Christmas Carol

Esmeralda · Post by **Esmeralda** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 9:19 am

I haven't seen a topic on this one yet. Anyone been? I loved the train when it came through town, but the movie looks a bit scary for me (sorry, flashbacks from the grave inferno in Mickey's Christmas Carol!).

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 9:28 am

Every version of Christmas Carol tends to be dark and scary until Scrooge seeks redemption - once Scrooge is redeemed, it's Christmas morning, and everything is bright and cheerful. It's all part of the basic imagery of the film. I think I had seen some warnings that small children might find it scary....

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 10:28 am

I'm not really interested in seeing this one. To me, the way the people looks are creepy, it's obviously a cartoon, but the people look so real.

My fav. is A Muppet Christmas Carol!

srik · Post by **srik** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 2:42 pm

boilerbabe, Muppets is my favorite, too!

I reread A Christmas Carol every year and the Muppets is actually one of the most faithful retellings, I have seen. Part of that is because they use Gonzo as Dickens/the narrator and therefor are able to lift entire passages from the original text that really give it the right feel.

As for the new one, I'm a bit skeptical. I really don't like Jim Carey that much and I'm afraid that his voice will be enough to pull me out of the story. I think it looks interesting, creepy certainly, but interesting, and it's getting great buzz, but I think I'm going to wait a little while longer to make up my mind.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 3:03 pm

What? What's wrong with Jim Carrey? Look what he did for the Grinch in the Grinch Who Stole Christmas movie!

BTW that was sarcasm...

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 3:25 pm

I actually really liked it and I love the Grinch movie with Jim in it. Jim's one of my favorite comedians and he did a great job with this movie along with Gary Oldman.

Also, I love the Muppets Christmas Carol too.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 4:23 pm

The new Christmas Carol looks interesting. I think the my favorite is the 1951 version. There are so many to chose from, it's some time hard to decide. You have the 1938 version which is off from the Dickens book and often the one emulated. Patrick Stewart, Mickey, and George C Scott were great Scrooges.

I could really go on and on. Look for it this weekend, I'm gonna start a Christmas Carol thread. I have to collect my thoughts first.

Let me add this. My all time FAVORITE Christmas Carol is.....The Ref!! Yes it is the same story!

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 4:24 pm

I'm sorry, but to me Jim Carrey made the Grinch more cartoonish than mean and scary - I just love the Boris Karloff version so much better. That version will always be the only Grinch to me...it was just an all-time classic....

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 6:53 pm

As far as Grinch goes, I strongly dislike the Jim Carrey version (I like a lot of his work, but this one, no)...I love the cartoon Karloff/Ravenscroft version.

As far as Christmas Carol goes, although I kinda liked Muppet Christmas Carol, Mickey's Christmas Carol gets my vote. (part of my problem with Muppet CC is that it was the first Muppet movie produced after Mr. Henson's death and to me, it didn't feel the same. His death hit me hard because I loved his work so much.

)

I'm still up in the air about the new version of Christmas Carol...not sure if I want to see it or not.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 9:34 pm

I say to go see it and see how it turns out for you. Everyone's views are different so it'd be interesting to read about it.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Nov Fri 13, 2009 9:40 pm

There have dozens of versions of the Christmas Carol before this film - some I liked, some I didn't - and there will be dozens of versions that will follow. And like this film - I will be open-minded about seeing them all. Good advice, elizabethswann.

Soarin08 · Post by **Soarin08** » Nov Sat 14, 2009 2:05 am

I want to see this. Robert Zemekis did it in the same style as Polar Express, I see. Plus I love Jim Carrey- so yeah.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Nov Sat 14, 2009 2:12 am

I have faith in Robert Zemekis since he gave us my favorite movie: Back to the Future.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Nov Sun 15, 2009 4:00 pm

Just got back from seeing the film...

it wasn't bad, but not great - a solid "B" grade.
Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, and Cary Elwes (all except Firth did multiple characters in the flim) did solid voice performances.

The capture motion technology works well, but when they stray from it - like the idea of old Fezziwig doing back-flips - it looks bad because the idea was stupid in the first place. Each time they did that, it just looked bad.

If the animation had any fault, it was too dark and too dreary for the 3D. I think they forget those glasses are tinted and looking at the darkness through dark glasses made it all too dark.

Some scenes were useless, too long and didn't fit. The whole chase sequence with the horse-drawn hearse is a good example. It was more like a part of a video game than a movie (although they push the video game version being available for purchase in the ending credits). Other films may have gone overboard with Scrooge's redemption in the end (probably more so than the original text), but it is usually done to counter-act the grimness of the film. This version seemed to be grim before and after. The end wasn't bright, warm and fuzzy, it still seemed cold and dark. You wanted more of a celebration - and there just wasn't that much.

I think people would prefer Disney's other versions - either Mickey's or Muppet's - to this version. To me, it even seemed a more grim, menacing, and terrifying version of Christmas than the Nightmare Before Christmas itself!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Sun 15, 2009 4:53 pm

I've researched this for the last few days and it will be sometime before I can give a good thread.