Review of "A Christmas Carol," in area theaters 11/6

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A Christmas Carol (Computer Animation)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Voices of: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins, etc.

First, let me save you some money.  You do not have to see this movie in IMAX or 3-D.  I saw it in regular old 2-D, and its main virtue is Charles Dickens’ wonderful story.  It’s called Disney’s A Christmas Carol, but it ain’t.  Dickens was a bleeding-heart liberal who put the birth of Christ into service as a vehicle for social change and compassion.  Seldom has religion been better used.
And director Zemeckis has done little to hurt this classic.  The visuals are beautiful, and the whole story is preserved.  Where Zemeckis has augmented the original, it is mostly witty or in keeping with the original intent.
The only quibble I have is with the sequences of flying around, which are there solely to supply 3-D thrills.  They add nothing to the story, and just waste time.  I assume that they look great in 3-D, but still waste time.  It also cost this movie an A- grade.
Zemeckis has done other computer animations, notably the so-so Polar Express and the awful Beowulf.  In each, the otherwise good-looking characters were cursed with dead, zombie-like eyes.  Very creepy.  The eyes in this one, while not yet completely there, are much better and don’t distract form the characters.
The voice work is very good, with Carrey’s rubber vocal chords supplying many characters, including Scrooge and all the spirits.  Oldman gives us Bob and Tiny Tim Cratchit, and the dead Jacob Marley.
Please recall that the gold standard for films of the Dickens story is the English film of 1951, starring Alistair Sim.  In glorious black-and-white, and with special effects that must have cost more than one hundred dollars, the whole budget for that movie would probably not paid for Jim Carrey’s meals.
If you see this movie, and you should, don’t pass up a chance to see the English classic as well.  It goes great with egg nog after a holiday meal, even Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
B+