As one of the most oft-told holiday stories, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol hardly needs any summary. Director Robert Zemeckis resurrects his animation style from The Polar Express to give Dickens’s cautionary tale another visit. Fortunately this time Zemeckis manages to avoid the dead-eye issue that plagued his last holiday treat. Taking a page from an Eddie Murphy movie, Jim Carrey takes on the Scrooge role, as well as all three of the visiting ghosts. Since one is a flaming candle, one a portly jolly tub of man, and one a skeleton, it’s tough to tell it’s Carry behind all of the make-up and animation. Actually, all of the make-up and animation make it tough to tell what he is doing at all. The heart of Zemeckis’s film, which he also wrote, is dark and dreary. Even with the animation, it’s quite adult. It’s this more grown-up nature that makes the film enjoyable and the moments of whimsy feel out of place. Zemeckis doesn’t walk the line between the two extremes with any finesse and it’s one of the few – albeit it big – faults with the film. Where Zemeckis shines is in the visuals. Between snow falling and Scrooge flying, there’s a whole lot of eye candy packed into this stocking. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. FOUR STARS
Reviewed by Tim Plant