I happen to have a Disney-produced VHS tape with an uncensored Santa's Workshop. (Interestingly, another short that's supposed to be on this Christmas collection *isn't* on this tape...and I have another version of the same Christmas video which does have all the listed shorts and where Santa's Workshop is censored.) But here's my question: should I do something special with this VHS tape, because there are fans/scholars seriously looking for the uncensored version?
I found the uncensored version as the very first hit in a Youtube search for "santa's workshop silly symphonies", so I don't think anyone's really looking all that seriously for it. Pretty sure it's on the Disney Treasures DVD too.
I happen to have a Disney-produced VHS tape with an uncensored Santa's Workshop. (Interestingly, another short that's supposed to be on this Christmas collection *isn't* on this tape...and I have another version of the same Christmas video which does have all the listed shorts and where Santa's Workshop is censored.) But here's my question: should I do something special with this VHS tape, because there are fans/scholars seriously looking for the uncensored version?
No need, I think. The uncensored version IS of course on the Treasures DVD edition from the 2000s.
I happen to have a Disney-produced VHS tape with an uncensored Santa's Workshop. (Interestingly, another short that's supposed to be on this Christmas collection *isn't* on this tape...and I have another version of the same Christmas video which does have all the listed shorts and where Santa's Workshop is censored.) But here's my question: should I do something special with this VHS tape, because there are fans/scholars seriously looking for the uncensored version?
No need, I think. The uncensored version IS of course on the Treasures DVD edition from the 2000s.
Directed by Don Hall Co-Directed by Qui Nguyen Screenplay by Qui Nguyen Heads of Story Lissa Treiman, David G. Derrick Jr.
Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu Cast Karan Soni, Alan Tudyk, Adelina Anthony, Abraham Benrubi, Jonathan Melo, Nik Dodani, Fransesca Reale, Emily Kuroda, Reed Buck Cast Katie Lowes, LaNisa Frederick, Dave Kohut, Alice Kina Diehl They've truly outdone themselves this time. In all my years of watching Disney movies, I don't think I've ever heard as bland and forgettable a title as Strange World. If you want to know why this movie bombed so hard at the box office, there's your first clue. It's the most non-descriptive, uninspiring movie title in Disney animation history. Oh boy, I can't wait to watch Music World, Savannah World, or Internet World. Even the Disneyland areas have more descriptive names!
All sarcasm aside, I don't think Strange World is as bad as the numbers suggest. There may be other reasons for its lackluster attendance: for one, the state of the economy in 2022, or perhaps larger trends in the movie-watching experience. Staying home may be the more affordable, and therefore the more attractive option. I also think there's a chance this movie will receive a positive reevaluation in a few years' time. I don't think it's as bad as some of their other recent output like Big Hero 6 or Ralph Breaks the Internet.
So what's this movie about? Ostensibly, it's a throwback to the classic adventure genre, with a whiff of fantasy. Of course, any exploration story nowadays involves a lot of rethinking. The genre's colonialist roots have to be discarded for something a little less exploitative. But the portrayal of Avalonia as being isolated is certainly a reasonable motivation. Just ask the Portuguese.
Strange World follows the Clade family: the long-lost explorer Jaeger Clade, his unwilling son Searcher Clade, and his excited son Ethan Clade. Searcher is a farmer growing Pando, a plant that yields some kind of electric sprouts that powers their land of Avalonia with 1930s technology and zero-gravity flight. But when the Pando crop begins to fail, Searcher and his family must go on an expedition into the heart of their world. It is here that Searcher is finally reunited with his dad. Bring on the generational trauma.
The Clades have a long-standing tradition of conflating what they want with what their children want. This becomes a problem once it becomes apparent that Ethan takes after his grandfather. The movie handles this issue competently, but not with any finesse. In fact, Searcher's neurotic tendencies, that are partly rooted in this life-long mismatch are initially played for laughs, until the plot arbitrarily demands that he overcome his incompetence. It's lazy writing, mired in bad comedy and an unwillingness to take the character seriously.
