However, that being said, the film is a piece of art. It is true to the original storyline and text of Dickens’. masterpiece. If you are familiar with the story of Marley’s quest for the salvation of Scrooge’s soul, then none of what appears in the first twenty minutes will disturb you. But if you are as unprepared for it as the average seven year old, then you may want to think twice about bringing small children into this movie. The images are filled with despair and darkness. The use of Victorian English and the associations through dialog may difficult to follow if you are not familiar with Dickens.
All of my children are very familiar with the storyline and its characters. However, I have kept the story’s frightening images at bay when they are under the age of ten. I can no longer say I have protected them from such images. The visitation from Marley alone is totally terrifying. My 7 year-old daughter screamed and her popcorn went flying through the air. I suggested we leave, but she insisted Marley would be gone soon and she could handle it. The subsequent visit from the three ghosts, are genuinely eerie and strange all in their own right. Most of the elements are expected, if you are at all intimate with the text, however, Robert Zemeckis’ interpretation of A Christmas Carol should be reserved for the tween plus crowd.
Zemeckis’A Christmas Carol is very different from his flat and odd Polar Express. I found Tom Hank’s six performances to say the very least, strange, and without intimacy. Since 2004, motion or performance capture technology, has come quite a distance from the lack of dimension demonstrated in Polar Express. A Christmas Carol is presented with stark realism complete with rotten teeth, blemished skin, tattered clothes and worn faces.
Jim Carrey as Scrooge is in a single word, brilliant. Carrey embodies each role flawlessly. Often he is under-rated as an actor and referred to as a buffoon. However, this time he seems to have checked his insane antics at the door. For me, he was the perfect Scrooge. Gary Oldman’s Bob Cratchett, touches an inner vulnerability all parents hide. Colin Firth, as the afflicted nephew Fred, and Bob Hoskins as Fezziwig, are wonderfully cast as well.
Disney’s A Christmas Carol has a PG rating, when clearly the disturbing images alone should have earned a PG-13 rating. But then again, that wouldn’t make Disney very happy at the box office.
This movie will not help your child to sleep at night, in fact, quite the opposite. However, as an adult, I loved it. The 3D effects gave me a chill as the snow swirled around the theater. I imagine viewing the movie without the 3D effects might seem a bit long a dragged out with an incredible level of detail, but let’s face it, so is Dickens.
Mommy The Movie Critic Rating: A Christmas Carol
For the Under Six Crowd: F
For the Seven - Eleven Crowd: C-
For the Tween: BFor Adults: A-
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