My Review of A Christmas Carol (2009) · 12:17am Dec 16th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! This is yours truly back with another Christmas movie review for tonight! This evening, I will be reviewing Disney’s retelling of Charles Dickens’ novella: A Christmas Carol from 2009. Yes, I know, this is a Disney movie I’m reviewing right now. Had I known before that this was a Disney movie prior to my announcement of reviewing this film among others for this month, I would have saved it for a Friday. No matter. I’m still gonna do it anyway since I love this movie a little too much to set it aside for later. Here is my take on Disney’s version of the story and what I overall think of it.
I was first introduced to the novel back in middle school a long time ago when my 8th grade teacher would always read the story to us almost every other day in class... and he would often roleplay as Scrooge... and the Grinch. Long story short, he would read the story to us and we even watched this movie for the first time both in our class and in the history class with another teacher. Ever since then, I haven’t seen this movie in ages. That’s why I took the opportunity to re-watch it last night and see if it was as good as I remember. Folks, I not only love this movie due to nostalgia but also because of the way Disney made it so engaging.
For those of you who are familiar with the original story, Ebenezer Scrooge is a grouchy old man who despises Christmas, looks upon the poor with contempt, and hates joy and happiness that surrounds the holiday. He suffered the loss of his close business partner Jacob Marley years ago and thus had to take care of the business himself with his underpaid clerk working for him. Not long after, he is visited by three spirits of Christmas past, present, and future who reveal to him his past happy life, his miserable present life and how other people think of him (including those close to him), and what will happen if he continues this path. Thus, Scrooge changes his life as he realizes the error of his ways and embraces the holiday.
As far as the execution of the movie is concerned, I thought the filmmakers did a great job making it so visually appealing with 3D animation along with the amazing choreography. The animation looks solid, well-made, and beautiful as well. Every single transition scene this film has is as splendid as ever because it makes the story seem like you are part of the ride. I love it!
The voice acting is phenomenal if I may add. Jim Carrey killed it in his role as Scrooge so that the character comes across as complex, relatable, and intriguing. I especially loved his additional role as the Spirit of Christmas Present because his laughs were so contagious! It makes me think Jim Carrey would be an excellent performer for Joker in the future.
Gary Oldman was likewise amazing as both Jacob Marley’s ghost and Bob Cratchit. The same can be said for the late Bob Hoskins as Old Joe and Colin Firth as Fred.
Alan Silvestri’s music was well-composed as well.
In conclusion, this movie is both beautifully animated and a faithful retelling of Charles Dickens’ story. It may not be perfect, but it is still a great adaption of the story that anyone can easily enjoy and love every Christmas. Therefore, I will rate this a 10/10!
Peace!
He was also the past and future ghosts. Though you probably know that.
Never was much of a fan of this story. You?
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If I didn’t like the novel, I wouldn’t have loved this movie.
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The future Spirit was silent, so I wouldn’t say that.
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Motion capture, probably, if it was used for that spirit.
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(Pat shoulder) No shame in the admitting, buddy.
This move is alright but it has been a while since I have seen it all I do not remember what happens. Well I know the Christmas carol part I just don't remember what they do anything different
This movie is one of those movies I could watch every weekend since it just a good movie to watch and I love each of the ghosts
I agree with you on this.
In my opinion, this film is also my second favorite adaption of “A Christmas Carol”.
Maybe it´s because I watched it as a kid, but this movie creeped me out! Specially the death of the ghost of Christmas present. That´s not a bad thing though, in fact I like it. It makes it even better, considering it´s from Disney. Scrooge is identical to Jim Carrey by the way!
Didn´t know Gary Oldman was Marley. You forgot to mention Bob Hoskins, may he rest his soul.
This reminds me, in my school every year 9th graders played A Christmas Carol in English at the Christmas gala. When I was at 9th grade, I had the honor of playing Scrooge
. We had to play it twice, the first time for the people who attended to the gala and second time for the teenagers. The first time it went well but the second it was a disaster, as people had forgotten their lines, my teacher had to even close the curtain in the middle of the play! And she also refused to bow with us at the end of the play. But the what, no one took it seriously, the only reason they joined the play was to get a better grade in English 
. Heck the guy who played Tiny Tim had the script at the dinner table!
It might be a bit early to say this but I hope you have great holidays!
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Uh, I literally did mention him in my review. You must’ve skipped it.
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Oh! Sorry, sorry. It´s just yesterday I was tired and when I´m tired my attention drops