RYAN'S REVIEW: New 'Christmas Carol' tries too hard

It's a story that the Muppets have told. So have Mickey and Minnie, and even The Flintstones. It has been done funny. It has been done serious. And the bald guy from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has even done it -- as every single character. So what is there to expect from yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"?

Not much.

In Disney's latest version of the film (AP REVIEW), Jim Carrey stars as the voice of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the Christmas hating, humbug uttering, penny pincher, in Robert Zemeckis' ("Forrest Gump") re-imagining of the Charles Dickens classic.

For those of you who have spent life under a rock and don't know the story it goes like this: Scrooge has a disdain for Christmas and the happiness of others. His only goal in life is to increase his wealth. He is visited by three spirits that teach him the true meaning of Christmas and show him the error in his ways.



The story is a classic, warning of the dangers of greed, and inspiring good will to your fellow man. This film however, is an uninspiring and almost boring reinterpretation.

Scrooge isn't nearly as loathsome as he should be. Jim Carrey's attempt at a British accent makes the character more comical than ogreish. And so little time is spent with the Cratchit family that we are given hardly any reason to care that they might not eat on Christmas or that Tiny Tim might die.

The animation is top notch much like Zemeckis' renditions of "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express," which used similar performance-capture techniques in which actors are filmed an then animated. The style makes the viewing both enjoyable and rewarding with the film itself made for both standard two dimension and three dimension viewing. Unfortunately I viewed the film in the two dimension format and it was very apparent 10 minutes into the film that much of the animation was created for three dimension viewing. I would imagine that in three dimensions the viewing experience would be enhanced, but only because of the cheap gags and thrills that come along with it.

What is most disappointing is the fact that Zemeckis did have a long resume of successful animated films, and this one proves much weaker than his previous efforts. It looks a lot like "The Polar Express" and attempts to be as beautiful and touching as that Christmas favorite. But "A Christmas Carol" seems as if they were trying to make it far cuter than it needed to be.

Carrey is as goofy as usual, and his voicing of multiple characters seems forced and grows increasingly annoying as the film progresses. By the end of the film I don't feel sorry for Scrooge or the Cratchits, I feel sorry for myself for having to spend money on something I have already seen dozens of times in a way that was far from original.

This film will have its run and surely be forgotten, passed over for the better versions of the Christmas classic. Sadly this is a story that during an era of corporate greed and corruption could probably use a retelling. This one, however, is dull and lackluster, deserving of a viewing only because 'tis the season.