A Christmas Carol (PG)
Christmas Specials Wiki; Disney Movies; Disney Wiki; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Disney+; Google Play; Movies Anywhere; Vudu; YouTube

This came out in 2009, but I didn't see it until 2023. I've always thought of it in the same way as The Polar Express (which I also didn't see until 2023), because they're both animated using motion capture, and have a similar look. I think for a long time I had little interest in seeing either movie, mainly because of that look, but I eventually changed my mind. And I'm glad I did, because both movies are pretty good, and I ended up liking the animation more than I expected to.

Well, this is a classic story that has been told many times in many ways, so I don't feel like going into great detail about it here. You know what it's about: an old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge (here voiced by Jim Carrey) hates Christmas, and is mean to his employee, Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman) and to his own nephew, Fred (Colin Firth). (Though on a side note, it has always kind of bugged me that Scrooge calls Fred "poor", but when we actually see him having a Christmas party with friends and family, he seems relatively well-to-do. He even has a housekeeper or something. But that's an issue I have with a lot of literature from the era in which the original story was written.) Anyway... on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his long dead partner, Jacob Marley (Oldman), who warns him of a dire fate if he doesn't change his ways, but says Scrooge will be visited by three spirits. (It's also always bugged me that Marley says the spirits will haunt Scrooge on three consecutive nights, but end up doing so in just one night.) They are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come (all voiced by Carrey... well, Wikipedia says they are, but I don't recall the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come saying anything). I found it interesting that Christmas Past appeared in the form of, basically, a candle with a face, while Christmas Yet to Come appeared as a shadow. Light and shadow are neat counterpoints, don't you think? Well, the things they show Scrooge make him decide to change his miserly ways and treat everyone better.

For a ways into the movie I thought it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the story, but as it went on there were more and more departures, which I thought were interesting choices for both animation and storytelling. But it's still mostly faithful to the story, I guess. I was surprised, though, by how dark it could get at times, and how scary it could be. For awhile I was thinking this would be a decent first introduction to the story for kids, but later I thought... maybe this isn't as kid-friendly as you'd expect it to be. But all in all, I'd say it's a pretty good take on the story, for adults or older kids, if probably not for little kids. And it could also be a bit funny, at times. And it has an excellent cast, only a few of whom I've mentioned. And... I don't know what else to say.