A Carol Christmas (TV 2003)

A Corol Christmas follows the basic plot of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, but the story has been modernized. The traditional "Scrooge" character is a talk show host named Carol (...

Director:

Matthew Irmas

Writer:

Tom Amundsen

Stars:

Tori Spelling, Dinah Manoff, William Shatner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tori Spelling	...	Carol Cartman
Dinah Manoff	...	Aunt Marla
William Shatner	...	Dr. Bob / Ghost of Christmas Present
Gary Coleman	...	Ghost of Christmas Past
Michael Landes	...	Jimmy
Paula Trickey	...	Beth
Nina Siemaszko	...	Roberta
Jason Brooks	...	John Joyce
Holmes Osborne	...	Hal
Holliston Coleman	...	Lily
David Atkinson	...	Crew Member
David Chisum	...	Frank
Ethan Sandler	...	Jerry
Steffani Brass	...	Lindsey
Kurt Doss	...	Tyler

Storyline

A Corol Christmas follows the basic plot of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, but the story has been modernized. The traditional "Scrooge" character is a talk show host named Carol (Tori Spelling).

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | character name in title

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Genres:

Family | Comedy | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Carol karácsonya

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Entertainment, Alpine Medien Productions, Larry Levinson Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 120 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Shatner appears as the ghost of Christmas present; when he "moves" Carol from one location to another, a Star Trek teleporter effect is used, in reference to Shatner's famous role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek.

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Quotes

Carol: You know, it would be a shame to have to go home and tell your family that you lost your job on Christmas Eve, wouldn't it?

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Connections

Version of A Christmas Carol (1943)

User Reviews

A pleasant surprise, especially considering Tori.

Each year, the Christmas/Chanukah season sees a plethora of new and reissued movies celebrating the holidays. Some are groaners, a few are terrific (such as "Comfort and Joy" elevated by Nancy McKeon and Steven Eckholt's performances), and a handful make seasonal films worth taking a chance on. "A Carol Christmas" is one of these. I almost skipped it because of Tori Spelling, but can't resist checking out the latest "Christmas Carol" pastiches. Tori's acting was better here than what I've seen previously to about the same degree that the reformed Carol was to the "bad" Carol. Gary Coleman, as the Ghost of Christmas Past, was surprisingly and wisely understated. Willam Shatner, whose "real life" counterpart was a Dr. Phil send-up, was campy as usual. But writer Tom Amundsen cleverly managed to fit the ghost's campiness within the "real world" of the story. Dinah Manoff was outstanding as the conniving Aunt Marla, on whose machinations the plot revolves. Initially, Jason Brooks struck me as an odd choice for Carol's love interest, but he won me over. The key to the success of "A Carol Christmas," in my opinion, is the fact that Amundsen, who wrote several episodes of the classic series "Perfect Strangers," combined some excellent comedy with a somewhat gentle touch when it came to copying Dickens' original. He was also restrained without being coy in the way he made his points about the moral messages in the film. "A Carol Christmas" is, in my opinion, far better than several big screen Christmas releases of the past two or three years, in which major stars have strained and struggled with overblown scripts in efforts that yielded precious few real laughs. A tip of the hat as well to the always reliable Michael Landes, and Nina Siemanszko (recurring in the Mystery Woman series on Hallmark). They and other supporting cast members gave this surprisingly good Christmas film a realism and poignancy that left us with smile on our lips and a warm feeling in our hearts.