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IMDbPro

A Christmas Carol

  • 20092009
  • PGPG
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
114K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,355
1,663
Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol (2009)
An animated retelling of Charles Dickens classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.
Play trailer2:25
13 Videos
99+ Photos
AnimationAdventureComedy
An animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.An animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.An animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
114K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,355
1,663
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Robert Zemeckis
    • Writers
      • Charles Dickens(based on the classic story by)
      • Robert Zemeckis(written for the screen by)
    • Stars
      • Jim Carrey
      • Gary Oldman
      • Colin Firth
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Robert Zemeckis
    • Writers
      • Charles Dickens(based on the classic story by)
      • Robert Zemeckis(written for the screen by)
    • Stars
      • Jim Carrey
      • Gary Oldman
      • Colin Firth
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 328User reviews
    • 251Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 5 nominations

    Videos13

    A Christmas Carol: Trailer #2
    Trailer 2:25
    A Christmas Carol: Trailer #2
    A Christmas Carol: "The Event"
    Trailer 2:19
    A Christmas Carol: "The Event"
    A Christmas Carol
    Trailer 2:34
    A Christmas Carol
    "Visited by Three Ghosts" from A Christmas Carol.
    Clip 1:24
    "Visited by Three Ghosts" from A Christmas Carol.
    "Shrinking, Sliding, Falling" from A Christmas Carol.
    Clip 0:47
    "Shrinking, Sliding, Falling" from A Christmas Carol.
    "Joy to the World" from A Christmas Carol.
    Clip 0:24
    "Joy to the World" from A Christmas Carol.
    "I'm Still Here" from A Christmas Carol.
    Clip 0:51
    "I'm Still Here" from A Christmas Carol.
    "Fezziwigs" from A Christmas Carol
    Clip 0:51
    "Fezziwigs" from A Christmas Carol
     "Crachit's Surprise" from A Christmas Carol.
    Clip 0:51
    "Crachit's Surprise" from A Christmas Carol.
    A Christmas Carol
    Clip 0:19
    A Christmas Carol
    A Christmas Carol's "Four Roles"
    Featurette 2:35
    A Christmas Carol's "Four Roles"
    A Christmas Carol's "Perfect Partnership"
    Featurette 2:22
    A Christmas Carol's "Perfect Partnership"

    Photos196

    Jim Carrey, Cary Elwes, and Bob Hoskins in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Fay Masterson, Molly C. Quinn, Daryl Sabara, Samantha Hanratty, Ryan Ochoa, and Sage Ryan in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Ryan Ochoa, and Sage Ryan in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Jacquie Barnbrook, Sonje Fortag, and Steve Valentine in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Robert Zemeckis and Robert Presley in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Robert Zemeckis in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Robert Zemeckis in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey and Robin Wright in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol (2009)
    Gary Oldman, Ryan Ochoa, and Sage Ryan in A Christmas Carol (2009)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jim Carrey
    Jim Carrey
    • Scrooge…
    Gary Oldman
    Gary Oldman
    • Bob Cratchit…
    Colin Firth
    Colin Firth
    • Fred
    Steve Valentine
    Steve Valentine
    • Funerary Undertaker…
    Daryl Sabara
    Daryl Sabara
    • Undertaker's Apprentice…
    Sage Ryan
    Sage Ryan
    • Tattered Caroler
    Amber Gainey Meade
    Amber Gainey Meade
    • Tattered Caroler…
    Ryan Ochoa
    Ryan Ochoa
    • Tattered Caroler…
    Bobbi Page
    Bobbi Page
    • Tattered Caroler…
    Ron Bottitta
    Ron Bottitta
    • Tattered Caroler…
    Samantha Hanratty
    Samantha Hanratty
    • Beggar Boy
    • (as Sammi Hanratty)
    • …
    Julian Holloway
    Julian Holloway
    • Fat Cook…
    Cary Elwes
    Cary Elwes
    • Portly Gentleman #1…
    Robin Wright
    Robin Wright
    • Fan
    • (as Robin Wright Penn)
    • …
    Bob Hoskins
    Bob Hoskins
    • Fezziwig…
    Jacquie Barnbrook
    Jacquie Barnbrook
    • Mrs. Fezziwig…
    Lesley Manville
    Lesley Manville
    • Mrs. Cratchit
    Molly C. Quinn
    Molly C. Quinn
    • Belinda Cratchit
    • (as Molly Quinn)
    • Director
      • Robert Zemeckis
    • Writers
      • Charles Dickens(based on the classic story by)
      • Robert Zemeckis(written for the screen by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Jim Carrey has described the film as "a classical version of A Christmas Carol. There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents. I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, 'Yeah, that's for real.' We were very true to the book. It's beautiful. It's an incredible film."
    • Goofs
      Marley tells Scrooge that one spirit will visit him at 1:00 am for the next three nights, but they all appear to him in the same night. This is repeated verbatim from the book, in which, following all the visits, Scrooge calls them "clever spirits" for doing it all in one night.
    • Quotes

      [from trailer]

      Ebenezer Scrooge: What do you want with me?

