I am not the person Disney wants reviewing A CHRISTMAS CAROL. See, for the past seven odd years, my father has been doing a one man show in Melbourne in which he portrays Charles Dickens reading "A Christmas Carol", in much the same manner Dickens did back in the day. It's become bigger each year, and if you think that watching someone recite a book at you can't be entertaining, you really need to come see it. But my point is that not only do I have a personal motive for disliking any competition, I now know the text inside out. (Everyone has biases and pre-conceived notions when they see a film. The only dishonest thing is not admitting to them.) Unfair it may be, but I went into this film with my knives sharpened and at the ready.

This is the point at which Disney may allow itself a sigh of relief: I loved it. It's not just good, it's very good -- far, far better than I thought it possibly could be. Robert Zemeckis adapted the material himself, and he has a pretty clear understanding of it. It's also a surprisingly faithful adaptation, with large chunks of dialogue repeated verbatim, instead of being "updated" for a younger audience (which was my biggest fear). The film is not narrated, but classic descriptions of Scrooge -- "Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as thought they said 'No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'." -- are depicted visually. Rather than being easter eggs for fans of the book, they illustrate Scrooge the way Dickens would have... they way he did, and so the spirit of the book remains intact.

So do the characters. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins and Cary Elwes all do superb work, inhabiting their roles perfectly. Jim Carrey, playing Scrooge, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and god knows who else, is at his best here. His frequently-untamed characterisation is conducted to superb effect, and there's not one moment where I thought he was getting away with himself. As much as I love Carrey, I wouldn't have picked him for this role; his nailing of it therefore came to me as a total surprise.

I really enjoyed BEOWULF and the majority of CASTAWAY, but I'd say this is the best Zemeckis film since CONTACT. As for his new toys? Well, they're certainly improving. There's something wonderfully unnerving about Scrooge -- perhaps the first photorealistic caricature in history -- but the "dead eyes" that plagued THE POLAR EXPRESS are well and truly gone. There's still room for improvement in the facial expressions, but this is an impressive leap forward for the technology.

There are two great Christmas stories, both about redemption. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE tells the story of a good man at the end of his rope. "A Christmas Carol" tells the story of a bad man who lived his entire life there. George Bailey spent his life saving people and is then redeemed. Ebenezer Scrooge is redeemed, and then spends the rest of his life saving people. They're essentially the same tale, mirror images of one another. Robert Zemeckis's A CHRISTMAS CAROL may not be the first adaptation to get it right, but it's nice to have another great version to add to the collection.

Latauro

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