A Christmas Carol

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source: A Christmas Carol

There was a reason A Christmas Carol sold out its first printing in a matter of days. It's the same reason there have been so many remakes on film of this classic story. It touches the heart, and gives hope that anyone can change. Unfortunately, this new version does neither of those things. From the beginning, the dialogue is a mystery. The "modern take" goes in the direction of profanity, poor lighting, loud background noises, and totally unlikeable characters to create a mishmash of someone's idea of trying to one-up Dickens. There's just nothing evident to redeem this farce. Like so many modern adaptations of classic books, it only carries the name of the source material and nothing of the content.

Turns Scrooge into a real person. Hes known trauma and abuse and like a some victims of abuse becomes a sort of abuser himself. You feel sorry for him you feel anger towards him it's great. I also loved Mary. Dont know what magic she was into but I was into whatever it was. She was very compelling. Also Andy Serkis I mean come on...amazing. I wanted a darker take on the classic tale and I got it so A+

The last thing the 21st century needs is another version of A Christmas Carol, another rehash of Alistair Sim or George C Scott being visited by ghosts no one would be afraid of, this is a completely different take on the classic, not the same story in HD or 4K, but as if it had been written today, and set in the 19th century, themes and aspects that couldn't be explored previously, this is a ghost story as Dickens would have written it if he were a contemporary author, the characters are superb and well acted, sometimes the dialogue could be clearer, but the atmosphere is dark and eerie, maybe too dark at times, I say crawl out of your literary hole, stop crying over the fact that the world has changed and moved on in 175 years, and look at how the world actually is, not how you want it to be, this new adaptation hit the mark.

Dark, hard to hear, still no idea why marley was in a casket, it was Scrooge that saw the ghosts. Terrible. Go see just about ANY of the others. Fx needs to rely less on the special FX and hire some writers.

Honestly I loved this rendition and appreciated the well thought out additions to the original. Loved how dark it was and the offered up explanation for why Scrooge is Scrooge. Did a great job filling in the blanks of the original story and really was quite creative. People are mad Mary Cratchitt is black but she's clearly mixed and last time I checked bi racial AND black people existed in England in the 19th century! Also would like to point out the dickens version doesn't specify what race Mary is! Watch it without expectations and an open mind! I love the original and I read it each Christmas but this was a pretty unique retelling and I appreciated it!

It's the classic Dickens' Christmas story. Ebenezer Scrooge (Guy Pearce) is visited by the three ghosts. This is darker. It's grim. Scrooge's greed is more brutal than penny pinching. It has dark consequences. I don't know how this compares to the original printed page but it ain't no Disney theme park ride. It's grumpy and it doesn't have the magic of Christmas. Even the lighting is dark. It is one step away from horror. It has CGI and big sets. The production is big enough. The simple poetry of the story fades. The joy and beauty in the emotion is lost and replaced with a grim death march. There is one major detour with an experiment. It is off-putting to say the least. This is not a fable for the family. The exercise still has its value but it's not found in repeated viewing which is the hallmark of any good version of this Dickens' tale.

From the previews I really wanted to like this, I was prepared for a bit of a darker and possibly spookier take on the classic tale. But unfortunately there is literally no original dialogue from the book, can it is a complete diversion to the point it barely resembles the story we know. Now, I would actually be okay with that except for the fact that the characters are dismal and dull, as is the story. It's also way too long. There is no merriness or or happiness ANYWHERE in this film, including the Cratchets, who seem to be as dismal and unhappy as Scrooge himself. Even the spirits are cynical and uncaring about Scrooge's redemption and about Christmas itself. Their plight seems to be a chore and a pessimistic challenge rather than caring about a single soul in this whole miserable story. Even at the end there is no forgiveness from the Cratchets or anyone for Scrooge, rather just pessimism. Ugh. No spirit of Christmas to be found anywhere here.

This is a BRILLIANT version of A Christmas Carol. It is dark, and it is adult in nature. Not for children. It is the very first movie to focus on the part of the story that MUST be understood and highlighted to understand Scrooge's transformation. In my 1996 book, In my book, Transforming Scrooge (which has been just released as a Kindle edition on 11/7/21), I discussed, in depth. The need to understand his boarding school hallucination, brought on by familial abandonment and abuse. This movie lavishes, in depth, time on this part of the story. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this gritty and honest version of the story. It is Dickens for the 21st Century. Highly recommended.