There is more grave than gravy about A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)

Posted by Stephen Jannise

One could hear a collective groan from moviegoers everywhere when Robert Zemeckis announced that he would be making yet another motion-capture animated film (after his disappointing efforts with The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007)), that it would be yet another in an endless slew of cinematic Christmas Carol renditions, and that it would be yet another Christmas film starring Jim Carrey (despite his funny performance, Carrey’s last holiday effort, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), was a holly jolly disaster). So you can imagine how surprised I am that Disney’s three-dimensional Carol has turned out to be quite good. Hair-raisingly good, in fact.

I have always been a fan of the Christmas Carol story, though even its most ardent supporters will admit that there have been one or ten film versions too many. What this latest version brings to the table, first of all, is its stunning 3-D animation. In the remarkable Ghost of Christmas Present sequence, for example, we find ourselves, thanks to 3-D technology, in Scrooge’s bedroom with the old man and the ghost as the bedroom floor suddenly becomes transparent, and the bedroom dislodges from the house. Suddenly, we are flying over London in this bedroom, looking through the floor at the sights below. This is an exhilarating moment, a fine example of how 3-D is now fully capable of drawing an audience into the film. I felt like I had become a participant in Scrooge’s Christmas Eve adventures.

Hey Marley, show 'im how your jaw comes off!

This film also deserves respect for adhering very closely to the original Dickens novel, which is particularly admirable when considering how unsettling certain moments of this story can be. Indeed, who would have thought that a Disney animated version would be arguably the most frightening, and even most vulgar, rendition of this story? As the previously mentioned Christmas Present sequence comes to a close, the ghost reveals the infamous pair of dirty, emaciated children underneath his robe named Ignorance and Want, which is itself a moment that many film versions choose to leave out. Additionally, where most movies stop there, Disney pushes onward, adding more grotesque images than even Dickens himself had imagined. The ghost’s flesh begins to rot away until only a skeleton remains, and the girl named Want turns into a prostitute before Scrooge’s eyes and begins grinding against his leg. When you wish upon a star, kids, your dreams come true.

There is plenty more here to frighten children and offend their parents. The Ghost of Christmas Future chases Scrooge through London atop black horses with glowing red eyes, and Marley’s Ghost seems like a harmless reject from The Haunted Mansion at first, until his jaw unhinges. I believe that Disney should be applauded for allowing Zemeckis to take this film as far as he has. What was originally published as a ghost story, before being whittled down until only the treacly parts remained, is now a ghost story again, which makes Scrooge’s Christmas morning revelations all the more warmly rewarding.