      Jacob Marley: You will be haunted by three spirits.

      Ebenezer Scrooge: I'd rather not.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Jay Leno Show: Episode #1.30 (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      God Bless Us Everyone
      Written and Produced by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri

      Performed by Andrea Bocelli

      Courtesy of Sugar s.r.l.

    User reviews328

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    a high-point for director Zemeckis, and a good step forward in motion-capture
    I wonder if Robert Zemeckis weren't a filmmaker if he would have become a pilot. Look at his films and you may find a recurring shot in them, if not all then at least a good lot of them: a shot up in the sky, flying around and bringing the audience along (i.e. the feather in Forrest Gump, the pull-back through the valley and mountains in Beowulf, Back to the Future with the flying Dolorean), and here too are shots like that, more than one in fact. It's exhilarating to see Zemeckis at a mastery of this particular shot, and in the full scope and awe in 3D it's even stronger to watch and wonder 'how did they do it(?)' With motion-capture, anything is possible... except, sadly, making one feel a true emotional connection to the material.

    Oh, don't get me wrong. It's an improvement over The Polar Express, whose creepiness was more unto itself and jarring as opposed to serving the story, and one can already see advancements in the technology from Beowulf, which was also lots of fun and had an edge to it allowed only with the digital animation. But for some reason- maybe my heart is a lump of coal or I wasn't in the right Christmas spirit or something- the material in the film didn't connect with me, except those moments that were funny (intentionally or not, sometimes due to Jim Carrey's performance), and it became something peculiar. It's a story that is practically timeless, and the director is at the top of his game, almost at the same control of the medium for a particular story like Forrest Gump or Back to the Future - maybe more-so.

    It's also still a WOOSH experience, not carrying the same time and effort for characters to really feel fully human before our eyes like, for example, Up did back in the summer. I mention all of this first since the story we all know pretty much (as an aside, I kept thinking back to the first incarnation of the story I saw as a child, the Muppet Christmas Carol, and marveled at how both that and this film kept much of the book's dialog and storytelling devices exactly), and it's almost pointless to recant it here. What is paramount to mention though is that Zemeckis, in keeping with the tone of the original Dickens text (and having the clout that he has), makes it a true Victorian horror movie.

    It should be said also that children will be hit or miss with this version; while they'll delight and be awed by the animation and moments of craziness (my favorite being the scene with the ghost Marley and his entire presentation before Scrooge, unhooked jaw uneasily included), they may be put off by the "old" language, some of it in that olde 19th century English Dickens wrote in. Perhaps this is why, against his own better judgment, Zemeckis decided to add in a few scenes to change the very faithful adaptation, the key one being the chase through the streets of London in the Christmas-Future sequence. This is smack dab in the middle of what is the best segment of the film - seeing death as a silhouette with a bony finger and Scrooge's stark pleas is truly chilling - and it suddenly makes it also the worst. It kills the tension and makes a strange sensation: does one laugh at a tiny-voiced Scrooge running around like a mini Daffy Duck cartoon while he's supposed to be facing down his own demise? It's entertaining to watch, but awkward to behold at this point of the story.

    That the motion-capture, for all of its beauty and detail in the faces and people and locations and dazzling set-pieces, doesn't engage on a purely spiritual level (not even to the extent that 'Muppet Christmas' did, that at least had the ghost of Henson on the production to keep things truly haunting), is somewhat forgivable for what Zemeckis does accomplish here. He puts a modern spin on a classic tale, makes it approximately dark and mostly uncompromising for all ages- adults will jump possibly more than the kids at the WHOA effects- and Jim Carrey is nothing short of astonishing.

    Carrey plays Scrooge in such a bravura way that only calls attention to itself as a dramatic part (only toward the end, when he becomes "happy" Scrooge are there a few unintentional laughs), and it may even be the best Scrooge seen in many years in any medium. Added to this are his *other* parts in the film, as the ghosts of Christmas past and present, the former creepy just on the pronunciation of 's'. Others like Gary Oldman and Colin Firth come off more or less fine if not remarkable (Oldman as Marley is fantastic - as Cratchit, a Oldman-faced Hobbit, is another thing).
    helpful•50
    21
    • Quinoa1984
    • Nov 9, 2009

    FAQ8

    • In the book, does Charles Dickens make Scrooge have a caricatured long hooked nose? If so, would Disney do that if the movie was made in 2020?
    • What is 'Disney's A Christmas Carol' about?
    • Is "A Christmas Carol" based on a book?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 6, 2009 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (Russia)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • A Christmas Carol: An IMAX 3D Experience
    • Production companies
      • Walt Disney Pictures
      • ImageMovers Digital
      • ImageMovers
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $200,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $137,855,863
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $30,051,075
      • Nov 8, 2009
    • Gross worldwide
      • $325,286,646
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 36 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
      • DTS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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