As a boy growing up in the ‘80s, my favourite movie was unparalleled time travel special effects extravaganza Back to the Future. So, who better to shake me out of my fatigue than Back...’s visionary director Robert Zemeckis with the ambitious 2009 motion-capture animated version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? There have been over 100 filmed versions of this tale and even more movies that have ripped off its ‘miser visited by ghosts’ formula, but none of them are quite like this mega-budget Disney offering.
Stepping into the shoes of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the spiteful, miserly old git who is shown the error of his ways by three spirits who haunt him on Christmas Eve is Jim Carrey. The rubber-faced funnyman is an excellent choice for this sort of thing, playing, through the miracle of motion capture, not just Scrooge, but also all the ghosts. Carrey really cuts loose, doing various voices (including passable English accents) and crazy, exaggerated physical performances. His Scrooge is so horribly stingy that handing over money to the undertaker in the film’s grisly opening seems to cause him actual physical pain. Carrey conveys this brilliantly through hunched-up physicality and pained muttering. Of course, Ebeneezer then pinches the coins from the dead man’s eyes.
Colin Firth and Gary Oldman also do sterling work as Scrooge’s enthusiastic nephew Fred and his long-suffering employee Bob Cratchit, respectively.
The motion capture is impressive, though distractingly creepy at times. The technology has really advanced in the decade or so since Zemeckis made this, so sometimes the digital characters’ movements and expressions seem unnatural, especially their ‘uncanny valley’ eyes which seem oddly soulless. However, we probably would never have experienced more recent awesome digital mo-capped characters like simian Caesar in 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, were it not for pioneers like Zemeckis pushing the limits of the technology that got us here.
This movie is filmed with fantastic, thrilling shots of Scrooge and his ghostly guides soaring over a snowy 1840s London and Zemeckis throws in some audacious, show-offy ‘one take’ whooshing camera moves, with loads of detail and moving parts that you just couldn’t do with live action.
It’s the only Scrooge tale I’ve seen where Ebeneezer surfs on an icicle, the animators turbo-charging this traditional festive tale, turning it into a breathlessly exciting, kinetic thrill ride that rarely stops moving. You can really tell that this was filmed for 3D.
For a supposed kids film, this has a dark tone and lots of talky parts that might leave some children bored, as well as some moments (poor Tiny Tim!) that may be too upsetting. But for big kids like me, it’s an enjoyable time at the movies. It’s the timeless tale that reminds us that workaholic penny-pinchers can miss out on lots that life has to offer, especially at Christmas. It’s a lesson I’m trying to take on board, to slow down and appreciate life’s finer things.
It's uplifting when Ebeneezer experiences his awakening, the grumpy, scrunched up codger suddenly transforming into a giddy, prancing loon, Carrey in full-on goofball mode. The film is a beautifully-conceived joy, carried along by Alan Silvestri’s edifying score. This has cheered me up and, while I’m not quite jigging around the house, I do feel a tad emotional. I was initially skeptical about the mo-capped weirdness, but by the crescendo I have a tear in my eye. God bless us, everyone, indeed.
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