Favors thrill-ride effects that are more often the star than the servant of the story. It's like "Silent Night" played by Led Zeppelin.
Comment
11/05/09
Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)
55
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:169
Fresh:93
Rotten:76
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: $135,888,543
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
Reviews for Disney's A Christmas Carol
121 - 140 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Zemeckis' movie may lack the emotional impact of the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim as a truly transformed and happy Scrooge. Nevertheless, it's a visual treat that respects and artfully enhances its source.
11/05/09
A re-telling should either present a resonant or fresh thematic take. This Christmas Carol seems like a pale ghost of Dickens' magical Christmas classic.
11/05/09
Top CriticCarrey's performance as the miserly misanthrope is lost amid effects more typically encountered in theme-park and video-game adventures. (P.S.: Is it just me, or does it also peeve you that the Mouse House claims proprietary rights on Dickens' title?)
11/05/09
There's some dazzling stuff here. But you get creepy, dead-eyed and inexpressive performances - even sympathetic characters end up looking like the ventriloquist's doll in that Anthony Hopkins movie.
11/05/09
It's nice of Hollywood to go to all the trouble but, honestly, Dickens doesn't need the help.
11/05/09
Charles Dickens wrote the book 50 years before movies even existed. He wrote for the imagination. And until now, movies haven't been able to measure up.
11/05/09
It's an unengaging, dull adaptation that has nothing really new to say in regards to the already-much-told tale.
11/05/09
Shockingly, the new film turns out to be very good, at times close to brilliant: a darkly detailed marvel of creative visualization that does well by Dickens and right by audiences -- when it’s not trying to sell them a theme park ride.
11/05/09
The holiday spirit feels real, but the film does not.
11/05/09
Clear evidence of the limitations of the performance-capture method of animation and of the excesses it invites...there's more of artifice than art in it.
11/05/09
The utter freedom of camera movement evokes a visceral sense of buoyant jubilation that immediately connects us to the movie's setting.
11/05/09
It's visually stunning and all, but this is one version of A Christmas Carol that the world can probably live without. Humbug!
11/05/09
All I want for Christmas is for Robert Zemeckis to stop making mo-cap movies.
11/05/09
Jim Carrey though animated, should be considered for Best Actor. His co-star is the Disney IMAX 3D technology.
11/05/09
If you want realism, use actors. If you want animation, use your imagination. Sadly, imagination is missing from this technically impressive but emotionally inert film.
11/05/09
It's eerie rather than wondrous.
11/05/09
It’s not that Carrey fails in this serious guise, but, rather, it strips the comic actor of everything that makes him so special.
11/05/09
Too much of the film is geared around 3-D wizardry. Unneeded sequences pop up for purely "wow" baiting.
11/05/09
A leaden and ugly mess that offers all the emotional and dramatic heft of an exceptionally garish Christmas window display.
11/05/09
Latest News for Disney's A Christmas Carol
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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