Disney’s A Christmas Carol should have remained Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Once a treasured novel, A Christmas Carol has now fallen victim to the urge to tarnish the reputation books have to nourish one’s intellect and imagination, and has been metamorphosed into an IMAX 3D production. (pun intended) Nothing is bigger than that!
Jim Carrey, what can I write about Jim Carrey? For starters he is a washed up over the hill dumbass who makes a mockery of everything he touches. He lost his looks a decade ago, and rather than evolving comedically, he has chosen to amplify the old tired shtick and has augmented the decibel level of every word he speaks. While this might still play in the 2-9 age demographic, in the adult real world it is obnoxious and plain stupid. A Christmas Carol is a story about the joy of the most wonderful holiday of the year. It is a morality tale about family, love, friends, and how to treat one’s fellow man. A Christmas Carol at the IMAX is nothing more than an opportunity to let Jim Carrey earn money at our expense.
Ebeneezer Scrooge was once a kind child and a devoted lover. Having been poverty-stricken for much of his youth, when financial opportunity called he answered. This transformed his persona into that of a frightened miser terrified of becoming poor all over again. This led to parsimony and cruelty and the loss of his true love. For Decades Ebeneezer retreated from the public sphere to earn a considerable fortune. Dickens writes about Scrooge’s inability to give to charity or even to pay his own assistant a decent wage to support his ailing family. Years of neglect and being neglected emotionally stunted Scrooge’s ability to move forward in a generous way. One Christmas Eve he is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. So harrowing is what Scrooge sees of his potential future that he is both scared to death of the outcome and mortified at his own cruelty. After being scared for an hour and a half by ghosts who look like and speak like Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey decides to change at any cost. Any cost indeed!
Once awoken from the perilous dreams or haunting, Scrooge decides to attend his nephew’s Christmas party and offers to pay for the next gathering. He also makes a massive donation to charity. Perhaps most fascinating is his decision to help his assistant’s crippled son so he can live a happy and healthy life. These reversals are in novel form didactic and stunning. On screen with Jim Carrey at the helm they changes are droll, predictable and frankly idiotic. Take any 200 plus page book and rewrite it for the screen and not only is the brilliance of the printed word lost, the soul of the author is as well. In my experience 1/10 books turned movie are viable and do justice to the inventor. Unfortunately Dickens would not only condemn this pile of refuse, he would say the 3D effects suck. Worst 3D movie in the history of 3D. It should be renamed A Christmas Blur. Do not be suckered in because this film has staying power. The only reason for this is it is a holiday film. If not it would make 2 cents and be over with.
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