Meanwhile, Jaeger's single-minded determination to cross the mountains costs him his family and 25 years of his life, putting him in the running for Worst Disney Dad Ever. Surely he races past Buck Cluck and heads toward Mother Gothel in the bad parenting placement? Unfortunately, Jaeger and Searcher are also comedy characters, and the movie doesn't take their disagreement quite as seriously as it should, in relation to Searcher and Ethan. Jaeger is an extremely poor father. Ethan is just a teenager.
As for the other big thing, the so-called 'strange world'. Normally I would be happy to explore a more abstract environment, but this one doesn't do it for me. It looks like a cross between Pandora (the James Cameron Avatar world) and something out of Rick and Morty. It's supposed to be a dangerous ecosystem, but there's nothing dangerous about it. Nobody dies in the entire movie. I mean, even a first-time explorer can live there on his own for 25 years. This really takes the sting out of the adventure.
There is also the President of Avalonia, whose sole reason for existing is so she can serve as a villain at the eleventh hour. I called this one while watching the trailer, which speaks to just how badly this story device needs to be retired.
It doesn't help that also I pretty much predicted the big reveal, although I didn't expect the Fantastic Voyage analogy to quite be so literal. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the protagonist interacted with the Lion Turtle in a way that affected the story, but that's asking too much here. This movie doesn't go beyond It's The Environment, Stupid.
There are a lot of very interesting questions to be asked about generation and distribution of natural resources in a society. Questions that will have to be answered in the coming decade. But in Disney movies, there are only problems of attitude, so we never address any of these questions. Just like in Encanto, the family should be extremely powerful due to being the sole supplier of a resource that effectively runs their civilization, but nothing comes of this apart from a couple of statues in the town square. Who cares, there are no stakes in this movie. They don't even fix the inciting incident at the end: their civilization's energy supply did just vanish overnight!
Any questions about the world-building in this movie are pointless anyway, thanks to the resurrection of the storybook framing device. "It's only a comic book, it doesn't have to make sense." That pretty much undermines their whole argument, doesn't it? Never mind the environmental metaphor, it was just a comic!
Well, that's Strange World. A movie that meets all of its criteria, barely, but is too safe and superficial to inspire any sort of real wonder.
And what was the point in adding the dog? The dog is useless! I suppose I should also say something about Ethan and Diazo, the "first" LGBT+ couple in Disney Studio history. I'm not sure what I can say about it, given that Disney has played a game of chicken with this issue for a decade now. And the fact that I'm discussing it down here in this section gives away how little impact it has on the movie's overall narrative.
I liked the inclusion of the Primal Outpost board game, even if I thought its use as a metaphor for Jaeger and Searcher's inability to understand the new generation was a bit on the nose. Still, it wasn't as much on the nose than some other scenes, focusing on their actual noses...
It's hard to even classify this as a short... This is an ad marketed to parents for Strange World, the first act of the movie given the 8-bit treatment. I have no nostalgia for 8-bit animation, it's before my time.
Silly Symphonies: The Skeleton Dance (1929) | Directed by Walt Disney Mickey Mouse: Building a Building (1933) | Directed by David Hand | Featuring Walt Disney, Marcellite Garner, Pinto Colvig Figaro: Bath Day (1946) | Directed by Charles Nichols | Featuring Ruth Clifford, Clarence Nash Figaro: Figaro and Frankie (1947) | Directed by Charles Nichols | Featuring Ruth Clifford, Clarence Nash Goofy: Goofy Gymnastics (1949) | Directed by Jack Kinney | Featuring Pinto Colvig, John McLeash, Billy Bletcher Aquamania (1961) | Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman | Featuring Pinto Colvig, Kevin Cochoran, John Dehner We start off with The Skeleton Dance, the classic Silly Symphony. Who doesn't like spooky scary skeletons? I always found this one a bit creepy, which just goes to show what a great atmosphere it creates. And it's very well animated for the time. One of the quintessential black-and-white shorts.
