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Christmas Carol, A
EMAILPRINTWalt Disney Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 57 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Animation | Drama | Family/Kids | Fantasy
Written by: Robert Zemeckis
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 6, 2009
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for scary sequences and images
Starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, and Cary Elwes
Disney's A Christmas Carol, a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by Robert Zemeckis, captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3-D motion picture event. Ebenezer Scrooge begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk and his cheery nephew. But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late. (Walt Disney Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A marvelous and touching yuletide toy of a movie.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An exhilarating visual experience and proves for the third time he's (Zemeck) is one of the few directors who knows what he's doing with 3-D.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
As beautiful as the animation is, Zemeckis' real masterstroke is combining it with a loyalty to Dickens' story.
Read Full Review >Time Out New York Keith Uhlich
The unspoken theme underlying Dickens’s prose--that the money-grubbing Ebenezer is conversing with semblances of his own self--finds near-perfect cinematic expression through Carrey’s efforts.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
A ghost story, a bustling action-adventure and an example of the comedy tour-de-farce, in which the star validates his virtuosity by appearing in a plethora of funny disguises.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's something to be said for the power of a classic, even if it has been given an imperfect makeover.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
This time, though, Zemeckis has another technical trick up his sleeve – 3-D – and for once the gimmick succeeds.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Shockingly, the new film turns out to be very good, at times close to brilliant: a darkly detailed marvel of creative visualization that does well by Dickens and right by audiences - when it’s not trying to sell them a theme park ride.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Could there possibly be anything left to gain from yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale about crabby old Ebenezer Scrooge and his life-changing encounter with three ghosts on Christmas Eve? In the case of Disney's A Christmas Carol, the answer is a surprising, resounding yes -- at least so far as the IMAX 3D version goes.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli
If some of the animation overdoes it, a lot of it is downright gorgeous. Few images this year have followed me home like the Ghost of Christmas Past, here imagined as a bright-flamed candle with the face of a child. It flickers. It whispers. It flies.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
A Christmas Carol -- I mean the source material, without a corporate possessive attached to it -- remains among the most moving works of holiday literature, and Mr. Zemeckis has remained true to its finest sentiments. He is an innovator, but his traditionalism is what makes this movie work.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Nearly every line of dialogue in this adaptation of A Christmas Carol comes directly from the story. What interpolations there are have to do with juicing up the transitions between scenes with unnecessary, but not obnoxiously intrusive, action.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Carrey’s Scrooge is deliciously pinched and credible. As, indeed, is this film -- that is, when it feels like Dickens and not a theme park ride.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Jim Carrey is good as Scrooge. There’s surprisingly little shtick in his performance.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Like a dime-store holiday card, this Christmas Carol is well-crafted but artless, detailed but lacking soul.
Read Full Review >Empire Angie Errigo
It’s always a good story, this time told more creepily than usual. Good, but not as good as The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, Scrooged, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol or some great, classic live action classic versions.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Unless the director was aiming for a Victorian "Black Christmas," though, he overshot his mark
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
A fable that is by turns antic, scary, sweet and, in the end, slightly soulless. In other words, it's a heartwarmer that doesn't have much of a heart itself.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Visually immersive but emotionally uninvolving.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The holiday spirit feels real, but the film does not.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Zemeckis captures all the story’s terror, but its pathos has always been the real challenge, and it mostly eludes him.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol is, in its essence, a product reel, a showy, exuberant demonstration of the glories of motion capture, computer animation and 3D technology. On that level, it's a wow. On any emotional level, it's as cold as Marley's Ghost.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Shortchanging traditional animation by literalizing it while robbing actors of their full range of facial expressiveness, the performance-capture technique favored by director Robert Zemeckis looks more than ever like the emperor's new clothes in Disney's A Christmas Carol.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
A Christmas Carol is a whiz-bang 3-D thrill-ride with all the emotional satisfaction squeezed out of it.
Read Full Review >NPR Scott Tobias
Gary Oldman pulls off his own hat trick, playing both noble Bob Cratchit and sickly Tiny Tim, as well as Scrooge's late partner, Marley, who haunts the miser in fluorescent green.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
This Christmas Carol seems like a pale ghost of Dickens' magical Christmas classic.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Zemeckis tries to juice things up by staging numerous chase scenes up and around London, but do we really need "A Christmas Carol: The Action Picture"?
