Its weird to think that A Christmas Carol, one of Charles Dickins’ most famous book which arguably helped shape the world of literature and the spirit of the festive season as we know it, would eventually have film versions with Mr Magoo, The Smurfs, and The Muppets. It is a story that even to this day has been adapted multiple times due to how prolific and timeless it is as a concept; a man being turned from sinner to saint after a visit from three spirits who teach him the true meaning of Christmas. While these movies can range from fantastic to pretty painful, each version usually has something good come from it, which thankfully makes each one at least worth viewing to get an idea or where they went right and where they went wrong. Ironically, one version that is strangely very middle of the road due to containing its fair share of brilliant and awful elements, is the 2009 version distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starred the popular man-child himself, Jim Carrey. As has been shown many times before, a cynical old man named Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Jim Carrey) hates Christmas to the bone and shuts out anyone who tries to force it onto him, even his nephew Fred (voiced by Colin Firth).  After reluctantly giving his poor employee, Bob Cratchit (voiced by Gary Oldman) the day off to celebrate the day with his family, Scrooge returns home to find the soul of his former business partner, Jacob Marley (played by Cary Elwes), who has come to tell him that he will be visited by three spirits that will change his outlook on Christmas, otherwise he will spend an eternity stuck in chains once he dies. Having to go through the night with The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future (all played by Jim Carrey), Scrooge will confront his deepest regrets and past mistakes, be forced to look at the woes of those around him, and endure a lot of scares until he realizes the truth of Christmas. People often forget this is a Disney film as they likely associate it more with Robert Zemeckis and his motion-capture films like The Polar Express and Beowulf, but this is Disney’s third outing with the story after Mickey Mouse and The Muppets. As a stand alone version, this movie has a lot of goofy qualities ranging from the casting and acting decisions, the technology and some of the scenes that hold it back from being great, but it also houses some truly fantastic sequences that still make it worth a watch.

Zemeckis himself said that he wished to utilize his motion-capture technology on a new property and felt that Christmas Carol would be a nice new addition, hoping to incorporate more of the original book’s content into his film as he felt that a lot of the story wasn’t properly represented on a visual level. Because of this, the movie sticks pretty closely to the book in terms of dialogue and story structure even though it has an occasional adage that is either too silly or even tonally backwards to be from the original source.The movie is very hard to pin down because its a film that runs on extremes, going from extremely goofy (with over-the-top performances, unrealistic movements on supposedly realistic-looking animated characters, and comedic moments that always fail) to extremely dark at the drop of a penny. You’d imagine that with the Disney attachment, the strange looking visual style and the fact that Jim Carrey leads the film that it’d be too silly and not the least bit scary, but the dark moments are so prevalent and so emphasized in this version that its almost comical how in-your-face they are. It has no balance between its light and dark elements (which is what Christmas Carol is supposed to be all about) and it turns what were once quiet subdued moments and forcefully transforms them into nightmare contenders for the sake of sticking with this dark mood. Its way too obsessed with the dark stuff to the point where the contrast is non-existent, as even the happy moments still feel a little dark and unpleasant, so the audience is never given the chance to breath or take in anything. Zemeckis is a goofy director in many ways and this motion-capture style he’s obsessed with definitely shows that and his directing and writing for this film shows he’s aware of the source and can emulate some of the moments very effectively (when they are allowed to sit and be played straight, they are actually pretty good), but he can’t escape his usual presentation and it leads to several awkward moments, a pace that can be slow one moment than too quick the next, and dialogue that is either verbatim from the source or constructed in a way that matches the actors of choice rather than their characters.

You’d think from the advertising that Jim Carrey would be the linchpin reason for why this movie doesn’t work as his forceful comedic sensibilities would prevent him from properly executing a story as dark and quiet as this one. While his typical qualities are front and centre in this portrayal and its hard to say that he’s a fantastic Scrooge, he doesn’t suffer as badly as you’d expect and even carries himself fairly decently in several scenes. His voice and design are clearly over-the-top in parts, but they aren’t distracting or take away from the moments that need to be played straight, those specific goofy moments feel more like a product of the film and the direction rather than his fault so he can get a bit of a pass on that, and he can get through the serious moments passably enough without it being overplayed, its not too bad a job. Where he does fail a bit is when he has to portray the other ghosts.  As a concept, the actor playing Scrooge playing the other ghosts is actually pretty clever and could lead to a lot of interesting ideas, but the performances aren’t the best and contain a level of goofiness that almost feels self-aware to the point of it being pretty annoying. Christmas Past has a great design with his half candle-light, half wisp look, but his bizarre manner of speaking with this extremely breathy tone just becomes hard to listen to after a while and Christmas Present is okay in the serious moments, but the comedic moments very way too traditional ”Jim Carrey” which does get in the way of a lot of his scenes. Christmas Future doesn’t really count as he never speaks (if anything its weird they even had Carrey do anything) but touches like him only existing as a literal shadow on the wall is a fantastic idea and it leads to a lot of great quieter dark moments. Carrey isn’t the only one who does a repeat performance in this film, with several of the other large names attached to this project are used more than once, which can sometimes be distracting. People like Gary Oldman and Colin Firth are portrayed pretty well, but others like Bob Hoskins and Cary Elwes are fine on their own, but have such distinct voices that you can notice them quite clearly when they play someone else.

The motion-capture technology has always been a debated element in movies of whether or not it should be utilized as people never seemed to be completely for or against it. Its in that weird middle ground of uncanny valley where its too realistic-looking in a typical animated environment, but it looks too unrealistic in a realistic environment, so its always had problems, and its not used well enough or poorly enough here to give a conclusive answer. Sometimes the character designs look fine and even enjoyably constructed (like its exaggerated but in a realistic enough manner to feel believable enough), but other times, its so obvious fake and plastic looking that its unsettling to look at. There are instances where some of the people do these really cartoonishly movements and actions that don’t feel the least bit grounded, which conflicts with the supposedly realistic portrayal of these people, so it just adds to the messy tone of the whole picture. There’s some really nice background work, the colors can be pretty vibrant and atmospheric, and the manner in which the film is shot and even presented in the image quality provides for some pretty creative scenes. The cinematography by Robert Presley ranges from straightforward shots to how the characters and even the camera is positioned and moved, to pretty inventive and active like whenever it gets some fun sweeping shots that would’ve undoubted looked great in a cinema space (the way Christmas Present travels throughout the town is a visually very interesting idea and is executed pretty well). The music by Alan Silvestri is pretty effective and captures that heart-warming element but also grand scale and classical presence that comes from music of the season.

With how much this movie goes back and forth with its pros and cons, its easy to see why people are so conflicted on it and why its been a version that hasn’t really been discussed about a lot in terms of modern day adaptations (against the other Disney ones which are still seen as classics). Overall, it simultaneously features moments that are some of the most effective and best out of any adaptation, but also features moments that are so of the oddest and most ill-fitting in any version, so it is the literal definition of a mixed bad. It has its fair share of effective scares, build up and subtle presentation until it goes overboard with a goofy effect, line or character voice, the acting is pretty good overall, but they can sometimes play to the camera a bit, the technology can look really impressive and visually pleasing when it doesn’t look half-rendered or like something out of a Shrek property, it’s all over the place. For a version of the famous Charles Dickins story directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carry, you’ll get more and less than what you’d expect, but you will leave it feeling more middle of the road than anything else. Not one of the better ones, but has stuff that could contend, its up to you to decide whether it was a haunting that freaked you out in the right way.

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