OBS loves everything supernatural and that includes all forms of media for it. Today I bring you another news blog review, this time, in honor of Christmas day fast approaching, I bring you our review for 2009’s A Christmas Carol.
Name: A Christmas Carol (2009)
Rated: PG
Running time: 96 minutes
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve in Victorian England, Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), a bitter and miserly old moneylender, holds everything that embodies the joys and spirit of Christmas in contempt. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years prior on Christmas Eve and is now forced to spend his afterlife carrying heavy chains forged from his own greedy ways. Marley warns Scrooge that he will suffer an even worse fate if he doesn’t repent, and foretells that he will be haunted by three spirits that will help guide him.
Review
Based on Charles Dickens’ immortal classic and starring the always humorous Jim Carrey as multiple roles, this film sticks makes for a fun new look to a very old tale.
At first I was skeptical about a film in which Jim Carrey voices most of the main characters, is a fully digital medium, and is simply a rehash of an old tale, but this particular one won me over almost immediately. Jim Carrey, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge as well as the three Spirits of Christmas, manages to make it through the entire film without one cheesy trick to make us laugh (well maybe one) and still gives Scrooge and endearing quality, despite the headstrong personality of a man who’d say, “I’d rather not” in the face of something he has no control over. On the other hand, we have the three spirits, all of which have very distinct personalities, and I couldn’t tell you were Carey unless I knew ahead of time. All the ghosts voices’ are well masked behind accents and synthesizers that only one line made me go, “oh yeah, that’s Jim Carey.” This was the line by a somewhat bubbly, but never joking Spirit of Christmas Present. That all being said, Jim Carey is not the only reason to go see this film, in fact he shouldn’t factor in at all once I’m through.
What makes this film something special, despite the many remakes and incarnations of the Charles Dickens classic, is the beauty and scope of this new film. This completely digital and 3d film is incredibly realistic from the environments to the cold breath of the character’s themselves. What I really loved in this movie, something that I hate in others, is the great usage of the 3d effect. Most movies use 3d as a way to have things come at you, scare you, or just shock you, but A Christmas Carol uses it for depth and space. Ebenezer spends a great deal of time cowering in corners and the 3rd dimension is used to accentuate this depth. While there is the occasional object flying toward you, the effect is so realistic that you don’t realize it is being used. To me this is a great use of the depth that 3d allows and fits the style and feel of the film perfectly.
Overall a great Christmas film and work the visit just don’t go in expecting a whole new version.
Rating: 8.5/10 stars
