Does the world really need another version of A Christmas Carol, even if it containsreally cool new 3D effects and takes advantage of the multiple voice talents of Jim Carrey? The answer is no. C’mon, Disney – if the Hallmark Channel can comeup with an original holiday movie every year, can’t you, with all your vast resources? I mean, you have networks and theme parks and radio stations andretail stores and licensing departments and multiple studios behind you. You’d think at least one of your vast “imagineers” could concoct something we haven’t seen hundreds of times before.

The major differentiation of this version from all the others is the darkness, verging on the macabre. There’s nothing cute or friendly about these ghosts—they’re creepy and violent, and create needless action sequences that do nothing but dim the Christmas spirit. The motion capture animation, considerably improved from writer/director Robert Zemeckis’s Polar Express-Beowolf days, is interesting, but somehow still leaves characters feeling cold and hollow. That whimsical poster of Carrey’s Scrooge rocketing through a night sky is false advertising – there is no goofiness or whimsy, and just a small touch or humor.

Carrey voices the dour ghosts and Scrooge with varying degrees of effectiveness. Gary Oldman is Bob Cratchit, Marley’s Ghost and Tiny Tim. Colin Firth is Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Cary Elwes is five different sundry characters (and stood in for Jim Carrey when he was playing opposite himself), Robin Wright is Carrey’s sister and girlfriend, and Bob Hoskins is Mr. Fezziwig and Old Joe. It’s a fine voice cast, but the British accents are often so thick that some of the dialogue is lost. For this reason, it’s a good thing that we already know the story. 

There are a number of scenes that look like they’re culled straight from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: look down on a ballroom and see ghostly dancers swirling, see vaporish banshees flying over the rooftops on a starry night. As a matter offact, the film could so easily be adapted in the theme park that you wonder if that was the object of it. It’s more of a ride waiting to happen than an enjoyable, original film.

Rated PG

--Lisa Johnson Mandell