Read Full Review >Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
The 3-D film is flat, the CGI-enhanced characters oddly waxen. In the center of the action is Jim Carrey -- or at least a dead-eyed, doll-like version of Carrey -- playing Scrooge, the ghosts, a younger version of himself, and probably a dozen other parts. As a general rule of thumb, one Jim Carrey is plenty for any movie.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Either you cotton to Zemeckis’ motion-capture aesthetic or you don’t: To me, it seems like an awful lot of effort for an insignificant payoff. But it appears that the filmmaker is stuck on the technique – at least until holographic movie technology comes along.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
What are in very short supply, though, are the central chords of Dickens' carol: Crachit's generous spirit, Tiny Tim's sad plight, Scrooge's emotional arc as he finds his humanity. Oh, the scenes are there amid the action, but they are fleeting. By the time A Christmas Carol finishes piling its many shiny presents with their many bells and whistles under the tree, there's no room left for tears for Tiny Tim. Bah humbug indeed.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
This sad excuse for family entertainment tries to enshrine a classic while defacing it.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 57 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
clyde gave it a3:
Sorry but this movie epicly failed and jim carry was NOT funny i almost wanted to ask for my money back it looks fake dosent have good acting trys to be funny and then later frighting but fails at both sorry but this should have a 3.
James H gave it a10:
Loved this film, and for that matter loved Polar Express. Both are Christmas classics. The 3D was magical in this film, and time ZIPPED by as fast as the ghosts flew! The director has obvious affection for the original book and follows it very closely - it is my favorite adaptation of this classic. It will hold up even WITHOUT the 3D - that's how good it is. Looking forward to his next film. PS - I'm not a fan of Jim Carrey's comedies, but he is excellent in this movie.
Andy H gave it an8:
With a classic like this, the storey is key. The performance capture technique allows Jim Carrey to produce wonderful characters (esp. as Scrooge) that put the tale across in a compelling way. The first 2 spirits while initially jovial and odd, credibly reveal the dark-side of Scrooge in a chilling way. On the downside, I did not feel much empathy for the Tiny Tim character. The finer points and morals of the storey will be lost on kids, e.g. wealth compared to poverty, the children representing Ignorance and Want. I was a little bored in some of the “action” scenes (e.g. the introduction of the ghost of Christmas Yet To Pass) which were presumably put in for the kids, however the film in no way felt long.
David S gave it a9:
Visually stunning, I and my wife thought this was one of the best version's of this story we have seen. It did capture us emotionally and they made it so magical with all the effects. People who have said they could not hear the ghost of Christmas past must of had a bad seat or something. Very well done the best 3-d I have ever seen, would recommend this highly.
Jacob L gave it a9:
A Christmas Carol is great movie. When you go to see this movie expect nothing more or less than what the book was. The movie stays true to the book for the most part so don't expect any signifigant changes. As far as presentation is concerned A Christmas Carol does a phenominal job that surpasses that of the Polar Express. The movie is visually appealing and emerses you in the world of 17th century London. There were moments where I forgot that this was an animated movie just given how good the presentation was. The voice overs are good although there were a couple that are amusing. As far as capturing the mood of the book, the film does a phenominal job. There plenty of scary moments to be had that I won't ruin here. Let's just say that if you're like me, you'll see them coming but get freaked out anyone and almost spill your popcorn. It's a wild ride/nightmare that you'll just want to end. As scary as it is though, the Ghost of Christmas Past isn't that scary so don't expect much from him All and all A Christmas Carol is a great movie that anyone will enjoy. My only advice to you is to sit back, relax, and enjoy this excellent retelling of one of Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol.
Jose D. gave it a10:
Absolutely amazing, the most beautiful thing I've seen all year. This was my first 3D movie and I was completely blown away. And as a movie, this has got to be the best adaption of "A Christmas Carol".
Albert S gave it a6:
Plenty of scary scenes, not recommended for children younger than 7 yrs. old. This movie was like a roller coaster ride, some scenes were like watching a masterpiece and then other scenes were just dull. Overall leaving a felling that it could had been better. If it wasn't in 3D it would had been a complete disappointment.
