Good story and the 3-D really stands out
Written: Nov 07 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: The use of 3-D is extraordinary; fast moving and entertaining film
Cons: The story is overly familiar
The Bottom Line: The story is a bit thread-worn, but the 3-D effects make this thing a must-see. My family and I loved the heck out of it.
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| HawgWyld's Full Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol |
Back in the 1980s, 3-D movies made a bit of a comeback. Oddly, those movies were pretty much like the ones that inspired them in the first place -- low budget, blurry and generally terrible. Fortunately, the concept of 3-D movies has been embraced again and we're seeing some big budget movies roll out that are entertaining as can be and -- thanks to digital imaging -- don't suffer from the blur that ruined quite a few of those earlier 3-D films.
It seems that filming in 3-D was a bit of a problem in the past in that it required a couple of expensive cameras for every shot and getting them lined up correctly so that crisp images would result was a chore. Add the complexity of the medium and the low budgets backing those movies together and you come up with a mess. That's changed, of course, in that budgets for a lot of these current movies are massive and digital technology makes lining up those images considerably easier.
Why am I speaking about 3-D so much when it comes to this film? Because that's the hook, bucky. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been done to death over the years and, honestly, often quite better than this version (I still favor the one with George C. Scott in it, but that's just me). Still, I enjoyed the heck out of this movie simply because of the visuals. Yes, snow seems to fall right in front of you as you're watching this (I saw a lot of kids in the theater reaching out their hands in an attempt to catch some of the stuff, in fact) and scenes where Scrooge is flying through the air or ghosts are popping out of the screen are great fun.
The use of 3-D is excellent in this film, in fact. Sure, you get the typical "lunge at the viewer" types of things that are a bit startling, but the bulk of the effect is to offer a sense of perspective. Overhead shots are breathtaking and Scrooge is consistently painted as an outsider -- he is in the foreground as the action that takes place when he is visiting Christmas in the past, present and future are generally in the background. You do get the sense that he is a mere observer rather than a participant when he's looking at those scenes -- a fact that had to be spelled out in earlier movies but is very clear here through the effective use of 3-D.
So, the 3-D is the hook and that's the most noteworthy thing about this film. A word or two should be said about the computer animation here. The stuff is, frankly, great. While we're obviously not looking at "live" actors here, it's pretty close. The style of animation used allowed Jim Carey to play the roles of Scrooge and the three spirits. Carey is a man of 1,000 expressions, after all, and he uses them all here very effectively. When you combine the high-dollar, exquisite computer animation with 3-D, you get a film that is a sight to behold.
So the film is pretty, but what about the acting? Frankly, it's really hard to do anything new when it comes to remakes of A Christmas Carol. Yes, some movies have gone so far as to use Muppets in the classic tale or use Bill Murray to update it, but you still wind up with the same story. The same is true in this version of the movie. In fact, there were no attempts made to modernize it or distinguish it all that much from the original story. I honestly felt like I was watching an amalgamation of earlier movies utilizing the story. If you've seen one or two Christmas Carols, then, you've seen this one.
Regardless, Jim Carey does manage to throw in a few bits of unique humor and ultimately portrays Scrooge as a debased -- yet pitiable -- character. You do actually feel some joy when Scrooge seeks retribution and finds it by, well, just being nice. That's kind of the point, isn't it?
So the story may not be terribly different from what most of us have seen before, but Carey shines through his expressionistic acting. The true star of the show, however, is the effective use of 3-D to produce a movie that lunges at you and draws you into its world more than earlier versions of A Christmas Carol ever could. That fact, alone, makes this one a "must see" for the Christmas season. I dropped $44 at an IMAX theater to take my wife and kids (plus another $30 for drinks and snacks), but the additional cost was well worth it. This movie is a treat and a fast-moving bit of fun. That's more than good enough.
Of course, some of the lunging ghosts are a bit scary, but my eight-year-old daughter handled it just fine. Small kids might be a bit frightened, but this is a ghost story, isn't it?
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Family Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Epinions.com ID:
HawgWyld
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Ethan C. Nobles
Location: Benton, Ark.
Reviews written: 1429
Trusted by: 495 members
About Me:
The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient.
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