Next is Building a Building. What I like about this short is its portrayal of Mickey, who effortlessly switches between the fool and the hero. Pete isn't even at his most villainous here, both he and Mickey are dealing with their surroundings a lot of the time. Later retrospectives don't capture this aspect well. The building site is a great setting for this kind of short, everything falling to pieces.
Bath Day is a Figaro cartoon. I'm not a fan of this era in general, and it's clear that Figaro in particular was promoted to hero status to compete with other studios, not on the basis of his personality. The alley cat is too much Warner Brothers, and I don't like his design much either. There's no weight to it.
The other Figaro short, Figaro and Frankie, invites further comparisons. This short is more its own thing, but plot-wise it's slighter than the other one. There's potential to complete Frankie's character arc once he gets rescued, but they don't commit to it. Still, he's a more rounded character than the alley cat. Figaro also had more to do in here.
Goofy Gymnastics is a slight twist on the familiar How To series, with Goofy partaking in some exercise. I'm never quite at ease with this design of Goofy, especially without the ears. I get that it's a lot easier to draw, he just looks like a Goofy-human hybrid in these. The short is alright, it has some good sight gags.
Goofy returns in Aquamania, one of my favorite Goofy shorts (even though it technically isn't one). It has a cool '60s soundtrack, an interesting color aquamarine palette, and some great slapstick. The timing is pretty sharp, and adding the squid into the mix creates even more comic potential. I also just love how wholesome the bond between Goofy and Goofy Jr. is here, supporting each other all the way through. You certainly can see where Goof Troop got its inspiration.
Can't say I agree on the quality of "Aquamania". The slapstick is too slow-paced, and not very excitingly staged, either. In other words, much the same as in Wolfgang Reitherman's badly-directed features. One thing is for sure; Reitherman was no Jack Kinney.
Mickey Mouse: Barnyard Olympics (1932) | Directed by Wilfred Jackson | Featuring Walt Disney, Pinto Colvig, Marcellite Garner Mickey Mouse: Mickey's Steam-Roller (1934) | Directed by David Hand | Featuring Walt Disney, Marcellite Garner, Jayne Shadduck Donald Duck: Donald's Nephews (1938) | Directed by Jack King | Featuring Clarence Nash Goofy: Goofy and Wilbur (1939) | Directed by Dick Huemer | Featuring Danny Webb Donald Duck: Donald's Cousin Gus (1939) | Directed by Jack King | Featuring Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig Donald Duck: The Flying Jalopy (1943) | Directed by Dick Lundy | Featuring Clarence Nash, Nestor Paiva Our first short this month is Barnyard Olympics, created to coincide with the 1932 Los Angeles games. Mickey Mouse and Pete square off in a cross-country race full of gags. This short has a lot of energy. I especially enjoyed the dachshund gags, and I was happy to see a bicycle appearing in this short. I was surprised to see it complete, however, since one scene features a gay stereotype.
The prettiest short of the lot is definitely Mickey's Steam-Roller. I'm in love with the aesthetic of the late black-and-white shorts. To my disappointment, however, the Disney+ version does not carry the original titles, which are available online. I'm also not fond of Mickey's expression in this short. He smiles with his mouth wide open all the time. It looks forced and unnatural. You can see his personality slipping away.
Donald's Nephews is surely the star of the lot. I watched this short over and over and over as a kid, and even as an adult it's bouncing with energy and great gags. It's no wonder Huey, Dewey, and Louie became such a mainstay at the Disney studios. Barks fans of course recall his other satire of modern pedagogy with Professor Pulpheart Clabberhead. I'm glad they branched out as characters, though, as this kind of antagonistic relationship limits storytelling options.
