A Christmas Carol (2009 film)

A Christmas Carol is a 2009 American 3D computer animated motion-capture dark fantasy film written, co-produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 story of the same name and stars Jim Carrey in a multitude of roles, including Ebenezer Scrooge as a young, middle-aged, and old man, and the three ghosts who haunt Scrooge. The film also features supporting roles done by Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright, and Cary Elwes.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visuals and the performances of Carrey and Oldman but criticized its dark tone. It earned $325.3 million on a $175–200 million budget. The 3D film was produced through the process of motion capture, a technique Zemeckis previously used in his films The Polar Express (2004), and Beowulf (2007). A Christmas Carol began filming in February 2008 and was released on November 3, 2009, by Walt Disney Pictures. It received its world premiere in London, coinciding with the switching-on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights, which in 2009 had a Dickens theme.

The film was released in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D. It is also Disney's third film retelling of A Christmas Carol following 1983's Oscar-nominated Mickey's Christmas Carol and 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Plot
In 1843, on Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old moneylender at a London counting house, does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines his cheerful nephew Fred Holywell's invitation to a Christmas dinner party, and rejects two gentlemen's offer to collect money for charity. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit asks Scrooge to allow him to have a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees before leaving. In his house, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like he was, carrying heavy chains forged from his own greediness. Jacob informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits, who will guide him out of his misery.

Scrooge is visited by the candle-like Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his early life. They visit Scrooge's boarding school and Scrooge sees his sister Fanie, who died after giving birth to Fred. Scrooge later begins a successful career in business and money lending as an employee under Fezziwig, and he becomes engaged to a woman named Belle. However, the Ghost shows Scrooge how Belle left him when he became obsessed with wealth. A devastated Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with its candle snuffer cap but Scrooge is rocketed thousands of feet into the air while clinging onto the snuffer, only to have it disappear, resulting in Scrooge falling down to earth, back into his bedroom for the next visitation.

Scrooge meets the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, which shows him the joys and wonder of Christmas Day. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning his family is content with their small dinner, Scrooge taking pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim. The Ghost abruptly ages, commenting that Tiny Tim will likely not survive until next Christmas. The Ghost warns Scrooge about the evils of "Ignorance" and "Want"; Big Ben begins tolling midnight as "Ignorance" and "Want" manifest themselves before Scrooge as two wretched children who grow into violent, insane individuals, leaving the spirit withering away, dying at length when midnight strikes (to the point of dissolving into a skeleton before the twelfth strike).

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, appearing as a dark shadow, and takes Scrooge into the future. He witnesses a group of businessmen discussing the death of an unnamed man where they would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided; Scrooge is then chased across London by the Ghost and later discovers that his possessions are stolen and sold by his maid Mrs. Dilber. Shortly afterwards, Scrooge sees the aforementioned deceased man's corpse on a bed, followed by a vision of a family who is relieved that he is dead, as they have more time to pay off their debt. The spirit transports Scrooge to Bob's residence, discovering that Tiny Tim has died. Scrooge is then taken to a cemetery, where the Ghost points out his own grave, confirming Scrooge was the man who died. Scrooge promises to change his ways just as the Ghost shows his face and forces him to fall into his empty coffin lying in a deep grave that sits above the fires of Hell.

Waking up in his own room on Christmas Day, with love and happiness in his heart, a gleeful Scrooge decides to surprise Bob's family with a turkey dinner, and ventures out with the charity workers and the citizens of London to spread happiness in the city, and later attends his nephew's annual Christmas dinner, where he is warmly welcomed. The following day, he gives Cratchit a raise and becomes like "a second father" to Tiny Tim, who escapes death. A changed man, Scrooge now treats everyone with kindness, generosity, and compassion; he now embodies the spirit of Christmas.

