It is rare to find a classical re-imagining of Dickens’ wonderfully captivating A Christmas Carol
The dialogue is verbatim to the original text, and almost every facet of the story visually is how Dickens described it. It is a tremendous work of art, as well as a book note for CGI animation.
There is the fault of 3-D however. While it has improved since the 70’s, as there are no more red and blue lenses to watch blue and red film strips, the 3-D is certainly an important element to this movie and a lot of scenes are elongated to increase time and show off the 3-D effects. Not wholly wrong, but when Scrooge is being tossed around from roof to roof by the Ghost of Christmas Past, some audience members, especially those in the IMAX theaters, may wonder what the purpose is.
The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future are artistically redeveloped for this telling, and each one is still very true to Dickens’ original portrayals. In his story he is as vague as he is detailed to the appearances of the specters, which gave Robert Zemeckis plenty of room to take “artistic liberties”. The way they show Scrooge his Christmases, is also keenly accurate to the book while still different enough to take advantage of the 3-D.
All-in-all, the film is a wonderful Christmas treat, a splendid adaptation, and fun for the entire family. One of the best “Christmas Carol” adaptations ever put on the screen. Jim Carrey is brilliant, Gary Oldman as well, and Zemeckis gets to flex his fingers as a craftsman once again. The 3-D may be a bit much for some, especially in the IMAX theaters, but it is very worth it for this version. Have some holiday fun!
Guest Author Bio: Ty Duggan is an avid reader and a film enthusiast. Born in Rhode Island, Ty enjoys playing drums, listening to music and having detailed conversations on politics, faith and relevance of film in our modern culture.
