outstanding 1951 version starring Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, with the exhilarating visual style achieved through the digital motion-capture animation technique that he established with The Polar Express in 2004. This time, instead of Tom Hanks, we have the rubber-faced, Jerry Lewis-esque, comedian Jim Carrey playing the various ages of Scrooge, as well as all three of the ghosts of Christmas who visit him.I am not a fan of the default Carrey performance in the kind of broad, slapstick comedy films that made him a household name but here he proves, as he has done before with The Truman Show, Man On The Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that he is in fact a very facile character actor capable of bringing great depth and nuances to his roles not only physically and vocally but also emotionally; his Scrooge is totally believable and wryly humorous plus his transformation, even for one as familiar as I am with the tale, manages to lift the spirits and imbue one with the joy of Christmas.
Co-stars Colin Firth who plays Scrooge's cheerful nephew Fred and Gary Oldman who plays the ghost of Scrooge's dead partner Jacob Marley, his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit and Cratchit's ailing son Tiny Tim, also make the most of the motion-capture technology giving supporting performances of great subtlety with a level of detail and range of expression infinitely greater than seen before in The Polar Express; the snowy street scenes of Victorian London are particularly well rendered as are the candlelit interiors. I did see the film in 3D at the cinema when it was released last year but I much prefer seeing it at home in 2D, as I am yet to be convinced by the merit of home 3D systems and find the depth of field depicted in the standard Blu-ray presentation more than sufficient.
Zemeckis has proven he has integrity both with The Polar Express which is equally true to Chris Van Allsburg original book illustrations and A Christmas Carol by presenting an exceedingly authentic Dickensian version, albeit updated slightly by the inclusion of some spectacular action sequences, this easily could have been far more Disneyfied as the title would suggest.
This authenticity dispels any doubts I initially had when I heard that he is currently working on a motion-capture remake of the cult Beatles cartoon Yellow Submarine and I am now very eagerly awaiting it's release date, tentatively pencilled for the summer of 2012 which seems a heck of a long way off. I shall put that thought aside and savour the current bout of snow and settle down for another viewing of Disney's A Christmas Carol, a merrier Christmas Carol than we have seen for many a year!
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