A few words about the cast and characters in the animated feature "Christmas Carol: The Movie" from 2001...
Top-billed is Simon Callow, not the biggest name in the cast, but he does play Scrooge. I think he does a solid job.
He also plays a live-action Charles Dickens in the theatrical bookends, which are not part of the U.S. straight-to-video version, but my DVD does include them as extras.
The theatrical (for the U.K., I guess) opening has Dickens arriving in Boston in 1867 to perform one of his public readings of "A Christmas Carol." He spots a mouse then apparently changes the story to incorporate the mouse, which he names Gabriel.
It's odd to have the "real" Dickens introducing a version that takes its share of liberties with the book.
In any event, Scrooge is somewhat youngish here. He's balding, but his hair is still brown. I think he says it was 20 years earlier that he had broken up with Belle, so he's not ancient.
She's a great actress with a great voice, so no complaints! She gets a big power ballad titled "What If" that shows off her vocal chops as well.
Nicolas Cage is the other big name in the cast. Is it me, or does the cover art from the video edition above make Scrooge look like Nic Cage? Is it to trick Cage fans into buying it?
At any rate, Cage voices Marley's Ghost here. I think he's a good performer, but this role doesn't really suit him. Perhaps to use Cage a bit more, Marley's Ghost pops up in the future, sort of like Alec Guinness in "Scrooge" (1970).
Why do I think the colon in the title of this thing makes it sound like a Nicolas Cage movie?
Rhys Ifans, who's also pretty well-known at least British-wise, plays Bob Cratchit here. He does a good job.
This Bob Cratchit is very tolerant and appreciative of Scrooge. One of the added plot points here is when Tiny Tim was caroling outside of Scrooge's office, Scrooge threw a bucket of cold water on him, causing his pneumonia to worsen. Bob even forgives Scrooge for that during his Christmas toast!
The other performer to get star-ish billing here is Jane Horrocks, also well-known in England. She voices the Ghost of Christmas Past.
The character is presented quite well, with the spirit in the now familiar persona of a young woman, but she morphs into an older woman periodically, kind of like the book.
The other characters are voiced well, but I'm not always crazy about the character design. In particular Fred just looks odd to me. Partly is that he's dressed more like a hobo than a gentleman!
This will never be my favorite version, but I think the cast is quite good on the whole.
I'll watch it again someday!
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