MOVIE REVIEW ★★ ½ A 3D Christmas Carol
Buckle Up for a Holiday Joyride
ImageMovers Digital, LLC
A Christmas Carol
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin
Rated PG
Now Playing
Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Beowulf) has made yet another film using 3D performance capture technology, with his latest piece of work, A Christmas Carol. Jim Carrey plays Ebenezer Scrooge in this digitally animated take on the classic Christmas story.
As the story goes, Scrooge is a stingy old man who lives alone and doesn’t have any friends. He is a living antithesis of what the holidays are about. On Christmas Eve, as he is sitting alone in his bedroom, he is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Each of the ghosts take Scrooge to the respective times in his life.
Interestingly, the past is the least scary of the three journeys, while the future is by far the scariest. The past is known — there is comfort in that. But the future is unclear. For an old geezer like Scrooge, the future looms closely. The proximity of time exacerbates the threat of the unknown.
The 3D touch puts you right inside the movie, adding to the entertainment level. For example, you see the ghost’s chains fly out of the screen at you (warning: the movie can be quite scary at times). You can almost feel the wind and snow rushing past you in the scene where Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas past are flying through the town and woods where Scrooge grew up.
Especially in these tough times of economic recession, the film’s story rings clear. As more people are cutting back on spending this holiday season, we can all learn a lesson from Scrooge.