Jim Carrey & Gary Oldman

Robert Zemeckis has long been a filmmaker divided against himself, the techno-geek warring with the storyteller.

His newest work, "Disney's A Christmas Carol" (Charles Dickens -- demoted!), is an extravaganza of colliding intentions. But just when you give up on it, usually in the middle of its latest, extraneous, gyroscoping thrill-ride sequence, Zemeckis reminds you that he's capable of true visual dynamism, enhanced but not wholly dictated by the digital landscape he so clearly adores.

Plus, Jim Carrey is good as Scrooge. There's surprisingly little shtick in his performance. (He plays all the key ghosts as well, and Scrooge at various stages of his younger life.)

I'm all over the place regarding this all-over-the-place project, though I prefer it to Zemeckis' previous motion-capture animated features, "The Polar Express" (2004) and "Beowulf" (2007). Those really gave me the willies. Why did Anthony Hopkins have a digital beard in "Beowulf"? I still wake up screaming over that one. I can't spend all that time in the uncanny valley between doll-like inhumanity and approximations of humanity without starting to sweat.

With "A Christmas Carol," at least, Zemeckis has hold of a story that flies around and flits through time, so the whiz-bang aerial swoops over 1840s London aren't entirely jarring.

In many ways Zemeckis' adaptation stays true to its source.

The best scenes are the quietest: Early on, as we follow Scrooge through his petty, venal paces, Carrey (digitally outfitted with a chin and a nose of roughly equal length) plays the character's meanness and solitude for keeps. It's a thoughtful and honest performance, which is a strange thing to say about a film so hung up on visual fakery.

The actors do their thing, and then Zemeckis and his fellow lab technicians take over.

Gary Oldman provides the raw performance fodder for Bob Cratchit (who, as digitally manipulated, resembles Joe E. Brown) as well as Tiny Tim. Bob Hoskins turns up as Mr. Fezziwig, among others. Zemeckis has made strides since "The Polar Express" in terms of facial expressivity. And yet I remain cold to the motion-capture genre. Or rather, it remains cold to me. I always feel like the eyes aren't right, the foreheads are too Botoxed and the teeth were stolen from George Washington.

Here's what I wish Zemeckis would do: I wish he would explore a variation on motion-capture technology that takes us out of the uncanny valley and into more daring, less realistic imaginings. The most fluid individual passages in "A Christmas Carol" -- not the flashy stuff, but the simple, street-level moments -- reveal a director who knows how to keep his roving, restless camera eye on the right story details. Half the time he seems to be thinking ahead to the next step in the movie's commercial afterlife, i.e., the inevitable Disneyland and Disney World attractions. The other half of the time, he's doing what he's supposed to be doing as a cinematic storyteller. And even if you don't personally respond to the style, you admire the dogged craftsman behind it.

 

     RSS

 

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" Movie Trailer

Charles Dickens' timeless tale of an old miser who must face Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-to-Come as rein-visioned by Robert Zemeckis and staring Jim Carrey. Coming to theaters in Disney 3D and IMAX 3D

 

Receive Movie Reviews
Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

 

MPAA rating: PG (for scary sequences and images).

Running time: 1:36.

Cast: Jim Carrey (Ebenezer Scrooge/Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come); Gary Oldman (Bob Cratchit/Tiny Tim/Young Marley/Marley's Ghost); Colin Firth (Fred); Robin Wright Penn (Belle/Fan); Bob Hoskins (Old Fezziwig/Old Joe); Cary Elwes (Dick Wilkins/Mad Fiddler, et al.).

Credits: Directed by Robert Zemeckis; written by Zemeckis, based on the novella by Charles Dickens; produced by Steve Starkey, Zemeckis and Jack Rapke. A Walt Disney Pictures release.

 

Recent Movie Reviews - Films in Theaters

 

 

Gabourey Sidibe

Precious
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious

Precious is an exceptional film about nearly unendurable circumstances, endured. The story is about a teen living in 1980s Harlem, raped by her barely glimpsed father, abused by her unfathomably cruel mother. Precious is illiterate but bright, and she switches to an alternative school where she comes under the life-saving tutelage of Ms. Rain. There'll be an Oscar nomination or two in this film's near future

 

George Clooney & Ewan McGregor

The Men Who Stare at Goats
George Clooney & Ewan McGregor in The Men Who Stare at Goats

Here's a quirky comedic drama about one of the stranger aspects of the modern U.S. Army: a time when certain high-ranking officers felt that the New Age techniques and beliefs of the counterculture could transform military practice as we know it. Director Grant Heslov is unable to make "Goats" a completely successful film, but it's still worth watching because it provides a showcase for a group of actors