We also have the first Goofy short, Goofy and Wilbur, although it's fair to say that this is more Wilbur's story than Goofy's. I'm not sure if Wilbur was intended to be a recurring character, but this short certainly shows plenty of potential. I think animal versus animal stories generally work better than "man" versus animal, especially with characters of different sizes. I think it's a question of framing the action. When was the last time you battled a fish?
Donald's Cousin Gus introduces us to Gus Goose, Donald's gluttonous cousin. Although fat people aren't an appropriate subject of comedy anymore, I love this short for its crazily inventive gags. Snake-charming peas could never happen in real life, but the strength of the animation really sells the action. I also like the implication that Donald was saving all that food for himself, so he's really no better than his cousin.
The final short is one that I'd never seen before, but The Flying Jalopy is pretty darn good. There's a degree of cynicism in these 1940s shorts that help make Donald look more sympathetic, and Ben Buzzard is a great character in that regard. I'm surprised he wasn't brought back for stories with similar situations, the way Barks' pig villain would later come to do. I like a good fraud.
Post by That Duckfan on Sept 12, 2023 19:48:20 GMT
Disney 100 shorts - September
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: Trolley Troubles (1927) | Directed by Walt Disney Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: All Wet (1927) | Directed by Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse: The Barn Dance (1929) | Directed by Walt Disney | Featuring Walt Disney Mickey Mouse: Playful Pluto (1934) | Directed by Burt Gillett | Featuring Walt Disney, Pinto Colvig Mickey Mouse: Mickey's Kangaroo (1935) | Directed by David Hand | Featuring Walt Disney, Lee Millar, Don Brodie, Pinto Colvig Silly Symphonies: Merbabies (1938) | Directed by Rudy Ising and Vernon Stallings | Featuring Pinto Colvig, Leone LeDoux Pluto the Pup: Bone Trouble (1940) | Directed by Jack Kinney | Featuring Lee Millar, Clarence Nash Pluto: Pluto Junior (1942) | Directed by Clyde Geronimi | Featuring Pinto Colvig Oswald the Lucky Rabbit comes to Disney+! Trolley Troubles is Oswald's first short, where he plays a trolley conductor. There's no real story to speak of, the plot is very thin and the tunnel gag is repeated over and over. It's an interesting historical document, but there's not much there.
Thankfully, All Wet is much stronger narratively. Oswald pretends to be a lifeguard in order to impress a girl bunny, and then he has to go and actually rescue her. There's also the infamous hot dog spanking scene, reused in Mickey Mouse's first speaking appearance, The Carnival Kid (1929). This is a good short, probably my favorite of the lot.
Next, The Barn Dance. A lot of this is vintage Ub Iwerks, some incredible animation for its day. I love the return of the parrot from Steamboat Willie (1928) and Pete's theme from The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928) (or perhaps it was written for this short first?), and his rickety car! The ending is a little sudden, and it's rare for Mickey to lose outright against Pete. Early days, I guess.
Playful Pluto has entered animation history's annals thanks to the famous 'flypaper sequence' by Norm Ferguson. It's effective and cute, but part of me worries Disney bit off more than they could chew when they made Pluto into a star. This short follows Pluto making all kinds of mischief. It's fun, but also an early example of how Mickey would be increasingly sidelined in favor of his co-stars going forward.
Mickey receives a gift from Down Under in Mickey's Kangaroo. This short is a good example of how Disney often chose cute over funny, at times to its detriment. Sure, the idea of Pluto against a boxing baby kangaroo is cute, but it's really not enough to fill nine minutes. And once again, the original titles have not been restored. All I'm saying is, if your idea of fun is to see Mickey get beat up by a kangaroo, you have no business pitching Mickey Mouse shorts in my opinion.
Merbabies is another short that's more interesting for historical reasons than anything substantive. It's a collaboration with Harman-Ising Productions, who rented out some artists to Disney in order to complete Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Nothing actually happens in this short, it's just a parade of cuteness with one whole gag to wrap up the narrative. I don't know how much of this is Disney and how much is Harman-Ising, as I'm not familiar enough with their work.
