Reader comments
Film review: Animated 'Christmas Carol' a disappointing, dour mess

Thank goodness technology has allowed us to keep watching classic old films! Now if they'd only reissue more of those old films on Blu Ray!

I love much of what the new age computer driven animation can do for movies. But one of the worst misses in recent years was the animation style used in polar express. It is a throwback to the early days of wooden film performances. It takes the worst of both worlds, it dumbs down the relatability of the characters by mostly eliminating the emotional and personal aspects of the character. At the same time the animation is seems like it is a bad attempt to look real life. In other words it is a cheap looking attempt at real life and a poor version of animation as well. In short, the worst of both worlds. I love the Polar Express story but hated the movie because of the animation. I was tremendously excited when I thought I would get a chance to see a live action picture with Jim Carrey playing a role made for him. It could have been a new classic. But now it will be a never was using the animation. My Christmas wish would be that Jim Carrey gets another chance to act in this timeless story as a real person using CGI sparingly.

Laugh if you will, but for my money the best film adaptation of this story is still The Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Caine is my favorite Scrooge, despite being surrounded by puppets.

I thought that this movie was too dark--in terms of lighting--in several scenes so that the 3-D technology wasn't as arresting as it was in--say--"Coraline." It did very little for me. I'd rather seen a real Jim Carrey instead of a fake Jim Carrey. Somebody needs to wake up the director and get him back to the real world. Two stars is as good as this movie gets.

The pacing of the film was horrendously slow. Film makers are getting so enthralled, witness 2012, that the idea of telling a story, with real characters who have an arc in the film, is getting lost in the shuffle. Christmas Carol was horrible. Absolutely horrible. I had the feeling all through the film of "Wow, look what I can do with technology!" Just tell the story and be done with it.

One more thing. If the Ghost of Christmas Present laughed one more time I was ready to throw pop corn and Junior Mints at the screen. Seriously, one of the most annoying sequences in film that I've seen in a long time.

Methinks there are too many Scrooges rating this movie. We loved it!

I agree with Lowell and laugh at both of us, but I love The Muppet Christmas Carol also. It is actually more for adults because of all the wonderful dialogue that kids might miss.