Box Art of DVD |
Synopsis
Taken from my review of A Christmas Carol (2009)
It's Christmas time and everyone is in a great mood except for Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy old man who does not like Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner who announces that Scrooge will be visited by three more ghosts.
Characters
There are plenty of familiar faces in this version of A Christmas Carol.
Actor/Actress | Character | Also Seen In |
Patrick Stewart | Ebenezer Scrooge | Star Trek: The Next Generation as Captain Picard, various Shakespeare plays |
Richard E. Grant | Bob Cratchit | The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999) as Sir Percy Blakeney |
Dominic West | Fred | From Time to Time as Caxton |
Liz Smith | Mrs. Dilber | Lark Rise to Candleford as Zillah |
Elizabeth Spriggs | Mrs. Riggs | Sense and Sensibility (1995) as Mrs. Jennings |
Laura Fraser | Belle | He Knew He Was Right as Emily Trevelyan |
Celia Imrie | Mrs. Bennett | Daniel Deronda as Mrs. Meyrick |
Patrick Stewart has impressed me as being a very good actor. I've seen him mainly in Star Trek: The Next Generation where he impressed me as being a good actor. I want to say I've seen him in other things, but I can't think of any at the moment (although I caught a couple of clips of him in the David Tennant Hamlet). In A Christmas Carol, Patrick Stewart was a worthy Scrooge. He played a very curmudgeon Scrooge and portrayed his grouchiness at the beginning of the story, but you get to see him develop very well throughout the story. I love at the ending how he portrays the overjoyed Scrooge (though at first it may appear like he's going to have a heart-attack!).
Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Past |
The Ghost of Christmas Present |
Top: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Bottom: A Jawa from Star Wars |
Scenery/Setting
While there really isn't a year stated, judging by the fashions of the time you can pick out what year the story took place. We can assume that since A Christmas Carol was published in 1843 that the story takes place then, but scenes in the past appear to take place sometime in the Regency Era (and by Regency Era, I mean 1795 - 1820).
The scenes was very nice overall and we get a nice collection of a variety of scenes. The Scrooge & Marley storefront was appropriately dark and looked quite cold. Scrooge's home, while it was furnished and was fit for a gentleman (as far as I could tell), was still a proper home for the stingy Scrooge that was kept dark. The Cratchits home, though small and poor, had a warmness about it and you wouldn't have noticed that it was poor since everyone in it was cheerful and nice. I did have a question about Fred's home, though. If he's supposed to be so poor, why does he have such a nice home? It wasn't an extremely wealthy home, but it was still the home of a comfortable, middle class family. Or was Fred just comparatively poor to Scrooge?
Some of the effects used in this version of A Christmas Carol impressed me as this movie being made for TV, and I was right. Some of the effects did scream "Made for TV", but they weren't horrible effects either; mainly they were effects that you wouldn't expect to see in a movie for the theater.
Costumes
Belle, what's your hair doing down? |
Overall: 3.5/5
Definitely an improvement from the 2009 movie! It was a good movie to watch and I wouldn't be sorry to see it again. The acting was well done: Patrick Stewart was a believable Scrooge and acted very well in the role (though I didn't really picture Scrooge to be bald). Though you can tell that the production was made for TV, it was still a worthy version of A Christmas Carol and would be a good watch on Christmas.
There really isn't much content to speak of. There may be a couple of frightening scenes when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears, but not like the 2009 movie (which was unnecessarily frightening). Mrs. Fezziwig's dress is rather low cut, but she's only in there for a couple of minutes. Though it's not rated, I would probably rate this movie PG for the few possibly frightening scenes.
A Christmas Carol is available on DVD. It runs for 95 minutes.
And for an extra picture:
Laura Fraser as Belle. Notice the Regency fashions |
I'm not sure if I've seen this one or not...it looks quite enjoyable, though! Perhaps another version to add to my annual watching list! Every year I have to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol (the musical...love that one!), and the 2009 version with Jim Carrey (which I very much enjoyed, especially watching it after first reading the book...it stays very true to the book for the most part!) at least once each.(:
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
~Vicki
Decked Out in Ruffles
If you want another improvement, try the 1984 version! ;) (I know, I said that last time... haha.)
ReplyDeleteI very much love this version! Patrick Stewart is a wonderful actor -- his Claudius in the version of Hamlet you mentioned is the best I've seen (and I've seen quite a few).
ReplyDeleteI think that Fred is poor compared to Scrooge, and possibly poor because he chooses to actually spend his money on a comfortable place to live and dinner for his friends instead of living in miserly solitude like Scrooge.
Thanks for the nice review of one of my favorite Christmas movies!