Director: Robert Zemeckis
Scrooge: Jim Carrey
Here's the trailer:
The first word that pops into my head when thinking of this version is "creepy." Not creepy as in it's a story with ghosts and such, but creepy because the human characters are kind of unrealistically realistic!
This movie is computer animated, but it uses "Motion Capture" which, to me, has mixed results. A lot of detail goes into the character's faces, but they don't seem real. Sort of like moving wax dummies. Personally, I would've preferred a more "cartoony" look.
It was off-putting at first, but I guess I got used to it and it turns out this is a solid version! The substance outweighs the style.
Jim Carrey headlines the voice cast and he's terrific. He not only voices "present day" Scrooge as we know him, but the younger versions of Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present.
Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, et al. provide solid support. No problem at all with the voice casting, sound effects or music - all good!
As much as I don't care for the character design, the computer animation allows for some really striking visuals, with 3D effects that look good even in 2D! The scene transitions and various morphing effects are really good and add a lot to the presentation.
As far as the script goes, it's extremely faithful to the book. There's the occasional embellishment, but I don't think there were any extra characters added.
Director Robert Zemeckis certainly likes his special effects, but his screenplay is pretty straightforward.
So, what do we have here that compares and contrasts with the book and other adaptations?
This version begins, as so many others do, with a book of "A Christmas Carol" opening. We see the first page for a bit, then we see Scrooge dealing with Marley's death. There's no narrator at the beginning, so Scrooge delivers the "dead as a door-nail" line.
We then see the Scrooge & Marley sign age, with a caption that lets us know it's seven years later.
We get a pretty cool establishing shot of London, showing people preparing for Christmas celebrations, including the Lord Mayor's dinner. A nice touch that is missing from most versions.
A couple of variations from the book that pop up here and in many if not most other versions, is Bob seeming to know Fred at the beginning and Belle being present at Fezziwig's party.
Speaking of Belle, I don't think she was ever called by name here. What's odd as well is that we don't get the scene of married Belle with her husband and family.
I do have to mention that young Scrooge of the Belle-courting age is not good looking at all! She probably would've dumped him anyway, as he was so creepy and kind of mean!
A neat touch is to show all the faces from the past reflected in the spirit's face right before Scrooge extinguishes it - a not often seen detail from the book. This technology makes it possible. What's weird, though, in a use of too much technology, is that the extinguisher takes off like a rocket and flies Scrooge extremely high into the atmosphere!
The Christmas present sequence is also oddly short. We don't spend much time with the Cratchits or Fred and his guests. We also don't have the spirit take Scrooge for a flight to see various other Christmas celebrations, which I really was expecting, as Scrooge flies around a lot otherwise!
Another small thing that seemed weird to me was that the Cratchit family called Tiny Tim "Timmy" during the Christmas Present sequence. Certainly not common and it seems somewhat anachronistic to me. But although the family doesn't say "Tiny Tim" at all (they do in the future, though), Scrooge calls him "Tiny Tim" when he asks the spirit about him. That makes no sense at all! Is Scrooge now giving out wacky nicknames?
The end of the Christmas Present sequence through the Christmas Future is where things get really wacky, though. We see Ignorance and Want as children, but they grow up and repeat Scrooge's earlier words about prisons and workhouses while spinning around. And the ghost seems to disintegrate.
It gets even weirder, though, as "present day" Scrooge in the future is chased by a hearse (I think) pulled by evil horses. Not sure what's up with that. Then Scrooge shrinks and starts making squeaky sounds. He sounds like he might start singing about wanting a hula hoop for Christmas!
Not so much wacky, but intriguing, is that we see dates on Scrooge's tombstone! He was born on February 7, 1786 and died on December 25, 18?? I think the first digit that's obscured is a 4, so Scrooge would die within the next few years. Also interesting is that they fix his age as 57 (We know the story takes place in 1843, the year of the book's publication, as Marley was shown to have died in 1836 and seven years have gone by.).
Once back in the present, Scrooge here starts acting a lot like Alastair Sim! His house looks like the one from 1951 anyway and he even runs into Mrs. Dilber. Of course, that's not really Mrs. Dilber, as Mrs. Dilber is the laundress and this is the charwoman, but whatever!
Throw in Scrooge hitching a ride on the back of a wagon à la Marty McFly on his skateboard and Bob Cratchit breaking the fourth wall to narrate the end of the story and your head is spinning!
A couple of other thoughts on the character design: Marley's Ghost is really scary! He's not exactly human anyway and the special effects are quite good for it and its fellow phantoms.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is designed so he looks like a candle with the flame as his face.
Interesting, anyway. The two other ghosts look about how you'd expect, with Future also pretty scary!
The whole thing is a snappy 90 minutes (not counting the really long end credits), so at least it moves fast. Definitely a mixed bag for me, but worth a watch at least once.
So, yes, a rare case of substance over style!
No comments:
Post a Comment