Another Performance Capture film from Mr Zemeckis and I'd probably rank this as his worst (although I enjoyed both Beowulf and Polar Express).
It's a mostly straight up adaptation of A Christmas Carol done in 3D performance capture With Jim Carrey playing Scrooge and at least two of the three ghosts (may possibly be playing the ghost of Christmas yet to come but you can't tell).
Good things: One of the best recreations of Victorian London there has been. A huge amount of work has been put into this side of things. It also makes good use of the 3D unlike most CGI films. Stuff is flung out at the audience, there are flyby shots, a real attempt has been made to produce 3D effects. The film is 80% faithful to the original story and a lot of the dialogue is straight out of the book.
The bad stuff:
It's a bit boring
There is an awful chase sequence that spoils the otherwise excellent ghost of christmas yet to be segment. They probably realised it was a bit dull and tried to spice it up, failing spectacularly.
Jim Carrey. As Scrooge it's very clearly Jim Carrey doing an old person voice (and not doing it convincingly), it prevents you from ever getting any attachment to his Scrooge. His Ghost of Christmas Past is immensely creepy, verging close to nightmare fuel. It's not entirely clear if that's supposed to be deliberate but it's one of the worst interpretations of the first ghost ever.
The dead eyed zombie effect of mocap films
Overall, not one of the worst adaptations but Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooged and Muppet Christmas Carol (which is still the best) are far superior to this.
It's a mostly straight up adaptation of A Christmas Carol done in 3D performance capture With Jim Carrey playing Scrooge and at least two of the three ghosts (may possibly be playing the ghost of Christmas yet to come but you can't tell).
Good things: One of the best recreations of Victorian London there has been. A huge amount of work has been put into this side of things. It also makes good use of the 3D unlike most CGI films. Stuff is flung out at the audience, there are flyby shots, a real attempt has been made to produce 3D effects. The film is 80% faithful to the original story and a lot of the dialogue is straight out of the book.
The bad stuff:
It's a bit boring
There is an awful chase sequence that spoils the otherwise excellent ghost of christmas yet to be segment. They probably realised it was a bit dull and tried to spice it up, failing spectacularly.
Jim Carrey. As Scrooge it's very clearly Jim Carrey doing an old person voice (and not doing it convincingly), it prevents you from ever getting any attachment to his Scrooge. His Ghost of Christmas Past is immensely creepy, verging close to nightmare fuel. It's not entirely clear if that's supposed to be deliberate but it's one of the worst interpretations of the first ghost ever.
The dead eyed zombie effect of mocap films
Overall, not one of the worst adaptations but Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooged and Muppet Christmas Carol (which is still the best) are far superior to this.
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