 

Milla Jovovich & Elias Koteas

The Fourth Kind
Milla Jovovich & Elias Koteas in The Fourth Kind

Milla Jovovich plays a Nome, Alaska, psychotherapist whose sleep-deprived patients tell her chilling, cryptic stories of owls and abduction when she puts them under hypnosis. The conceit that director Olatunde Osunsanmi milks is an interview between the director and the 'real' Dr. Abigail Tyler

 

Adam Goldberg & Marley Shelton

(Untitled)
Adam Goldberg & Marley Shelton in (Untitled)

The new comedy "(Untitled)" wanders the exhibition spaces, lofts and performance venues of Manhattan, eavesdropping on the narcissistic mutterings of a group of artists, bohemians and poseurs. This is a tale of two brothers. Adrian (Adam Goldberg) devotes his sour life to forbiddingly atonal music. Brother Josh (Eion Bailey) is the opposite: no standards but lots of money in the bank.

 

Cameron Diaz & James Marsden

The Box
Cameron Diaz & James Marsden in The Box

A man arrives at a suburban couple's home, having previously placed a mysterious item at the couple's doorstep. The man (Frank Langella) tells the woman (Cameron Diaz): Push the button on this thing, and you'll get rich, but someone in the world will die as a result. Langella is just right -- a little menacing, a little comforting. Everything else is not quite right, or not in the least right.

 

Michael Jackson's This Is It
Michael Jackson in Michael Jackson's This Is It

Produced with the cooperation of the Jackson estate, "This Is It" has no interest in telling the full story of anything, or the crumbling state of anyone. Director Kenny Ortega -- Jackson's partner in staging the London concert that never came to fruition -- is simply trying to suggest in some detail what sort of overstuffed career retrospective Jackson was attempting

 

Hilary Swank & Richard Gere

Amelia
Hilary Swank & Richard Gere in Amelia

This Amelia Earhart biopic isn't a bad movie, but it's distressingly ordinary for such an extraordinary subject. Played by an aptly cast and game Hilary Swank, Earhart becomes a checklist of Historical Legend accomplishments

 

Astro Boy Anime Movie Feature

Astro Boy
Freddie Highmore & Kristen Bell in Astro Boy

Astro Boy first appeared in a Japanese comic in 1951. His adventures led to a '60s Japanese TV series, then to the first of the American spin-offs, and now "Astro Boy" hits the big screen. I wish the film version of "Astro Boy" provided a stronger antidote to mediocrity. With the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell and Nicolas Cage

 

John C. Reilly & Patrick Fugit

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
John C. Reilly & Patrick Fugit in Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

In this campy vampire flick, the truce between vampires who sip, leaving humans a little weaker but none the wiser, and those who gorge, leaving death and destruction behind, comes to an end. This is an adaptation of the frothy kids book series by Darren Shan.

 

Where the Wild Things Are
Max Records & Catherine Keener in Where the Wild Things Are

Based on Maurice Sendak's 338-word storybook, Spike Jonze's film strikes minor chords and plaintive emotions where other directors would've gone for the throat. A boy (Max Records) coping with a household unsteadied by divorce sets sail for an island where the Wild Things wrestle with the same clique issues and hurt feelings the boy deals with back home.

The Damned United
Michael Sheen & Timothy Spall in The Damned United

This engaging film, a winner for soccer fans and soccer idiots alike, focuses on Brian Clough, one-time English footballer turned failed manager of the Leeds United club. Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in 'Frost/Nixon,' portrays Clough

New York, I Love You
Natalie Portman & Maggie Q in 'New York, I Love You'

The ongoing 'Cities We Love' project that began three years ago with 'Paris, je t'aime' continues its global exploration with 'New York, I Love You.' Eleven directors and 16 screenwriters contributed to the omnibus affair. I like the idea of the film more than the film itself; the batting average with the Paris project was a good deal higher. Nonetheless, this one provides some compensatory satisfactions

Couples Retreat
Vince Vaughn & Jason Bateman in Couples Retreat

Four couples on a tropical retreat think they're in for umbrella drinks and beach time. They're met instead with a stern regimen of 'couples-whispering' tactics. Though it boasts a good cast that also includes Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Jon Favreau, 'Couples Retreat' is pretty meager and more than a little depressing.

