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Reviews Counted:163
Fresh:90
Rotten:73
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman.
Genre: Childrens
US Box Office: $79,836,002
Synopsis: Director Robert Zemeckis (THE POLAR EXPRESS) continues to work his holiday magic with A CHRISTMAS CAROL. This 3-D adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic will use the motion capture technology... [More]
Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins
Director: Robert Zemeckis
The motion capture animation is top-notch and it's hard not to be impressed with what Robert Zemeckis has wrought, even if there's the occasional sense he's pandering to an audience that can't get through a 90 minute story without a few yuks and a chase.
The biggest surprise... is that it isn't absolutely dreadful. Perfectly pointless, maybe, but not dreadful.
The 3-D motion-capture version runs through the motions, except for one detail: It's visually beautiful.
'My next project is to motion capture some hair and comb it over my 3D scalp,' said Zemeckis.
Robert Zemeckis seeks to answer the one question still remaining about the Dickens classic: What would the story look like if it were cast with figures from Madame Tussauds?
Those who enjoy virtual roller-coaster rides and long falls from high places are encouraged to attend.
As a dedicated fan of Charles Dickens' works, I also am a dedicated fan of several versions of his classic "A Christmas Carol."
Hold onto your mug of warm apple cider. This newest, action-packed version of A Christmas Carol could get a little bumpy.
An exquisitely crafted visual experience.
Seeming spawned from some ghoulish dream I felt nothing warm or symbolic of a tradition from this film.
Are the less than perfectly executed bits supposed to set off the truly terrific ones, or are the truly terrific ones supposed to distract the viewing audience from the bits that go clunk in the night?
...we never experience that moment when Scrooge's heart melts. He seems already changed the moment Marley leaves him.
Yes %u2014 I am giving A Christmas Carol a high rating. It is technical perfection and brilliantly done. However, it is too much Zemeckis, too much Carrey. Not enough Dickens.
Writer-director Robert Zemeckis follows Charles Dickens' 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, so closely that he even makes the same error the author made with the first edition of the book.
You don't need glasses -- 3-D or otherwise -- to see that this holiday release is too diluted for adults, too frightening for children, and too tiresome for just about everybody.
Most of us know the beginning, middle, and uplifting end. However, the hook this time is a trifecta: 3-D, digital imagery, and Jim Carrey. That hook makes this 'Christmas Carol' worth seeing.
A garish and tedious animated interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic that has neither heart nor soul.
Boasts dazzling CGI effects and important moral lessons, but it suffers from excessive style over substance while lacking the genuine, unadulturated warmth, emotional resonance and soul of the Dickens classic.
Scrooge's ultimate transformation to kindness and charity comes too late and is given little screen time. Carrey never gets a chance to be the funny comedian that has endeared him to his legion of fans.
Zemeckis seems unable to admit that the motion capture animation he's been using on The Polar Express and Beowulf is an artistic dead end.
November 17, 2009:
Disney's Christmas Wishes Coming True 
Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" has divided critics, but Disney was hoping for a holiday movie with long theatrical legs -- and so far, the studio couldn't be happier. More...
November 08, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Christmas Carol Tops, Precious Rocks
This weekend Moviegoers powered Jim Carrey's holiday kidpic A Christmas Carol to a number one opening but some fans remained stingy preventing the Disney 3D toon from meeting... More...
November 05, 2009:
Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
This week at the movies, we've got some modern-day Dickens (Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman); a button-pushing thriller (The Box, starring... More...
November 04, 2009:
Ho-ho-horror! 10 Scary Christmas Movies
This week's eerie mo-cap rendering of the ghostly, dark Dickens morality tale 'A Christmas Carol' from director Robert Zemeckis is far from being the only yuletide movie where... More...
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