"Starring" Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright Penn, Colin Firth, Carey Elwes, and Bob Hoskins
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Everyone knows the story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It's been told by the Muppets, by Mickey Mouse, and by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Did we really need another re-telling? After seeing this new version of the tale, my answer to that is yes, as Robert Zemeckis has crafted an eerie tale that is definitely not kid-friendly and has inspired me to seek out Dickens' original tale.
I'm not gonna go through the story because every knows it, so instead let's just get to my thoughts.
The computer/image capture on display here is much better than we've seen in The Polar Express and Beowulf (the former of the two I'll be watching again soon as part of an upcoming new month-long blog feature...details forthcoming...I know...such suspense...). I'm still not 100% sold on the technique, though. It's obvious that I'm watching an animated movie, so why do I want the characters to look realistic? They can look fake...it's okay. That being said, I really felt like this film takes the image capture leaps and bounds beyond Zemeckis' two efforts I mentioned above. There's actually some emotion in the eyes which was seriously lacking before.
There were scenes in this that were quite cool...several, in fact. I really don't want to reveal them so as to spoil them, but I'll discuss one in particular. There's a scene with the Ghost of Christmas Past in which Scrooge goes back to see the Young Man version of himself as his ladyfriend decides to end their relationship. The way Zemeckis "films" the scene really packs an emotional punch...utilizing a long shot with a "moving" camera, it certainly felt real. There were several other scenes that were "cooler" than that, but this scene in particular was surprisingly powerful. It's unfortunate that in addition to these nifty scenes, there are two or three scenes that just bring the movie to a halt, appearing completely static and dragging the movie down a bit.
The flick certainly isn't kid-friendly. No funny jokes, no talking animals. This is dark, without a doubt. And I really dug it. There were some moderately scary moments here...not horror scary, but certainly some edgy moments.
As far as the 3D goes, it's a positive here. The film looked rich, layered, and deep. While not the best 3D I've seen this year (that'd shockingly be G-Force), this is the best 3D in an animated film I've seen for sure.
The RyMickey Rating: B+
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