A Christmas Carol
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Who's in it: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth
What's it about: This 3D animated film reworks Charles Dickens' classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey), as he learns the true spirit of Christmas.
Wild ride: Written and directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"), who also did "The Polar Express," this elaborately animated feature has a dazzling visual look. While it stays mostly faithful to Dickens' original (although there is one chase scene), it finds imaginative ways to visualize Scrooge's journey to Christmases past, present and future. Carrey does a great job as the voice (and body, thanks to motion-capture technology) of Scrooge. A couple of quibbles: Except for Scrooge, the eyes of the other characters often look dead, like animatronic figures at Disneyland (also a problem with "Polar Express"). And this is not a movie for small children. Despite Carrey's presence, it is not primarily a comedy - and there are sequences that could scare the snot out of the under-8 crowd.
Long story short: You'll definitely get the Christmas spirit.
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