The start of the Pluto shorts proper, Bone Trouble is one of the Pluto shorts. The funhouse mirror scenes are memorable, and help to advance the story. The sequence is a bit too long, but it makes for some entertaining and inventive animation. That said, I'm not the biggest Pluto fan, and this short is no exception. This restoration bills the title character as Pluto the Pup, which if original would be an interesting find. It's just plain Pluto later.
Introduction a child in an ongoing series is usually a sign of decline, but for Pluto Junior, it's a one-off. Pluto Jr.'s curiosity causes various hijinks to happen. I wasn't much engaged by this short. When a stoppable force meets an inanimate object, I tend to nod off. It's worse with characters that are portrayed as real animals, constrained by an animal intelligence, but by no means unique to them.
Mickey Mouse: When the Cat's Away (1929) | Directed by Walt Disney | Featuring Walt Disney, Marcellite Garner Mickey Mouse: Fiddling Around (1930) | Directed by Walt Disney | Featuring Walt Disney Mickey Mouse: Camping Out (1934) | Directed by David Hand | Featuring Walt Disney, MArcellite Garner, Pinto Colvig, Melvin J. Gibby Silly Symphonies: Wynken, Blynken & Nod (1938) | Directed by Graham Heid | Featuring Mary Moder Donald Duck: Old MacDonald Duck (1941) | Directed by Jack King | Featuring Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig Donald Duck: Inferior Decorator (1948) | Directed by Jack Hannah | Featuring Clarence Nash, James MacDonald Donald Duck: Chips Ahoy (1956) | Directed by Jack Kinney | Featuring Clarence Nash, Dessie Flynn, James MacDonald As far as early Mickey shorts go, When the Cat's Away is a weird one. Mickey and Minnie here are the size of regular mice, and there's a whole ensemble cast that looks just like them. It's always a treat to see Mickey shorts this early, but this one looks a bit uncanny in places. This one's a dead end.
It's rare for Mickey to be all alone, but that's just what he is in Fiddling Around (also known as Just Mickey). The year following Ub Iwerks' departure has some rough animation, but as a character vehicle this short works surprisingly well. The acting is front and center in this short, with Mickey displaying various emotions while performing on the violin. It's a pretty thing to try for this era.
Camping Out sees Mickey and friends on a camping trip getting attacked by a swarm of violent mosquitoes. It's a surprisingly ferocious short for its day, with various references to war. The animation is simply excellent, this is peak pie-eyed Mickey in my opinion. The story is a little barebones however: there's no real sense of progression in the fights, and it ends up as just a pile of gags.
There are few shorts I remember watching from childhood, but Wynken, Blynken & Nod is one of them. And not in a positive light either: even as a kid, I used to think this short was dreadfully dull. On re-watch, it's not quite so bad now, but it still is quite twee. I feel like fishing was much bigger in the popular imagination back then. I've never had the inclination to go fishing, though I did catch a fish once.
Ah, Old MacDonald Duck! This is another one I remember well. The first three minutes of this short are just perfect. Then we get the business with the bee, which is so-so. If they'd ended the short on a note similar to its beginning, I would call this a bona fide classic. As it stands, it's still a very good short, but it lacks just that little bit of oomph.
I tend not to be the biggest fan of Spike the bee shorts, as I've never cared much for Tom and Jerry-style antics, but Inferior Decorator isn't half bad. It's got a clear setup, some clever tricks well balanced between the two antagonists, and it doesn't outstay its welcome. The final gag is a bit over the top, but alright.
The last traditional Donald Duck theatrical short, Chips Ahoy has been restored beautifully to all its Cinemascope glory. Chip 'n' Dale shorts can be a bit hit-and-miss sometimes, but this one is a cut above the rest. There are some good gags, and everybody gets something to do. Even Dale makes himself useful. A worthy send-off to a great series.
