They say Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has been retold many different ways through film. So one might think that Disney’s rendition of this classic would be up against a lot of competition. I suppose that would be true, but Disney is the first to employ a hybrid of live acting and computer-generated animation called performance capture. An Associated Press article best explains the technology:
“Performance capture is a hybrid of live action and digital animation. Actors do their scenes on a bare sound stage, wearing skintight suits covered with sensors, reference points for digital cameras to record their body language and expressions in 360-degree detail.
Costumes, sets, props, visual effects and alterations to the actors’ features are filled in later by computer animators.”
Producer Robert Zemeckis first used performance capture on The Polar Express, and along with Jim Carrey, put on a modern spin on Dickens’ timeless tale.
Having not seen the Polar Express or any other performance-capture based film, I came into this unbiased. I thought the color, lighting, effects, and textures to be remarkably lifelike and detailed—perhaps even more so than what a traditional motion-picture camera can capture. The very hairs on old Ebenezer Scrooge’s head and all of his wrinkles were stunningly visible. Yet at the same you’re transported through 1840’s London often flying through buildings, crashing through vendor’s carts, and doing otherwise impossible feats. And of course digital animation allows producer’s creative fantasies to flow: Scrooge “surfs” on an icicle, “slides” down a storm pipe, and generally takes a pounding that never leaves a scratch on his frail old figure.
As far as the storyline goes, I’m a little rusty on this one. Last time I watched A Christmas Carol, it too was a Disney rendition, only it involved Mickey Mouse (and no, this was not just last year!). Parts of the plotline, such as where crippled child Tiny Tim fits in, were unexplainably vague. It was almost as if these portions were an afterthought grafted in to keep the story true to its original.
Much of the rest of the story is a ghost tale, and a strikingly real one at that. Bob Marley’s ghost is all too spectral and terrifying. At times he lets out angry, ghoulish rants, one leading to his near-toothless jaw snapping off and his ultra-real tongue and slobber dangling over the audience. His chains of past sins weigh him down with ear-shattering crashes and clangs every time he moves. Upon Marley’s exit, Scrooge observes ghosts flying all over London, each one tormented by sins of greed, murder, and other vices that comprised their time on Earth.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is disturbingly effeminate and hard to understand. The fact that he’s wrapped up in a ball of fire is both creepy and personifies his image as a “flamer.” I wondered why he was carrying what looked like a cheerleader’s megaphone—turns out it was used to snuff him out when he’d shown Scrooge what he came to show him.
Christmas Present reminds me of something out of The Little Mermaid, that is, until his work is complete and he shrivels up into a life-like skeleton and personifies the Kansas song “Dust in the Wind.”
Finally, as Scrooge’s death is predicted, he is chased by the grim reaper who’s riding a hearse drawn by two black horses. The only color is the horses’ eyes which glow a haunting red. Scrooge descends to the grave, where his open casket awaits, the fires of Hell glowing all around. The Reaper’s crippled black hand follows Scrooge every where until he finds himself back in his bedroom Christmas morning—the epiphany complete.
We all know how the story ends: Scrooge ends up realizing his miserly, stingy ways are wrong. He becomes kindhearted and charitable. He finds acceptance with family and friends and realizes there’s no need to spend Christmas stewing by himself.
The message of Dickens’ tale is a good reminder of the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. It’s a study in how extreme circumstances can change even the sourest of people. However, this film is dark and moribund, especially for young children, hence it’s PG rating. Several scenes will make you jump in your seat, and the realistically ghoulish depictions of ghosts and monsters are liable to leave youngsters having “nightmares before Christmas.” A 3-D version is also in theaters, and I can only imagine how much more in-your-face this film would become. The theater I watched in was, however, not dispensing the funky little glasses.
The language—true to British dialogue and accents of the era—can be hard to understand, while two scenes make an amusing play on the word “ass.” Tiny Tim leaves what could be considered a bit of a plot hole, and I wouldn’t recommend seeing this rendition without first having some background in the original story.
That said, performance capture is to this century what Pixar animation was to the 90’s. I would definitely recommend this contemporary twist on a classic Christmastime mainstay to get you in the holiday spirit this season.
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