A Serious Man
Michael Stuhlbarg & Richard Kind in A Serious Man

Set in 1967 in the Minneapolis suburbs, 'A Serious Man' is a tart, brilliantly acted fable of life's little cosmic difficulties, a Coen brothers comedy with a darker philosophical outlook than 'No Country for Old Men' but with a script rich in verbal wit.

Good Hair
Chris Rock & Paul Mooney in Good Hair

Comedian Chris Rock's 'Good Hair' consists of two documentaries braided together, one enjoyable, the other enjoyable and provocative. Rock and a film crew covered the 2007 edition of the Bronner Bros. Hair Show in Atlanta and its climactic Hair Battle Royale

Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore in Capitalism: A Love Story

At its best, this uneven work represents Michael Moore at the peak of his argumentative skills. Roughly a third of its anecdotal and illustrative footage hinges on precise details strong enough to support Moore's wider indictments of the Western world's preferred way to make a buck and treat its citizenry. It is the right time to be dealing with these questions

Big Fan
Patton Oswalt & Kevin Corrigan in Big Fan

Starring comedian Patton Oswalt, 'Big Fan' is a poignant, dead-on examination of a crisis in the life of the most die-hard of die-hard New York Giants football fans. Its situations can be outrageous, but its sense of the core reality it describes is impeccable.

The Invention of Lying (3 Stars)
Ricky Gervais & Jennifer Garner in The Invention of Lying

In the world according to 'The Invention of Lying,' truth rules because no one has thought of the alternative. First encounters are brutal. And then comes the epochal First Lie Ever. The movie may be softer than you'd expect from Gervais, but the premise is so rich, you forgive the problems.

Zombieland
Woody Harrelson & Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland

Honing the dry comic skills he brought to "Adventureland," Jesse Eisenberg plays a kid from Columbus, Ohio, who joins head-splattering forces with Woody Harrelson, having a high old time as humankind's last best hope. It's a strangely high-spirited lark, giving its leading players plenty to eviscerate in between sweet nothings and wisecracks

Whip It
Ellen Page & Marcia Gay Harden in Whip It

Drew Barrymore's feature directorial debut runs on an easygoing mixture of cliches and grrrl-power, and its cast is good company. (Nice to see Kristen Wiig of 'Saturday Night Live' in more than a novelty role.) A young heroine named Bliss (Ellen Page of 'Juno') goes from the world of teen beauty pageants to roller derby competition after meeting a fiercely alluring gang of roller derby queens.

The Boys Are Back
Clive Owen & Nicholas McAnulty in The Boys Are Back

Clive Owen plays a sports columnist in Australia whose life is upended when his wife (Laura Fraser) dies and he must juggle a return to work with a 6-year-old (Nicholas McAnulty) who doesn't grasp Mom's death. His laissez-faire approach to parenting shocks relatives, but the consequences of it don't fully manifest themselves until a son from an earlier marriage (George MacKay) shows up

Paranormal Activity (2 1/2 Stars)
Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat in Paranormal Activity

A middle-class couple (Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat) living in a San Diego subdivision set up a camcorder with night vision to see what's making weird noises in their home every night, and they gather video evidence that something is messing with their relationship

Fame (2 1/2 Stars)
Debbie Allen & Charles S. Dutton in Fame

One's response to this happy, PG-rated remake, which stands in stark contrast to the R-rated pre-"High School Musical" original, probably depends on your personal relationship to the old version. The newer version, with a cast that includes Debbie Allen and Kelsey Grammer, has a sweet spirit and offers only one true moment of inadvertent camp

The Informant
Matt Damon & Scott Bakula in The Informant

In this deliciously deadpan comedy from director Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon gets a chance to work his sly comic chops in the role of a biochemist who becomes a corporate whistle-blower. Based on Kurt Eichenwald's exhaustive nonfiction chronicle, the film is both outlandish and subtle.

Jennifer's Body
Megan Fox & Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body

Striving for horror, comedy and anti-mean-girl empowerment, Jennifer's Body wants it all. Yet the tone wavers, the direction's slackly indecisive and visually drab, and in the middle of it is a thinly conceived antagonist played by Megan Fox.

Love Happens
Aaron Eckhart & Jennifer Aniston in Love Happens

Aaron Eckhart plays a best-selling therapist and grief guru whose bereavement counseling gig in Seattle is improved when he meets a flower arranger played by Jennifer Aniston.

The Burning Plain (2 1/2 Stars)
Charlize Theron & Kim Basinger in The Burning Plain

Charlize Theron once again plays a damaged woman running from her past. But storytelling tricks make this an intriguing outing for her, with a cast that includes fellow Oscar winner Kim Basinger and John Corbett.