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

[Steelmaker]

I saw this movie last night. Quite frankly, I cannot understand why critics have been so harsh towards this film!

Overall I thought it was very well done! Jim Carrey did a terrific job as Ebenezer Scrooge. If I didn't already know it was him, I would have never suspected and that's a good thing. My biggest concern going into this film was that Carrey's boisterous personality would dominate the Scrooge character but that was not the case at all! Carrey plays the role perfectly! The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future were all done very well! I especially liked Christmas Past! I have never seen this interpretation of Christmas Past done before and I thought it worked really well! I also loved the fact that Disney did not skimp on the spooky aspects of the story. When it has to, it gets REALLY creepy!

In comparison to The Polar Express, I think The Polar Express is still a better holiday film overall. Just because it speaks more to the inner child in all of us and there's no other time of the year that better represents that than Christmas. Having said that, Disney's A Christmas Carol is a wonderful adaptation of one of the greatest stories of redemption ever told!

Word of warning. Those of you who have very young children, there are a few scenes that might be scary to them so keep that in mind.

[masob98]

I personally thought it was a great movie. I thought Jim Carrey did great as well. I must admit at times it got a little boring but over all I thought it was a good movie and the visuals were freeking awesome.

[dvd_mazter]

I enjoyed it a lot; it stuck close to the original material which is great. Carrey was good in all the roles and the movie looked outstanding but the 3D effect wasn't quite as good as I hoping for. The movie takes a while to get going but I liked it and probably will add it to the Christmas films I watch every year.

I'd give like 7.5 / 10

[tbizzle]

Glad to hear you guys liked it, I'll have to go see this soon

[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.

[assydingo]

The Ghost of Christmas Past was creepy in a way similar to The Adventures of Mark Twain. Actually overall the movie was intense and if I was a kid I'd probably have nightmares.

Animation was good but faces were not quite perfect a lot of the time. 3D effect was nice but animated movies in 3D always feel a bit too restrained.

The movie itself was a bit underwhelming.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by assydingo

The Ghost of Christmas Past was creepy in a way similar to The Adventures of Mark Twain. Actually overall the movie was intense and if I was a kid I'd probably have nightmares.

For a while, Carrey's imitation-Sim Scrooge was so good and in character, I thought, "Nah, he hasn't dropped the other shoe yet: You can never get a 100% straight acting performance out of Carrey...Sooner or later, the Peter Sellers/Andy Kaufman urges will kick in, and he'll try to annoy the other actors by deliberately going over the top..."
(Even "The Truman Show" and "A Series of Unfortunate Events" had their unscripted moments of Carrey-sabotage.)

Then, when we saw the manic "Allll-righty then " look in Past's expression as he tries to annoy "himself" onset with over-the-top weirdness, thought, "Ah, THERE'S the Jimster we know...Right on schedule."
Good thing he found a healthy outlet to get it out of his system, and he could save all his Serious acting for Scrooge.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I still prefer the Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol of my youth. But, I did enjoy this new interpretation. It did what I hoped it would... awoke Christmas within me for this year.

[Yautja]

Saw it with the little ones & they thought it was awesome as long as they were happy with it then so am I

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I still prefer the Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol of my youth. But, I did enjoy this new interpretation. It did what I hoped it would... awoke Christmas within me for this year.

My fav is Muppets Christmas Carol, it's got Micheal Caine in, you can't go wrong with that.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Foggy

My fav is Muppets Christmas Carol, it's got Micheal Caine in, you can't go wrong with that.

I enjoyed the Muppets Christmas Carol as well.

However my all time favorite version will always be the 1984 George C. Scott version. I loved his portrayal of Scrooge. There are some very strong performances in this movie from many fine actors! Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Frank Finlay as Jacob Marley, Roger Rees as Fred Hollywell, and David Warner as Bob Cratchit were all very strong performances!!

My second favorite version must go to the 1939 b&w version with Reginald Owen and Gene Lockhart. I kind of liked how this version's narrative is told more from Bob Cratchit's perspective rather than Ebenezer Scrooge's. Plus there are other elements of this film that strays from the original source. However it posesses a certain charm that has always appealed to me.

[charlieray1]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

my all time favorite version will always be the 1984 George C. Scott version. I loved his portrayal of Scrooge. There are some very strong performances in this movie from many fine actors! Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Frank Finlay as Jacob Marley, Roger Rees as Fred Hollywell, and David Warner as Bob Cratchit were all very strong performances!!

It's my favorite too -- a great, great film. The 1951 Alastair Sim one is also great -- and it's a HUGE PQ upgrade on Blu-ray.

I like the 30's one you mentioned. It's fun, but it's certainly "Dickens Light" -- very cheery and upbeat. No darker elements, no poverty, no Ignorance & Want. Still though it's fun to watch . . . and the Ghost of Christmas Past was a doll!

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by charlieray1

It's my favorite too -- a great, great film. The 1951 Alastair Sim one is also great -- and it's a HUGE PQ upgrade on Blu-ray.

I like the 30's one you mentioned. It's fun, but it's certainly "Dickens Light" -- very cheery and upbeat. No darker elements, no poverty, no Ignorance & Want. Still though it's fun to watch . . . and the Ghost of Christmas Past was a doll!

Yes you're right. This version takes a LOT creative liberties and it certainly does avoid all of the darker aspects of the story. Yet for some reason, I have always loved this version. I always liked how Cratchit was "sacked" on Christmas Eve in this version and he didn't let it get him down. I love how he just sort of says "screw it" and blows all his wages on Christmas goodies for his family, despite knowing he has no job to go back to.