Christmas Carol - The Movie

Rating:
Summary: RATHER DREARY ANIMATED VERSION OF A CLASSIC
Review: A Christmas Carol has got to be one of the most filmed stories of all times. I can think of no less than a dozen different live action and animated versions of the Dickens classic. This is one version that should have been left on the drawing boards.

There is nothing wrong with changing a story so long as you admit to it. So unlike many children's films where a classic is ruined and the child grows up in ignorance and never knows the difference, this film has the STUPID idea of having live action Charles Dickens go to America and tell the story to an audience explaining it isn't quite the same as how he wrote it in the book.

Bad Idea when you mess with a classic. Most of the voice work is particularly weak including Nick Cage as Marley. The songs in the movie are also rather dreadful.

My main gripe is the weak animation. Perhaps were just all too jaded by the dazzling computer animation of things like Shrek and Finding Nemo but this 2D animation smacks of 1960's Hanna Barbera type work with no shading, no depth of color or perspective.

A bad production all around.

Rating:
Summary: Best animation ever
Review: Forget Shrek and The Polar Express. This little English film has the greatest animation ever. See for yourself!

Rating:
Summary: Lackluster production - GREAT for kids and Winslet fans....
Review: It really wasn't all that bad!! If I had to choose between this and the Muppets version -- it would be the Muppets hand down.

What I really like about this adaptation is the dialogue. The interaction between the characters is lively, moving and very well acted. I did not pay any attention to the technical aspects mentioned in the other reviews. An animation is an animation to me -- I don't look for blowing hair or wrinkles in ones clothes. I tend to pay more attention to how well the movie is acted. That being said, I would not rate this one any higher than 3 and 1/2 stars -- simply because the supporting cast does not hold the story up too well. It seems that the film is purposely centered around the three main ("big name Holloywood) actors - Simon Callow, Nicolas Cage, and Kate Winslet. The other characters are very obviously pushed into the smoldering background.

I would recommend this as a buy if you have children, or if you are a big Winslet fan. The dialogue is very easy to follow if your kids cannot understand, or were afraid of, any other version. The cute little mice that accompany Ebenezer will surely delight them as well. They actually play a pivotal role of sorts towards the end of the movie. Winslet fans with be enamored with her singing debut on this soundtrack. She's actually very good! Her music video is also featured on the DVD extras.

Rating:
Summary: Passable Version But Flawed
Review: This could have been an excellent animated version of "Christmas Carol" except the character design is seriously flawed. The backgrounds are beautiful, the story well told with some humerous additions, yet, in this day of CGI animation, the characters are FLAT. There is no shading of the characters, no folds in the clothing, even printed comic books have more dimention than these characters. This leads to a rather boring watching experience.

On the disc's special features, the original live opening and closing are shown. They really are wonderful sequences and there is no explanation of why they were cut for the DVD version. They explain why the two mice are used throughout the film. They are a delightful addition to the story.

There is a motivation as to why Scrooge becomes the unpleasant character he is concerning his loss of Belle in early life. She becomes a major character in this version and the idea works well even if it is not strictly Dickens.

This is a decent version of the classic that could have been really wonderful if the animators had fully used the CGI shadings that the characters really need.

Rating:
Summary: Great Voice Cast, Great Kate Winslet's Song & Poor Animation
Review: Yet another 'Carol' has traditional 2-D animations with great voice cast -- Simon Callow, Kate Winslet, Jane Horrocks, Nicholas Cage, Rhys Ifans, Micheal Gambon, and Juliet Stevenson. You also have a chance to listen to Kate's sister Beth Wislet's voice (who can be seen in a film 'Bodywork') and plus, you hear beautiful songs by Welsh singer Charlotte Church and Kate Winslet herself! And Ms Winslet is very good at that.

So, you ask, why 2 stars? OK, listen up, please. The story is a famous one, so you don't need my summery. And Scrooge is anyway going to be a good guy. But the process is the point, or the life of the story, and the film misses it very wide.

In fact, Scrooge (Simon Callow) in the first act is totally a bad guy here, feeding a mice, giving a chunk of cheese. After showing another side of him, the film is very slow in establishing his character, which should be more simple. To make it worse, Scrooge. out of the window, throws a jug of cold water (and it's winter) upon the chorus group on the street singing, among which you see the face of Tiny Tim, poor boy, drenched to the skin. And ... sorry if I'm wrong, but -- Did Dickens write that way?

There are many, many, unnecessary addtions and changes, which I do not introduce here. The real problem is, however, the animation itself. Jimmy T. Murakami is best known for 'When the Wind Blows' a quiet but very unnerving animated film about two elderly man and wife, who too innocently follows the government guidance to make a handmade shelter for the coming nuclear war. His 2-D animatiton worked at that time, but after about 14 years, it is no longer possible to grab our attention with that technique without good storyteling, character, or original designs. This 'Christmas Carol' has none of them, just making itself look like a Cliff Note of animation.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but as to this eternal classc, there are better choices out there, Alastair Simm or the Muppets (with Michael Caine, and the film is good), so why not them? The only good thing I could find about this version is Kate Winslet's wonderful yuletide song, which deserves more attention.

[VHS VERSION] lacks the opening and ending live-action sections in which Simon Callow plays Charles Dickens himself, touring in Boston, America, in 1867 (Dickens's celebrated reading performance in mind). If you want to see everything of this film, DVD is a better choice.