Special Feature: A Christmas Carol

[fantasia_kitty]

I thought in honor of another version of A Christmas Carol coming out this weekend, I'd start a special feature on it.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is probably the most well-known Christmas story (aside from the Biblical one of course) and embarrassingly enough, I've never read it. But I have seen several versions of it, the Mickey Mouse version, the Muppets version, and the George C. Scott version. And to further add to my embarrassment, the Muppets version is probably my favorite even though I know it probably isn't the most accurate.

I'm very much looking forward to the movie coming out this weekend, though I'm not the world's biggest fan of Jim Carrey so it will be interesting to see how I like it.

So feel free to discuss the book and the various movies here and after Friday, we can discuss the new movie as well.

[narnian1]

Let's see...

I love the Mickey Mouse version, I love the Flintstones version, and I love just about any other animated version I have seen though names escape me now.

I too have never read the book in itself.

As for the upcoming movie,
I am excited for it. I know it's releasing early, two months before Christmas, but I am DEFINITELY going to see it this weekend.

[PELS]

I saw a version... not sure which one it was. Maybe the 1984? Ahh, anyway, I liked it alot, especially the ghost of Christmas future. It's scary-ish with the music and all, but I liked it.

[wild rose]

I saw two versions one was a cartoon the other was a movie (i am not sure which one) i liked the story though i never read the book. I love the meaning and Dickens is one of my favorite writers (i have read some of his other books)

[Lucy P.]

I read the original version every Christmas.
The only version I've seen is the Mickey Mouse one, but I plan to go see the movie this Christmas after I read the story again. Jim Carrey is not my favorite, but the movie doesn't look like it veers from the story much (though I do enjoy spoofs) so I will go see it.

[stargazer]

The story is among my favorites, and I like to read it each year around Christmas. It's not very long, so it can be read in a short time.

Everyone knows the story, so it might be tempting to gloss over the text, or not bother reading it at all, but I find that it contains hidden gems that make the tale all the more meaningful.

The Muppets version is fun, and the 1984 George C. Scott-as-Scrooge production has a lot going for it as well. (David Warner portrays Bob Cratchit in that one; I'm used to him playing villains in other TV shows or movies, so it was a bit of a change that first time. )

I'll probably see the new movie version in the next couple weeks, depending on my friends' schedules.

I also had the privilege of seeing a live performance once, at the Guthrie. Awesome!

[Shadowlander]

This may surprise some folks, but I kinda like the Mickey Mouse version the best. I also kind of liked the Bill Murray rendition, Scrooged. For my money it doesn't get better than the intro scene where they're showing a faux clip from an upcoming movie, "The Night the Reindeer Died", in which Santa's workshop is attacked by terrorists and Santa and the elves (along with Lee Majors) decide to fight back. The image of Mrs. Claus opening up a weapons cabinet and handing out machine guns is pure gold.

[ForeverFan]

I've read the book once- rather some years ago but it was one of my very first introductions to Dickens, so I remember it clearly. I hope to read the book again this Christmas. I've only seen one adaptation of it- I forget the main character now, but it was with Patrick Stewart. Anyways, the costumes were lovely but the ghosts part crept me out (is that proper grammar?) a little bit, so I think I'll probably a) stick to the book, or b) not watch it at night if I ever see it again.

I saw the trailer for the upcoming film, I personally think it looked just a little to video-game ish for me, but perhaps I'll see it on DVD or something like that.

Anyways... just thought I'd pop my head in here for a moment or two. *accordingly pops her head out*

[Bother Eustace]

I've never read the actual book by Charles Dickens, but I've seen several versions and spoofs of the story (hasn't everyone?). The Mickey Mouse version is a classic for me, I grew up with it. I can remember watching it so young that the "Goofy Ghost" actually gave my brother and I nightmares. Also, Shadowlander mentioned Scrooged - I saw that once years ago! Bill Murray is hilarious.
I'm anxious to see the upcoming version Disney is putting out. My feelings for Jim Carrey are, well, complicated: I think he's probably one of the funniest comedians out there (Liar, Liar and Bruce Almighty were hilarious), but too much of his stuff is vulgar and dirty (with the exception of Horton Hears a Who, Series of Unfortunate Events, and possibly the Truman Show). With a kids movie, though, he will probably be cleaner, which would be great, because I think he really is talented. I'm looking forward to this movie.

[220chrisTian]

I've never read the book , but I've seen the Mickey Mouse version, which I loved and which I just had to watch every Christmas. I've also seen parts of one or two other versions but I don't remember enough about them to remember which ones, although I think one had Patrick Stewart, which seemed like strange casting to me.

I saw A Christmas Carol musical in Atlanta one December, 11 years ago. The music went along with the story.

[Princess Anna]

I've seen several versions... I just don't remember which ones. The only one I remember for sure is A Muppet Christmas Carol. I can still remember a bit from one of the songs, "There goes Mr. Humbug, there goes Mr. Grim. If they gave a prize for being mean, the winner would be him!" And a few of the lines too. Ahh, childhood memories...

