Cast: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Screenplay: Robert Zemeckis

Running time: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Animation



CRITIQUE:


Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol is like mince pies at Tesco’s – it’s out a tad too early for the season. Whilst it doesn’t hurt to have a rather early festive cheer, we are already reminded of our moralities in this sentimental, virtue-parading Victorian fable. You know, giving some loose change to the homeless, smiling at those even you hate, ticking every single box that makes you a Good Samaritan. One step more and we’d be lectured by some deep-rooted Christian moralising, then you’d probably be harrumphing and walking out of the cinema. Thank goodness Zemeckis does not think of cinema as a church. His version of Dickens’ classic Christmas story sidesteps all that preaching, and pins for the personal rather than the pious rubbing-in. Zemeckis’ third stab at motion-capture animation actually shows decent improvement from his previous mo-cap efforts, the zombie-fied The Polar Express (the one where Tom Hanks was shrunk into a kid) and the faintly inexpressive Beowulf (the one where Ray Winstone was beefed up and Angelina Jolie nude and high-heeled), and his humans here actually resemble real people, and not some George A. Romero’s walking, talking, glass-eyed undead creatures.


Jim Carrey plays not only one but six various characters, the three different ages of protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge – forlorn boy, young man and grouchy old git – and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. It’s a terrific display of versatility, which Carrey lends enormous amounts of facial expressions and tonalities of voice. But it’s his cantankerous old-age Scrooge that he draws a character arc, with a finely detailed craft of the medium, from facial pores to trembling mouth and wizened cheeks, it’s lovingly digitalised. So it’s a jarring surprise then that other characters are given less attention, such as Gary Oldman’s shop-assistant Bob Cratchit, who appears slightly like a dummy, and even much worse Colin Firth’s nephew Fred, who suffers the latest onscreen Botox disaster. Robin Wright-Penn was almost unrecognisable as Scrooge’s former lover. The woodenness of her digital transfer makes her look like a three-dimensional Barbie, until you see her name in the credits.


A Christmas Carol, meanwhile, is at its best in its poignant moments, with Scrooge revisiting his past joys, sorrows and faults, realising what Christmas is really all about. And the splendid aerial expedition around Gothic Victoriana London is spectacular, especially in experienced in IMAX print, making one either squeal in delight or motion-sick. There is indeed a future for motion-capture. All Zemeckis need to do is carry on tinkering with the medium, and he’ll get there eventually.


VERDICT:

Robert Zemeckis’ refines his 3D motion-capture technology by learning the main lesson of his utterly stiff, dreadfully panned The Polar Express – creating plausible humans rather than dummies. Jim Carrey gives a multi-faceted performance, but strangely enough, the film leaves the rest of its cast unattended in the graphics department, with Firth suffering the latest onscreen Botox disaster. Nevertheless, the IMAX 3D leaves one breathless (and motion-sick) soaring over the impressively detailed Gothic Victoriana London.




RATING: B-