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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:13
Rotten:15
Average Rating:5.7/10
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.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating]
Genre: Childrens
Theatrical Release:Nov 6, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $79,791,000
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
The motion capture animation is top-notch and it's hard not to be impressed with what Robert Zemeckis has wrought, even if there's the occasional sense he's pandering to an audience that can't get through a 90 minute story without a few yuks and a chase.
Top CriticZemeckis' film preserves much of Dickens' original dialogue and detail while amplifying the utter ethereal strangeness of the ghosts.
Top CriticThere's a lot of dark magic in this Dickensian Yuletide.
Top CriticWant the creeps for Christmas? Then check out the latest version of A Christmas Carol.
Top CriticDoes this entertainment achieve a timelessness beyond its exquisite source material? Not even. Yet there's pleasure to be had and relief in feeling the filmmakers didn't Scrooge it up either.
Top CriticZemeckis captures all the story’s terror, but its pathos has always been the real challenge, and it mostly eludes him.
Top CriticYou don’t identify with Scrooge at any point, nor is blatant fakery scary. Picture The Seventh Seal with sock puppets.
Top CriticA branded piece of shiny seasonal entertainment.
Top CriticIt's a heartwarmer that doesn't have much of a heart itself.
Top CriticDisney's excessively hyped A Christmas Carol revels so richly in bringing the Dickensian details to sumptuous life that you wind up forgiving it for possessing a stop-motion soul.
Top CriticIt's like taking a Christmas wreath and dipping it in wax or laminating a Christmas card in plastic. Zemeckis risks creating another Yule ghoul: the Ghost of Christmas Without Soul.
Top CriticAs the lead character, Carrey's CG-created body is spindly and bent, and he has fun with his vocal performance, turning every word into a strangled hiss.
Top CriticA Christmas Carol is a worthy stab at mixing old and new, a vintage tale done with some fresh dazzle and a reminder that the movies can still bring the wow.
Top CriticJust when you give up on it, usually in the middle of its latest, extraneous, gyroscoping thrill-ride sequence, Zemeckis reminds you that he’s capable of true visual dynamism, enhanced but not wholly dictated by the digital landscape he so clearly adores.
Top CriticHave we learned nothing from The Klumps?
Top CriticTo put it bluntly, if Scroogely, Disney's 3-D animated version of A Christmas Carol is a calamity.
Top CriticBy the time A Christmas Carol finishes piling its many shiny presents with their many bells and whistles under the tree, there's no room left for tears for Tiny Tim. Bah humbug indeed.
Top CriticFavors thrill-ride effects that are more often the star than the servant of the story. It's like "Silent Night" played by Led Zeppelin.
Top CriticA re-telling should either present a resonant or fresh thematic take. This Christmas Carol seems like a pale ghost of Dickens' magical Christmas classic.
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?)
Top Critic
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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