Who here has seen "A Christmas Carol" in 3D and what did you think?

[Foggy]

I thought it was great, and far closer to the book than many other adaptations, it's closer to the horror exspect of the book, Jim Carrey was excellent as Scrooge, it was just well done...for one exseption.

God damn 3D segments were awful and crowbared in there, the segment with scrooge is shrunk down and chased by the ghost of christmas yet to come, is ruined by the daftness and comedy and this is in the darkest part of the story.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I thought it was great, and far closer to the book than many other adaptations, it's closer to the horror exspect of the book, Jim Carrey was excellent as Scrooge, it was just well done...for one exseption.

God damn 3D segments were awful and crowbared in there, the segment with scrooge is shrunk down and chased by the ghost of christmas yet to come, is ruined by the daftness and comedy and this is in the darkest part of the story.

I disagree about the 3d segments! I loved all of them! I especially loved the effect used with the Ghost of Christmas Present when they made the floor transparent and it was like he was "driving" the house around the village. I thought that part was awesome. I would like to see this movie at IMAX to compare.

I kind of see what you mean about the shrinking part. However I found it quite funny and entertaining.

[jbute2k2]

I saw it in IMAX and thought it was okay. The snow looked pretty cool throughout the movie. Beyond that there wasn't a whole lot of scenes where I caught my self saying "wow!" When I saw this preview in 3D in the IMAX a while back I could not wait but the previews 3D was much better than the actual movie. Don't get me wrong its still a great movie and the 3D is pretty good but not jaw dropping.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I disagree about the 3d segments! I loved all of them! I especially loved the effect used with the Ghost of Christmas Present when they made the floor transparent and it was like he was "driving" the house around the village. I thought that part was awesome. I would like to see this movie at IMAX to compare.

I kind of see what you mean about the shrinking part. However I found it quite funny and entertaining.

I agree with the house that works perfectly

[Goldengirl]

I didn't like the character of Fred, cause they tried too hard to make him look like Firth. Even though he walked like Firth (and, of course, talked like him) the cgi look wasn't exactly right. But all in all, I think it was very well done. I saw it in IMAX 3D.

[charlieray1]

I'm a big fan of "A Christmas Carol", love the book and have many movie and TV versions, so of course I had to go see the new one. Here are my thoughts:

It was much better than I expected -- the animation was gorgeous, and much of it was very true to the book. In fact, most of the film was wonderful . . . but it missed being a great version because when it went wrong, it REALLY went wrong. The whole "tiny Scrooge being chased" sequence was awful. But worse, who was it done for? Kids wouldn't enjoy the film -- it's dark and has the Victorian-era dialogue from the book -- and I can't imagine many adults guffawing at Scrooge rocketing into outer space or riding an ice-cicle like a surfboard.

Worse though, that long sequence killed the emotion of the future sequence. While the scavengers are cackling over Scrooge's plundered belongings, the dialogue and meaning is lost because we're watching him being chased my a mouse.

There were other smaller problem (IMO) -- for example, the Ghost of Christmas Present DOES age in the book, but what was with the horror-movie style death-throes he goes through, then decomposing to a skeleton and blowing away? Moments like that felt (to me) like the director set out to make the definitive version of the story, them lost confidence in his approach and tried to "spice it up". But all he did was take an A+ version down to a C+.

Over all, it was worth seeing -- I'll probably add it to the collection -- but it it missed it's shot at greatness by trying to please everyone. Either do an atmospheric, accurate grown-up version (which much of this was), or make a slapstick kiddie version. But don't try to do both.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by charlieray1

There were a few other smaller problem (IMO) -- for example The Ghost of Christmas Present DOES age in the book, but what was with the horror-movie style death-throes he goes through, then decomposing to a skeleton and blowing away? Moments like that felt (to me) like the director set out to make the definitive version of the story, them lost confidence in his approach and tried to "spice it up". .

Present does say "My time grows short" in the book, but....Robert Zemeckis has never been known for his subtlety of interpretation.

The one problem with having the hyperactive Back to the Future/Roger Rabbit director interpret Dickens is that
A) he gets antsy whenever he runs into long passages of dialogue, and feels he has to distract the audience with "business" (I don't think Dickens intended a comic gag about Marley's decomposition during "Mankind was my business...", any more than he intended The Adventures of Scrooge On the Floor during the old-bedcurtains scene.)
and
B) Z seems to be discovering all the "deeper" interpretations of Dickens' quotes for the first time, and makes double-careful sure that we, the poor audience, understand them as much as he now does. (Eg., the line "They are ghosts who have lost the power to interfere in mankind for good" is now a ghost shouting "I wish I could help you!")

Although Z's words-of-one-syllable translation does give one of the movie's better "Translation for the Dickens-Impaired" scenes:
When Present introduces the boy and girl of Ignorance & Want, he has them restate "Are there no prisons or workhouses?", as Ignorance symbolically morphs into a street-thief, and Want morphs into a prostitute and is dragged away into a madhouse.
Okay, so it's not lighter than Present graphically decomposing, but it's nice to see that the "Beowulf" director has been thinking about the books he reads.

[Riff Magnum]

I liked it way more than i expected, since i mainly went to show my kids what Christmas Carol was. It was well done. I remember reading Eberts review when we got home that night and it was very positive.