A 'Carol' Worth Cherishing

by Brett Parker

Of all the various incarnations of A Christmas Carol I’ve seen over the years, no specific one stands out as being visually supreme or aesthetically definitive. Sure, most of them do a considerable justice to Charles Dickens’ classic tale, but that’s usually the sole efficient thing it does right. Most of these adaptations present camera work at a very elemental level and produce competent Ebenezer Scrooges that seem fearful from breaking away from tradition. Most people usually discuss which actor gave the best portrayal of Hamlet, but how many discussions have you ever heard regarding the best portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge? Even the moderate revisionist takes failed to make long-lasting impressions.

The triumph of Robert Zemeckis’ current take on A Christmas Carol is how he honors the images of Dickens’ classic in a film that’s so dazzling, energetic, emotional, and spunky, it’s damn near impossible to think of a past film or future telling that can top it. By employing the same 3-D Motion Capture Animation he employed with The Polar Express and Beowulf, Zemeckis is able to give the story a sublime and mystic look that plays up the magic of the story while still pulling top-notch drama from the characters. And when you bring an A-list level of magic and drama to one of the most imaginative and inspiring literary tales of all time, you can expect a film of unyielding power.

If you happen to be one of those rare creatures who are grossly unfamiliar with this endlessly beloved tale, allow me to detail it for you: Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is a hopelessly cynical and frighteningly bitter businessman in Victorian-era England. With his frail body and pointy nose, Scrooge has a blackened heart and a miserable outlook to match the unpleasantness of his physical appearance. He constantly scolds and berates his office worker, Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman), he coldly alienates himself from his only living nephew, Fred (Colin Firth), and he harshly denies any charity to two Portly Gentlemen (Cary Elwes & Julian Holloway) who seek funds to help the poor. What irritates Scrooge the most is the Christmas Holiday, the day in which people act so merry and cheerful that it threatens his bleak and horrid outlook on life. There appears to be no lightness or hope within his troubled spirit.

One Christmas Eve night, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Marley (Gary Oldman), Scrooge’s deceased business partner. Marley was just as cold and greedy as Scrooge was in real life and is now condemned to an afterlife of torture and despair for his wicked ways. He warns Scrooge that he is destined for such a horrible fate unless he can turn his life around. He tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future (all played by Carrey, thanks to the animation) who will help him understand the folly of his ways and how he can redeem himself. Throughout the course of the night, Scrooge is haunted by these magical and wise spirits who whisk him away to show him the effects he has on Christmases across time. Through this supernatural intervention, Scrooge is able to better understand how heartbreak and loss has affected him, how Cratchit is coping with a sick son named Tiny Tim (also Oldman, gotta love this stuff!), and what dark and terrifying things await the future is Scrooge does not change his cold ways.

By employing Motion Capture Animation to this tale, Zemeckis is able to make the surface of his film sparkle with remarkable gloss while retaining the plights and depths of the actors’ performances. The technology captures the human performances and transplants the mannerisms into computer effects, allowing their emotions to be transferred to computer-animated avatars. This technology allows an actor’s performance to be manipulated towards any physical look and stature the story demands. That’s how Jim Carrey is able to play both Scrooge and the Three Ghosts interacting with each other while the 51-year-old Gary Oldman is allowed to embody young Tiny Tim. This technology isn’t merely a cinematic stunt, but is used to honor both the mythic look and dramatic undercurrents of the characters themselves. For example, the animation fills in both the bizarre and outsized physiques Dickens envisioned for, say, Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present while being able to retain the human emotions underneath. This easily makes Zemeckis’ Carol the best looking incarnation to ever grace the screen.

Zemeckis has spent his filmmaking career carving out grand adventure tales, yet basking his characters in heartfelt emotions that spare these stories from being disposable exercises. Think about the way Marty McFly despaired of his best friend, Doc Brown, being put in harm’s way. Or how Eddie Valiant was deeply wounded by the death of his brother. Or when Chuck Noland cried helplessly after loosing his imaginary friend, Wilson. Zemeckis has a knack for unearthing startling dramatic depths within seemingly lightweight characters and it’s this very talent that rescues A Christmas Carol from being just another elaborate animation stunt. What’s amazing is how this grand tale clocks in at way under two hours, yet every dramatic base the original story presented is covered and fully realized in this timeframe. As the plot moves from cynicism to heartbreak to despair to redemption and finally to cheerfulness, Zemeckis never shortchanges us on the drama and we feel the full weight of Dickens’ original intentions. Even though some of the adventure sequences drag on for too long and the pace might be a tad too zippy, Zemeckis still dishes out a masterful take on this famous story.

When I first heard that Jim Carrey was cast in the role of Scrooge, I assumed his comic talents would be greatly summoned to make Scrooge a caricature of high comic energy. What’s ultimately surprising and rewarding is how Carrey never plays Scrooge for laughs. This role can seriously be considered as one of his dramatic endeavors. When he’s not doing manic comic vehicles, Carrey has crafted a compelling career out of sincere outsiders who wrestle with their troubled depths. When we think of his more memorable characters, such as Truman Burbank or Andy Kaufman, we are usually looking at troubled outcasts who are perplexed by their isolation and ponder what it would take to fit in with other people. Carrey brings this sense of melancholy weight to this legendary role and crafts what has to be one of the most empathetic Scrooges we’ve ever seen. Of course, his great vocal and facial abilities are put to great use to construct Scrooge’s almost bizarre mannerisms, yet it’s the hurtful sadness in his eyes that make his Scrooge most memorable. Notice the bitterness in his voice when he regards his nephew’s love for his wife, or the way a glimpse into the future makes him startlingly identify with Bob Cratchit’s sense of loss. I truly wasn’t prepared for Carrey to fully discard cheap laughs and revel in the tragic depths of Scrooge’s tortured soul. The performance is rather astonishing.

The Internet Movie Database reports that there are at least 50 cinematic incarnations of the classic Dickens’ tale throughout film history. Since I haven’t seen each and every one, I cannot officially declare Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol the best version I’ve ever seen. Yet I can’t imagine any version possibly outdoing this one. No past Carol could possibly be as visually detailed and exhilarating as this one. No past actor could possibly embody Scrooge with such detail and poignancy as Jim Carrey. And it seems extremely difficult to picture any past adaptation entirely honoring the iconic stature of Dickens’ themes in such a wildly entertaining package.