November 2009
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Disney's A Christmas Carol (PG)
Printed 4th November 2009

2009 is destined to be remembered as the year that 3D went mainstream proper (see: My Bloody Valentine, Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Coraline, Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, G-Force, Final Destination 4, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Toy Story in 3D, Up and the forthcoming big dog “game-changer” Avatar). Disney’s A Christmas Carol isn’t destined to be remembered as one of the better examples of why however.

The latest technology-based offering from the Eighties-great Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future’s / Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Christmas Carol is yet another version of the oft-told Charles Dickens classic about one mean and measly old man and the ghosts that change his opinion on Christmas and callousness. But really the story or the setting don’t matter, because all Zemeckis really cares about is showing off his fandangled mo-cap technique for the third consecutive time after The Polar Express and Beowulf.

Unfortunately what worked in Beowulf because of the fantastical nature of the story, doesn’t work here because of the more tangible real-world setting; the green screen, motion tracking, OTT digital animation style sitting ill at ease with the “lived-in” hyperreal Dickensian world. So poorly do these two mix, in fact, that there is a distinct lack of emotional connection to the events in Zemeckis’ Disney’s Christmas Carol when, whatever particular twist on the tale that has been told time-and-time again, it is normally so involving a story. One can only presume this is because of the digi-anime style.

The universally boss-eyed characters (but I guess that’s an improvement upon the glassy-eyed of previous Zemo-cap efforts?) don’t help either. They’re neither cute nor realistic but just creepy and displeasing instead, some weird pseudo-real somewhere between cartoon and live-action. Personally, I’d rather see one or the other, not some disconcerting cross-hybrid of the two. Also can’t see exactly what the benefits are of Jim Carrey and cast playing multiple characters either? To give Carrey the opportunity to showcase some truly awful attempts at accents? Well, objective achieved! Really it just seems to be another gimmick in an already gimmicky film though.

Are two Jim's better than one? Turns out, no.

It’s also a bit confusing. Perhaps not so much with Carrey’s roster of characters as they all have distinct different looks: Scrooge = Dobby the house elf Carrey, Ghost of Christmas Past = Lumiere Carrey, Ghost of Christmas Present = fat Beowulf-ish Carrey, Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come = shadowy grim reaper no-Carrey. But certainly with the more peripheral characters this proves a big problem. The Bob Hoskins-looking Mr. Fezziwig and Old Joe: what, they’re not the same character? Oh. They look the same. Like Bob Hoskins. The two Robin Wright Penn-looking women: who they? Same? Different? Idunnoknow?

Confused? You will be. The shame of it all is that this had the potential to show off a classic “must-know” tale to kids and capture their imagination in a way that has never been done before. I guess it might do that thanks to the “groundbreaking” effects-work alone (and only time will tell), but you have to ask whether it was really worth producing yet another version of this famous story that brings absolutely nothing new to the table? Well, except for some shonky, still-unconvincing (for me) animation techniques and some ill-fitting zany action sequences (Scrooge being chased through the snowy streets of London by the ghost of Christmas yet-to-come and his horse-drawn carriage particularly comes to mind).

Zemeckis has said that he won’t work in any other way now though, so we should get used to the idea of him continually trying to prove that his now-favoured filmmaking style is a viable filmmaking technique and perhaps steamrolling over some classics in the process. It seems there’s still a lot to prove though, especially when you consider how expensive and timely the mo-cap process is compared to the finished results. I guess if anyone can do it though, it’s the man that made you believe a DeLorean could fly and a cartoon rabbit could interact with a human being?

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