Cast

 * Jim Carrey as:
 * Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy, selfish old man, whose sheer miserly nature leads him to despise Christmas and all things which engender happiness.
 * Ghost of Christmas Past, the first of the three spirits that haunt Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent. He is depicted as an androgynous man with a flickering flame for a head and a body like a candle, and speaks with an Irish accent.
 * Ghost of Christmas Present, the second of the three spirits. He is depicted as a towering man with red hair, a full beard, and a green ermine robe. He is a jolly figure prone to hearty laughter, talking with a Yorkshire accent.
 * Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the third of the three spirits. It is depicted as a shadowy Grim Reaper cast across the ground or a wall and occasionally emerges into three dimensions to point at something or to chase Scrooge in a large, shadow-like horse-drawn hearse, pulled by stampeding horses.
 * Gary Oldman as:
 * Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's underpaid clerk.
 * Jacob Marley, the ghost of Scrooge's former colleague, bound in chains and damned to walk the earth in penance of a cold-hearted life.
 * Tiny Tim, Cratchit's youngest son. While Gary Oldman provided the motion capture, Tiny Tim's voice is provided by Ryan Ochoa.
 * Colin Firth as Fred Holywell, Scrooge's cheerful nephew and only living relative. Fred is the son of Scrooge's little sister Fran. Fran died during childbirth. Scrooge blames Fred for Fran's death.
 * Bob Hoskins as:
 * Mr. Fezziwig, the proprietor of a warehouse business for whom Scrooge worked as a young apprentice.
 * Old Joe, a fence who buys the belongings of the deceased Scrooge from Mrs. Dilber.
 * Robin Wright as Fran/Belle
 * Cary Elwes as Portly Gentleman #1/Dick Wilkins/Mad Fiddler/Guest #2/Business Man #1 (Elwes would also act as a stand-in for Scrooge, the Ghost of Christmas Past, and the Ghost of Christmas Present in scenes where two Carrey characters appear together, standing-in as the character interacting with Carrey during filming of his (Carrey's) scenes. An example would be, that whenever filming scenes with Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Carrey would perform as the Ghost, while Elwes would act as a stand-in for Scrooge, feeding that character's lines to Carrey, as vice versa when Carrey performed as the Ghost.)
 * Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Dilber
 * Steve Valentine as Funerary Undertaker/Topper
 * Daryl Sabara as Undertaker's Apprentice/Tattered Caroler #1/Beggar Boy #1/Peter Cratchit/Well-Dressed Caroler #1
 * Sage Ryan as Tattered Caroler #2
 * Amber Gainey Meade as Tattered Caroler #3/ Well-Dressed Caroler #2
 * Ryan Ochoa as Tattered Caroler #4/Beggar Boy #2/Young Cratchit Boy/Ignorance Boy/Young Boy with Sleigh
 * Bobbi Page as Tattered Caroler #5/ Well-Dressed Caroler #3
 * Ron Bottitta as Tattered Caroler #6/ Well-Dressed Caroler #4
 * Sammi Hanratty as Beggar Boy #3/Young Cratchit Girl/Want Girl
 * Julian Holloway as Fat Cook/Portly Gentleman #2/Business Man #3
 * Jacquie Barnbrook as Mrs. Fezziwig/Fred's sister-in-law/Well-Dressed Caroler #5
 * Lesley Manville as Mrs. Cratchit
 * Molly C. Quinn as Belinda Cratchit
 * Fay Masterson as Martha Cratchit/Guest #1/Caroline
 * Leslie Zemeckis as Janet Holywell, Fred's wife
 * Paul Blackthorne as Guest #3/Business Man #2
 * Michael Hyland as Guest #4
 * Kerry Hoyt as Adult Ignorance
 * Julene Renee-Preciado as Adult Want

Production
Robert Zemeckis has stated previously that A Christmas Carol is one of his favorite stories dealing with time travel. Carrey has described the film as "a classical version of A Christmas Carol […] There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents […] I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, 'Yeah, that's for real.' We were very true to the book. It's beautiful. It's an incredible film." Also, the Scrooge puppet seen in The Polar Express, which was also directed by Robert Zemeckis served as the basis for Ebenezer Scrooge in this movie. In The Polar Express, the Scrooge puppet is the main antagonist of the film and video game who is keeping the children who are believing in Santa Claus away by stealing their tickets and having them kicked out of the train scared and running away screaming to their homes so they cannot go to the North Pole.

Disney partnered with Amtrak to promote the film with a special nationwide train tour through the summer and fall of 2009.

Release
A Christmas Carol opened London on November 3, 2009, and was theatrically released on November 6, 2009, in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures.

Home media
Disney released the film on November 16, 2010 in a single-disc DVD, two-disc 2D Blu-ray/DVD combo and in a four-disc combo pack that includes a Blu-ray 3D, a Blu-ray 2D, a DVD and a digital copy. This marked the first time that a film was available in Blu-ray 3D the same day as a standard Blu-ray 2D, as well as Disney's first in the Blu-ray 3D market along with Alice in Wonderland. The DVD contains deleted scenes and two featurettes called "On Set with Sammi" and "Capturing A Christmas Carol". The Blu-ray 2D also has a "Digital Advent Calendar" and the featurette "Behind the Carol: The Full Motion Capture Experience". The Blu-ray 3D has an exclusive 3D game called "Mr. Scrooge's Wild Ride".

Box office
The film opened at #1 in 3,683 theaters, grossing $30,051,075 its opening weekend, with an average of $8,159 per theater. The film has come to gross an estimated $137,855,863 in the United States and Canada and $187,430,783 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $325,286,646. In the UK, A Christmas Carol topped the box office on two separate occasions; the first was when it opened, the second was five weeks later when it leapfrogged box office chart toppers 2012, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Paranormal Activity despite family competition from Nativity!, another Christmas-themed movie.

Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from American film critics. In his review, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars (out of four), calling it "an exhilarating visual experience". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, applauding the film as "a marvelous and touching yuletide toy of a movie". Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3/5 stars and stated the film "is well-crafted but artless, detailed but lacking soul." Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com gave the film a mixed review claiming the movie "is a triumph of something—but it's certainly not the Christmas spirit." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote in his review that the film's "tone is joyless, despite an extended passage of bizarre laughter, several dazzling flights of digital fancy, a succession of striking images and Jim Carrey's voicing of Scrooge plus half a dozen other roles." The Daily Telegraph reviewer Tim Robey wrote, "How much is gained by the half-real visual style for this story is open to question—the early scenes are laborious and never quite alive, and the explosion of jollity at the end lacks the virtue of being funny." Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian also criticized the technology: "The hi-tech sheen is impressive but in an unexciting way. I wanted to see real human faces convey real human emotions." Time Out London praised the film for sticking to Dickens' original dialogue but also questioned the technology by saying, "To an extent, this 'Christmas Carol' is a case of style—and stylisation—overwhelming substance."

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 54% of 192 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.9/10. The site's consensus is: "Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 55 based on 32 reviews.