A Christmas Carol (2009)

Viewer Rating:Jason O' Mahony has rated A Christmas Carol (2009) rating: 4 Star

A Christmas Carol is possibly one of the best know and best loved Christmas stories of all time. It's a classic in the true sense of the word with more than 40 adaptations, the first of which hit cinema screens over a century ago, way back in 1908! Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL, however, is a little different in that it comes to our screens in gloriously animated 3D and, while 3D was long dismissed as a cheap gimmick, there has been a recent surge in both the number and quality of 3D movies. Disney is synonymous with animation and is similarly placed at the cutting edge of 3D technology, as anyone who has visited Euro Disney and seen HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE will attest. Not only are the Euro Disney 3D effects absolutely fantastic, the cinema is littered with little water guns which add a sensory element to the visual 3D spray, while at one point thousands of rats run towards the audience and, as the 3D rats run past, little air guns at ankle height puff out air creating a terrifying effect of rats brushing against your shoes. Everyone in the audience, myself included, actually screamed while pulling their feet from the floor. Brilliant! Cinemas that play A CHRISTMAS CAROL have, obviously, not been retrofitted with such devices but I'd wager that they're not too far away. Robert Zemeckis, the director of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, has been churning out successful movies for decades from the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy in the 80's to FORREST GUMP in the 90's. Of late, though, he has concentrated on motion capture technology, bringing THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004) and BEOWULF (2007) to screens with varying degrees of success. The premise of A Christmas Carol is well known, but to recap very quickly – Ebenezer Scrooge, who is played to wonderful and amazingly life like effect by Jim Carrey, begins the Christmas holiday with his usual old misery-guts contempt, barking orders at his faithful clerk, played by Gary Oldman, and his cheery but broke nephew, played by Colin Firth. But when his dead partner visits and the ghosts of Christmas, Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye opening journey to the past, present and future, they reveal truths that old Scrooge is both reluctant and scared to face. He realizes he must open his heart to Christmas cheer and undo the years of ill will before it's too late. This is a classic Christmas story, made by a classic animation studio, in the hands of a classic director. And I absolutely loved it. If you want to do something with the kids on Christmas then this should be it. It's a magical film that stays wonderfully true to the source material, right down to much of the dialogue. It's terrifying in parts, heartbreaking in others and the animation and 3D wizardry are simply breath taking. Against that there is a drawback, and at the risk of sounding a bit like Scrooge, it's the cost. A CHRISTMAS CAROL will set you back 11 euro in Tralee as opposed to 9 euro for a regular movie. And while I was gobsmacked to pay over a tenner for a cinema ticket, the movie was worth it in the end. It's a wonderful Christmas movie and maybe the best adaptation of Dickens' tale to date.

Review published on the 14 December 2009 12:40