Once Upon a Studio (2023) Directed & Written by Dan Abraham, Trent Correy Starring Scott Adsit, Stan Alexander, Stephen J. Anderson, Tony Anselmo, Akwafina, Jason Bateman, Bill Baucom, Peter Behn, Kristen Bell, Jodi Benson, Robby Benson, Eric Blore, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Griffen Campbell, Pat Carroll, Aul'i Cravalho, Jim Cummings, Ariana DeBose, Chris Diamantopoulos, Bobby Driscoll, Cliff Edwards, Richard Epcar, Bill Farmer, Verna Felton, Keith Ferguson, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad, Ginnifer Goodwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonathan Groff, Robert Guillaume, Jennifer Hale, Jess Harnell, Sterling Holloway, Tom Hulce, Jeremy Irons, Billy Joel, Dwayne Johnson, Bob Joles, Charles Judels, Judy Kuhn, Nathan Lane, Luke Lowe, Barbara Luddy, James MacDonald, Burny Mattinson, Idina Menzel, Jim Meskimen, Piotr Michael, Mandy Moore, Clarence Nash, Bob Newhart, Paige O'Hara, Raymond S. Persi, Ian R'Mante, John C. Reilly, Phoenix Reisser, Kaitlyn Robrock, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, Chris Sanders, Sarah Silverman, Lee Slobotkin, David Spade, Natalie Babbitt Taylor, Josh Robert Thompson, Kelly Marie Tran, Alan Tudyk, Mark Walton, Scott Weinger, Frank Welker, Richard White, Harland Williams, Renika Williams, Robin Williams, Daniel Wolfe, James Woods, Michael-Leon Wooley, Alan Young Dedicated to Burny Mattinson
For their 100th anniversary, the Walt Disney Animation Studios have produced a new short, a sweet celebration of all the characters they've brought to life over the years. (The ones that aren't currently banned, anyway.) Everyone gathers for an after-hours celebration at the house of Mouse. The animation looks great and they're really gone to town in bringing back characters from every nook and cranny of Disney history. Nice music, too. It's cute, it's fun, what more could you want?
Alice's Wonderland (1923) Scenario and Direction by Walt Disney Featuring Virginia Davis, Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, Louise A. Wright
One hundred years ago, a bunch of scrappy young artists came together to produce a short and test their chances. Instead of an animated character in the real world, they would portray a real character in an animated world: Alice in Cartoonland, or Slumberland, or Wonderland. The result is rudimentary, but effective. Virginia Davis plays the role of Alice, as well as any four year old kid could do in those days. The animation is early days, but what a joy it is to see. This is where the magic begins. Laugh-O-gram Films Inc. soon closed up over bankruptcy, but producer-distributor Margaret J. Winkler signed a contract with the animators nonetheless. And so, the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was born.
Written for the screen and directed by Robert Zemeckis Based on the classic story by Charles Dickens
Featuring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Fionnula Flanagan Cast Steve Valentine, Daryl Sabara, Sage Ryan, Amber Gainey Meade, Ryan Ochoa, Bobbi Page, Ron Bottitta, Sammi Hanratty, Julian Holloway, Jacquie Barnbrook, Lesley Manville, Molly Quinn, Fay Masterson, Leslie Zemeckis, Paul Blackthorne, Michael Hyland, Kerry Hoyt, Julene Renee, Callum Blue, Matthew Henerson, Aaron Rapke, Sonje Fortag In 2007, Robert Zemeckis teamed up with Disney to launch a joint venture, ImageMovers Digital, which used Zemeckis' pioneering use of motion capture to create computer-animated movies. ImageMovers Digital produced two features before the company folded in 2011. A Christmas Carol is the first of those two movies.
