Disney's A Christmas Carol REVIEW

With Christmas being driven down our throats from big supermarkets getting all their Christmas stock out before Halloween, sofa companies saying on adverts that they will have your sofa delivered in time for Christmas and everyone's favourite red trucks on the TV saying that "holidays are comin', holidays are comin'." So it's only fitting that Hollywood get a few films released to get us in the spirit of the season, and the film I am reviewing today certinally got me in the mood!

Today I am going to be reviewing Robert Zemeckis' take on the classic Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. I am a huge fan of the story and I have seen many versions of this story ranging from the George C. Scott version released in 1984; to the Muppet's Christmas Carol that will no doubt be on our TVs this Christmas. (Well I hope)

This was the first time I had seen a Zemeckis CG film as I haven't gotten round to seeing Polar Express. Before I get into the nitty gritty about the story let me just express my feelings about the CG in this film. I have to say this was the best CG work I had seen in a long time! Transformers is stunning but this was just amazing. The last time I was convinced that the characters were real people was when I watched Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within for the first time. The scenes with the Ghost of Christmas Present were bright and stunning to watch. This film was definatley using the CG to its full advantage.

Now to discuss the actual story of the film. This adaptation is very faithful to the original text and a lot of the lines of dialogue are word for word. I found myself at times mouthing the words along with the film. The only real noticeable addition to the film was a scene where Ebenezer is being chased by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. For some reason they decided to also make Ebenezer shrink but this was probably added so they could show off the 3D and CG working well together. Which it did. Another thing I noticed about this film is considering it has the Disney name on it, the film is very dark and creepy at times. I loved this because it kept it again very loyal to the original text, but at times this film wasn't a film for the young kids that were in the audience when I watched this.

The cast were absolutley fantastic with Jim Carey playing Ebenezer Scrooge, Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. Gary Oldman as Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tin (motion capture). Cary Elwes as Portly Gentleman #1, Dick Wilkins and Mad Fiddler. Colin Firth as Fred and Bob Hoskins as Mr. Fezziwig.

With a strong cast and fantastic CG animation this film is a fantastic addition to the list of Christmas Carol adaptations. When you watch this film you definatley get into the Christmas spitit and you'll suddenly grow to love seeing all the reminders of Christmas that TV shoves down your throat. I would highly recommend anyone to see this film, if you have young children maybe view it before them to make sure its not a little too scary for them.

Thanks for reading XD