Disney’s A Christmas Carol

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

(PG)

**

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Charles Dickens’ novella, adapted for the 21st century

In A Christmas Carol, director Robert Zemeckis tries to “warm up Charles Dickens’ holiday chestnut using state-of-the-art technology,” said Keith Phipps in The Onion. Yet the result, in which Jim Carrey not only plays Scrooge but several other characters, still feels stale. Following The Polar Express and Beowulf, this is Zemeckis’ third attempt at filmmaking using motion-capture technology. While some of the digital effects dazzle—above all a Victorian London realized in minute detail—he “never makes the case” for dusting off this holiday classic once again. Every generation gets its own rendition of A Christmas Carol, and this is one for 2009, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. A “thing of bits and bytes,” the film is also a “darkly detailed marvel of creative visualization,” remaining true to Dickens’ spirit even while providing an animated thrill ride. Too often, though, it runs off the rails, said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. Zemeckis’ “sad excuse for family entertainment” ruins this classic with stilted, soulless animated characters. The whole thing is a “calamity."