Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” has been remade again. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, this interpretation of the legendary novel has been mixed with new and advanced 3D technology. The story follows Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Disney’s A Christmas Carol has already brought in a whopping $30, 051, 075 since its November 6 debut. A Christmas Carol showed viewers the magic that comes at Christmas time each year.
The movie opens to Ebenezer Scrooge [voice of Jim Carrey] standing over the dead body of his business partner, Jacob Marley [ voice of Gary Oldman]. The movie then jumps seven years into the future showing Scrooge on Christmas Eve at work with his Clerk, Bob Cratchit [voice of Gary Oldman]. Although it followed the basic sequence of the story, this movie was really used to showcase the use of the 3D technology. The movie takes you on a trip through the streets of London, the first 30 seconds is just traveling through different parts of the city. These whimsical trips give you the feeling that you’re in the city, flying through the air and through walls and windows right with them.
Carrey brings his twisted humor and antics such as his random explosions into anger into the movie, his character Scrooge even resembling him in both body and behavior. His humor is showed in a more subtle way throughout his other characters, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Zemeckis uses a mixture of humor and a bit of terror, which will be forthcoming in a younger audience to make this movie work. Although there is a sense of terror instilled in the movie, that sense does not come from the content itself, rather the animation of those parts. The 3D aspect of these parts is what really brings the sense of terror. I remember having to tell my 8 year old sister next to me “it’s not real, it’s not real” during a sequence when Scrooge was chased by the creepy and morbid Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Over the 96 minutes in the theater, viewers didn’t know what to expect from “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”. They were ready to laugh and ready to jump out of their seats as some obscure object jumped out into the audience right in front of you. It’s well animated scenes and well acted characters made for a great viewing experience that should most definitely be experienced in the theaters.
