Christmas Carol The Movie (2001)

Christmas Carol The Movie (Dir: Jimmy T Murakami, 2001). 

A UK production from Jimmy T Murakami, the talented supervising director of The Snowman (Dianne Jackson, 1982) and director of When the Wind Blows (J T Murakami, 1986); an all star cast and a story seemingly ideally suited to feature length animation treatment. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. 

The clunky title Christmas Carol The Movie should be some indication that the feature film to follow is not the Christmas Carol with which you are familiar. In fact this take on Charles Dickens’ literary classic is so wildly irreverent it makes you wonder why the filmmakers bothered making a movie based on such a reverential text. The basics are here as miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by various spirits on his road to Christmas redemption. Yet changes to the tale, such as a reconciliation with lost love Belle, are certainly not an improvement, while the decision to show the story through the eyes of a pair of friendly rodents is frankly weird. 

I would be slightly more forgiving of Christmas Carol The Movie if the accompanying animation was anything other than flat and lifeless, lacking style and of Saturday morning cartoon quality. Yet, while the film can only be regarded as a disappointment, it is not entirely without merit. The Ghost of Christmas Present sequence, in which the oversized spectre distributes Christmas spirit via cornucopia, is rather lovely and adopts a unique visual style far more appealing than the rest of the movie. 

Then there is the stellar cast. In live action bookends Simon Callow impresses as Charles Dickens, narrating the action and giving a marvellous vocal performance as Scrooge. Kate Winslet contributes a particularly tender reading as Belle and makes a lovely job of singing end title song ‘What If’. A surprising satisfying casting choice is Nicholas Cage as an understated Marley’s Ghost. 

Yet none of the considerable talent manages to save a movie whose real problems stem from the unnecessary changes it makes to the source material. 

Suitable for younger viewers, but not an ideal introduction to Dickens, this is a sadly missed opportunity to create a definitive animated Scrooge; it is difficult to recommend  Christmas Carol The Movie when there are so many superior versions of the story out there. Check out Murakami and Dianne Jackson’s  masterful adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman for some genuine Christmas cheer.