Dickensblog

Merry 'Christmas Carol'!

It's opening day! If you go to see A Christmas Carol, use the comments section to let us know what you think!

Don't be a Scrooge!

We've raised $135 so far in the effort to buy books for the Filipino schools (most of it came by check, which is why you don't see it all on the site). Not too bad, but we can do better! In the spirit of the film opening tomorrow, why not make a donation today? Even a little bit will be a huge help!

Decorate the 'Christmas Carol' tree

Just a fun little site from Disney that lets you create your own virtual ornament and place it on the "Christmas Carol tree." Here's mine! (Thanks to Micah for the link to the site.)

ETA: Um, that's not my ornament. Something must be screwy with the embed code. (I see the same thing happened to Micah.) Well, it's somebody's ornament!

'A Christmas Carol' premieres in London

Pictures are here. Going by the beard, it looks like Jim Carrey decided to go as the Ghost of Christmas Present! Here's a nice writeup, though it includes a bit of a "bah, humbug" moment from Colin Firth.

A 'Christmas Carol' with heart

"Marley was dead, to begin with . . ."

The appearance of those words on the screen signifies a couple of things about Disney's new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Number one, this will be no simple and merry Christmas tale, but one that freely explores the darkness as well as the light.

Number two, director/screenwriter/co-producer Robert Zemeckis has read the book. Of course, one would expect him to, but I don't mean that he just gave it a skim and then went off to come up with his own ideas. I mean he's read the book, thoroughly and carefully, with loving attention to detail. I have not seen all the Christmas Carol adaptations, but I would wager that this is probably one of the most faithful ones out there, if not the most faithful. Not just in much of the dialogue, but in the little things, like the blind man's dog that shies away from Scrooge just as Dickens describes. While the film is also full of inspired little imaginative touches from Zemeckis, a lot of them fit into the story absolutely seamlessly.

Not that faithfulness is the major selling point -- the motion capture technique is the major selling point, and on the whole, I was pleased with how that turned out. It gives most of the characters the look of figures from a beloved old children's storybook, and it gives Zemeckis the freedom to play with camera angles and long, swooping tracking shots and generally to take us on a madcap journey with the protagonist of the tale. Only here and there does he go overboard with it. I refuse to believe that Mrs. Fezziwig ever moved like a Dancing with the Stars contestant on steroids, for instance. But more on that in a moment.

In the meantime, what of our protagonist? Jim Carrey makes a satisfying Scrooge, striking a chill into the very marrow as he opens the show by stealing the pennies right off dead Marley's eyes. His gradual transformation is satisfying as well, and he has a couple of deeply moving moments -- his anguished stare into the face of grieving Bob Cratchit, in a beautifully shot scene, had me in tears -- that nicely balance out the more frantic action sequences.

As the Ghost of Christmas Past, Carrey's performance isn't quite in the same league; the character is apparently on uppers, breaking into some sort of weird interpretive dance for no reason that I can see. (As you've probably gathered, freedom of movement has been made an integral part of the film; sometimes this works well, sometimes not quite so well.) His Ghost of Christmas Present is better, though he's been given a nightmarish demise instead of just vanishing as he does in the book. Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright Penn, and the other actors turn in strong performances as well, but the film really belongs to Carrey, and not just because he's playing four parts.

Where the film is weakest is where it deviates furthest from Dickens, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Dickens fanatic. My companion at the screening, who is not a Dickens fanatic, said the same thing. This would be during the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come sequence, which has inexplicably been turned into a wild horse-and-carriage chase that plays out like a combination of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Alice in Wonderland, with a dash of A Tale of Two Cities thrown in (no kidding! Look for the shot of the wine barrel). This, I think, is almost the only part of the film that screams "Look what we can do with motion capture!" But it's the worse for that.

Oh, and I have to tell you -- remember that article about parents of little kids who complained about the scene where Marley's jaw literally drops? Yeah, well, I don't blame them. It's gross. It wasn't in the footage that I saw on the train, so I didn't realize what everyone was talking about, but when I saw it here, I got so freaked out I could hardly bear to look. True, it was in the book, but I don't think I had ever actually pictured what it would look like!

My screening was in 3-D, and although I said before that that sort of thing isn't really my bag, I think I may be ready to take that statement back. They've used 3-D here in a way that serves the story rather than taking away from it, adding richness and depth to the scenes. The only place where it felt like a showoff technique was, again, in that protracted action sequence with the horses.

But don't believe everything the promos tell you: The real point of this film is not the action scenes, but the story, and it's truly a treat to find an adaptation that shows such reverence for its source material while simultaneously taking opportunities to enhance it. If Zemeckis & Co.'s ambition was to put a fresh stamp on an old tale while still remaining loyal to the original, I would say they have succeeded admirably. But their greatest success lies not in refreshing the story, but in retaining its heart.

It's 'Christmas Carol' week!

And I shall have a review for you either Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on how late I get back from tomorrow's screening in D.C., which I'll be attending courtesy of the helpful folks at Disney and Allied Integrated Marketing. In the meantime, here are a few tidbits: three interviews with the director and stars about the story and the filmmaking process. Also, Jim Carrey running with scissors. (Do not try this at home.) Enjoy!

On amusement

"Thquire, shake handth, firtht and latht! Don't be croth with uth poor vagabondth. People mutht be amuthed. They can't be alwayth a learning, nor yet they can't be alwayth a working, they an't made for it. You muth have uth, Thquire. Do the withe thing and the kind thing too, and make the betht of uth; not the wurtht!"

Hard Times, Book the Third, Chapter 8, "Philosophical"

The truth is out there

Here's a fun exercise: "Top Five Incidents in Charles Dickens Novels that Could Be X-Files Episodes." Can you think of any they left out? (Note: Contains a few spoilers for various novels.)

'I love terrifying children'

This from Jim Carrey. So, again, something you parents might want to take into consideration. :-)

Three spirits

Another day, another Christmas Carol featurette! This one focuses on the ghosts.