I don't recall if I've ever read the book, though I think I might have. But in the long run it doesn't really matter too much.
1) Because we all know the story anyway.
2) I can read it any time I feel like it, I just need to find my copy. Well, it's not technically mine... it belongs to the whole family. But, still. (I could also just watch one of the several copies of it, we have lying around the house)
3) I should probably have it practically memorised by now, seeing as I've been in a local community theatre's production of it for the last five (?) years. (and we'll be starting to rehearse it again in just a few weeks. see, it's a yearly event) I could recite everyone's lines by the second or third year of doing it... and I'm only in the "chorus". (meaning I don't have a speaking role) So, yeah. It's drilled into my brain. Love it, and it never loses it's impact, yet it's old hat... kinda. (if that makes sense)

I'm curious what the new movie will be like. I've thought of inviting people from the theatre to go with me. The cast of it, going to see the movie of it. Clever, no?

[stargazer]

Has anyone had a chance to see the new movie yet?

I viewed it this afternoon with friends who are as fond (or more so) of the original text as I am, and that familiarity admittedly colored our reactions. Yet we did find much we liked:

Jim Carrey is quite serious, even understated, compared to some of his early film roles - a good Scrooge.

Lots of familiar names in the supporting cast: people from The Princess Bride (Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn), P&P (Colin Firth), Castle (Molly Quinn), and Lost (Fionula Flanagan), not to mention Bob Hoskins (Hook, etc) as Fezziwig.

Some spectacular visuals: it opens with an aerial zoom throughout Victorian London, giving snippets of people going about their everyday lives; the time-lapse aging effect on the 'Scrooge and Marley' sign indicating the passing of 7 years, and Marley's ghost.

In large part it was faithful to the source material, with a number of quotes being taken right out of the text. Sometimes the accents (intended to give authenticity) made it hard to understand some spoken lines (I found myself thinking that subtitles would be nice ).

On the negative side, there were some "frozen waterfall" moments added to jazz it up: for example, lots of zooming through the city in addition to the opening sequence, and a plot-stopping scene with the Ghost of Christmas Future - on a horse-driven carriage - chasing an ever-shrinking Scrooge. (These may have been added to make it more spectacular when viewed in 3D). In fact, we agreed that most of the additions related to the Future Ghost's segment, perhaps because it doesn't speak and so the creators needed another way to get its meaning across.

It's rated PG in the US, and there definitely are some scenes which may scare some people (I won't detail them here) - but it is a ghost story, after all. We found it, all in all, an enjoyable adaptation - especially once we overlooked the 'waterfall' scenes.

[hyaline12]

I just started reading the book today and unfortunately only got one page in, because it got my brother talking about books and once he starts he never quits. But I really enjoyed that first page. The version I got from the library has printed text on on page, and on the other it has the original manuscript. It's pretty cool to see, except I don't know how anyone could ever have read Dickens' handwriting.

One of my favourite things to do at Christmas is watch all the movie adaptations that my TV stations decide to show. I've seen an old black and white version of it, I can't remember the year, Mickey's Christmas Carol (the bit with the grave gave me horrific nightmares as a child), The Muppet Christmas Carol, Ebenezer (which I didn't particularly care for), and probably more, but that's all I can remember. My grade 9 Language Arts teacher made us watch about a million different versions of it to hammer the concept of character development into our heads. It may not have worked for anyone but me.

My brother and my dad are highly put out by yet another movie adaptation of it, but I'm looking forward to seeing this new version, and also to finishing the book.

[TheGeneral]

My favorite version by far is the 1951 one with Alastair Sim. I watch that every year, and I can no longer watch any other version. My mom read the book to me and my family one year, I think I was 9 or so.

[johobbit]

A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite Dickens' books. It could even be tops. I saw the new movie last weekend and concur with much of what stargazer has already written above.

Although I've never been fond of Jim Carrey (Canadian 'though he is ), he really did a superb job voicing Scrooge, and the first two Ghosts, as well as Scrooge in various younger years.

The animation I found very well done, almost to the point that, in certain scenes, I'd forget the movie was animated. Being in 3-D was quite something, as well, and I got that 'roller-coaster-drop' feeling more than a few times. I actually prefer non 3-D, but this was the only way it was offered here.

Oh my, in looking at imdb now I just realized that Gary Oldman (James Gordon in The Dark Knight; Sirius Black in Harry Potter) played the voices of Bob Cratchit, Marley (whose portrayal of the ghost was truly frightening), and Tiny Tim!

*nods in agreement with 'gazer's spoilers* Also, I felt that, instead of such a long, drawn-out horse-driven carriage chase, some of that time could have been better spent putting in a scene which I dearly love and is quite poignant: the one where the Cratchit family is sitting at their Christmas table enjoying the monstrous turkey Scrooge had anonymously sent them.

Maybe because of my favourite adaptation of this beloved story, the one TheGeneral mentioned above, Alistair Sim's version, I've always thought of Fan (Scrooge's sister) as a young lady rather than a young girl, and didn't care as much for this more youthful portrayal of her. No biggie, as she was nowhere near a main character, but that was my first impression ...

Yes, there were some frightening scenes, yet as stargazer said the original is a ghost story, after all. This adapation was, aside from the few diversions mentioned, quite close to the original, and I particularly enjoyed hearing a number of quotes directly from the book.

Would I want to see this again in the theatre? Most definitely. It is well worth it!

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

The animation looks great but why is Scrooge flying around on a rocket or whatever? The trailer's turned me off. I enjoy the story but I'm certainly not seeing this movie. I've heard it sacrifices many of the character moments for random action scenes.