Robert Zemeckis’ take on A Christmas Carol is the darkest kids’ movie I ever remember seeing. There are some amazing visuals in it, and some attempts at amazing visuals with varying levels of success. Overall, it’s an enjoyable take on Charles Dicken’s yuletide classic.

Jim Carrey stars as Ebenezer Scrooge (and about a hundred other characters), and he gets to cut loose and just go crazy. Sure it’s a voice over role, but the motion capture process basically films Carrey doing most of the physical stuff too. So yeah, Carrey goes off. But he’s really good.
Scrooge has a great look. The artists really went all out to give him a unique, extremely expressive look.

My problem with the movie is that everybody else looks kind of creepy to me. Yes, you can recognize Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, and especially Gary Oldman, but they look so creepy. And kinda distorted and weird. OK, maybe that’s just my opinion, but me thinks I’m entitled to it. Their voice over work is fine, though.

My biggest problem with the flick has to be how Zemeckis and crew envisioned The Ghost of Christmas Past. Sorry if this is a spoiler, but it’s a candle. A big candle with pretty much Jim Carrey’s face in the flame. And a really annoying voice. Sorry. Fail.

Like I said, this is a dark movie. Jacob Marley’s iconic chain rattling spirit is pretty damn creepy, and at one point looks more zombie than ghost. And he’s loud. Very, very loud. Great scene, but damn, kids will be spooked. There’s other dark stuff, but I won’t give them away. There’s also a short socio-political speech that comes out of left field, IMHO. But oh well. I guess Zemeckis had something to say. Then again, most of Dicken’s books were socio-politcal statements in one way or another, so…
Of course the movie also has plenty of lighthearted moments, and some really spectacular looks at Dickensian England. A lot of the movie just looks beautiful.

Is A Christmas Carol a GOOD movie? I don’t really know. Is it impressive? Yes. Is it enjoyable? Yeah, I think so. Is it necessary to see it in the IMAX setting? Hmmm. I don’t think so. I think it did make good use of the 3D aspect, so if you have a choice to see it in 2D or 3D, go with 3D. Enjoy.