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of those seminal classics of English literature. It's a story ripe for adaptation: it centers on a famous holiday, it has a strong social and emotional core, and unlike other Christmas stories, it's not overtly religious. As a result, it's a story people are extremely familiar with these days. I've seen at least half a dozen different adaptations. However, this also means that there's a lot of competition in the Christmas Carol space.
Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol is a fairly faithful adaptation. It directly quotes from the novella in many places. This makes it markedly different from his other movies, in that the plot has been worked out in advance. The result is a movie that boasts a lot of visual pyrotechnics, like long tracking shots and computer-generated innovations, but one that doesn't have a strong narrative driving it. Instead, the viewer is treated to a checklist of A Christmas Carol moments. Marley was dead to begin with, nephew Fred and the charity workers, decreasing the surplus population. I'm a big fan of A Christmas Carol, really I am, but I have to admit this isn't the most inspired adaptation out there.
One area where we can see this is in the tone. The tone of this movie is a bit inconsistent. Mostly, it follows the book, but there are moments where it goes hard on the horror aspects or adds a thrilling chase sequence. More bewildering are the occasional moments of comedy. Clearly someone understood that a completely po-faced adaptation is not needed when you've got Jim Carrey as your lead, but Carrey gives as straight a performance as he can. The result is a mix of comedic moments that fall out of tune with the general tone of the story.
One peculiar element this movie also shares with The Polar Express is the decision to cast a few big name actors in multiple roles. In this instance, Jim Carrey plays the miserly Scrooge as well as all three Christmas spirits. I'm not sure why this was needed, and some more variety in the parts would've been welcome. Carrey does a decent impression of Scrooge, but it's clear he's playing a character. His final turn as the jolly Scrooge seems especially phoned in. Gary Oldman as Bob Cratchit and Colin Firth as Fred are also questionable casting choices. Neither seem entirely right for the role.
The motion capture effect itself works well enough. Many people complain about the 'dead eyes' that characters in these movies have, but I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be. What I do wonder about, however, is what it adds to the story exactly. In fact, motion capture seems to be to bring out the worst of both worlds. Much of A Christmas Carol plays out like theater, characters talking in rooms. In such a situation, live-action seems a better fit: the audience can relate more to real actors showing real emotions than computer puppets doing the same. In addition, since the world of A Christmas Carol is one mostly grounded in Victorian London, there's not much you can do with the background either. I can't think of anything in this movie that couldn't have been accomplished by a typical visual effects team for a live-action movie. That wasn't so for ImageMovers' previous films.
That said, there is still a lot to like about the movie. The movie hits on the right notes, and there are several moments I wish had been expanded to flesh out the character. Goodness knows they had time enough, there's quite a bit of padding in the movie. Scrooge's upbringing, his relationship with his sister and with Marley, the hardships of some of the people Scrooge humbugs, all these things could've been used to make Scrooge a more fully integrated character. Scrooge is very worldly man for his time, as he displays in his argument with the charity workers. Dickens didn't take the time to further flesh out these aspects of the story since he was on a deadline, but a movie that seemingly has time to spare could well have made those choices.
A Christmas Carol is a story I've always cherished. I empathize with Scrooge, a lonesome man who tries very hard to be the master of his own domain. It's easy to forget other in our modern world, or to neglect oneself. I also love the narrative device of the three spirits, that has Scrooge end up proclaiming he will live in the past, the present, and the future. Yes, the use of Tiny Tim can come off as emotional blackmail at the worst of times, but that's just the benchmark of a good adaptation, of which there are plenty.
This version of the story certainly puts the "A" in A Christmas Carol. It's by no means the worst adaptation, but it doesn't stand out much either. Still, it's hard to go wrong with Dickens. A Christmas Carol is a classic tale, and I expect it'll remain in the popular consciousness for a long time to come. One interesting aspect of the movie is the design of Ebenezer Scrooge... He looks like Mr. Punch. There's a debt owed to Victorian cartoonists for some of the character designs, but it differs per character. They never go into full caricature mode, since they are still played by real people. Rating 6.50