Jim Carrey Stars in 'Disney's A Christmas Carol'

Disney are, of course, no strangers to the concept of adapting the wonderfully copyright-free story of A Christmas Carol, having done so twice before with the wholly animated Mickey's Christmas Carol in 1983 and partly-animated Muppet's Christmas Carol in 1992.  Switching back to full-animation, albeit with effective motion capture techniques first seen on 'The Polar Express' some years earlier, 'A Christmas Carol' is both the studio's first completely non-anthropomorphic version and their best yet.

Proving once again that he has a versatility that stretches beyond puerile mugging and saying "alright-y then", Jim Carrey manages to fox the viewer brilliantly with a wonderfully, crotchety Scrooge.  From his first act -to pay for Marley's undertaking with those pennies intended for his recently deceased's safe passage across the Styx - he comes across as repulsive, warped and irredeemable.  Marley enjoys his revenge, however, with a truly terrifying turn from Gary Oldman as he reveals to the miser his final chance of salvation before rejoining the, now terrifyingly visible, phantoms that roam the city streets tormented by a desire to help but an inability to do so.

Carrey is then, somewhat amusingly, at the mercy of himself as he provides the voices and motions of all three spirits.  Christmas Past is brilliantly captured in all his child-like luminescence while Christmas Present is suitably kind yet firm, once you get past the fact Carrey cannot quite decide if he's playing a character from Yorkshire, Scotland or just simply Brian Blessed.  Only the Ghost of Christmas Future is disappointing with the makers deciding Scrooge should become his plaything, leading to a horrendous and badly-judged chase sequence that sees Scrooge inexplicably miniaturised as he runs from deathly, black horses.  Granted the studio are still very keen to show off their new 3D techniques and the pursuit may perk up any jaded audience members, but this time could and should have been given up to a longer Christmas Present sequence.  Scrooge is already emotionally drained by this point, to the extent that Christmas Future need only point him where to go, he simply does not need to be roughly whipped through the streets too.

However, A Christmas Carol overall, particularly in the 3D version, crams a surprising amount into the running time, offering long, panning shots of dark, Victorian London while delivering virtually every scene from the original text in its mother tongue.  This authenticity is a real testament to the producers and director who have created a real challenger to the seemingly untouchable Alastair Sim 1951 edition in this brilliant version.

This version is in cinemas now in glorious 3D - give yourself a treat and see it today.

A note: You may have noticed that I have not quite managed to keep up the bargain of one Christmas Carol per day during the month of December.  Therefore, I have decided to hold it at twelve for 2009 and resume the challenge in 2010.  Merry Christmas!

Gumby Stars in 'Scrooge Loose'

One of the most gratifying things about this bizarre challenge I've set myself is the chance to experience transatlantic shows for the very first time.  Having already seen my first episode ever of Family Ties earlier this week, I've now chanced upon a character who has entertained American children for over fifty years but has been hitherto completely unknown to me - Gumby.  I suspect most Brits will join me in a quick, frank "whoooooo?", much to the shock of incredulous Yanks, but as a quick reference point, think Morph...just thirty years earlier.

'Scrooge Loose' is a 1957 short that finds our hero Gumby and his trusty horse sidekick Pokey in the fellow Victorian guise of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson as they tail the notorious Scrooge who is deadset on ruining Christmas for the wee girls and boys Stateside.  Having already piloted a bulldozer through a "humbug" Christmas scene, Scrooge leaps into a story book filled with the wonderful tales of Santa Claus.  Here he hi-jacks a bag of Santa's presents, unwrapping each gift with great care and replacing the toy with a rock.  Note the care and attention he takes to re-wrap it well - could Scrooge be simply trying to preserve the illusion or does he unstereotypically really care about the presentation of these gifts?  Hot on his trail and having been unceremoniously dumped off a cliff by the bulldozer-driving Scooge, Gumby and Pokey jump into the book and capture Scrooge in what looks suspicially like one of Santa's three sacks.  With the day saved, they start a hunt for Santa to tell him the good news, not knowing that Santa is already suited, booted and about to kick off....with Scrooge in his sleigh!

Most wonderfully of all is the fact this impressive animation ends with an ending neither happy nor sad.  33% of Santa's recipients will have a part share in a Victorian miser instead of the toy train, car, penny whistle or Teletubby they asked for.  Gumby and Pokey simply give up here and make flimsy date-related jokes before presumably getting back to whatever it is they do normally.

This is probably the flimsiest adaptation yet with no ghosts, a bizarre introduction of Holmes and Watson and some of the funniest dialogue you'll hear in Pokey's comments.  Watch the video below and enjoy...

Yosemite Sam Stars in 'Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol'

At eight minutes and nineteen seconds in length, this must qualify as the shortest version of 'A Christmas Carol' out there.  In this one Yosemite Sam plays Sam Scrooge, gleefully counting stacks of money while Bob Cratchit, played by Porky Pig, shivers and, for once, stutters naturally due to his cold, hard office.  Enter Bugs fulfilling the role of nephew Fred and attempting to put a bit of Christmas cheer in the life of this wretched duo.

His best efforts only serve to rile Scrooge though and, after one carol recitation with pals Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Peu and Foghorn Leghorn, they are all ejected - including Cratchit who is fired for his troubles.  Bugs decides the only way Scrooge will learn is if he dresses up as a ghost and haunts him into enjoying the festivities.  Which he does, and the whole lot of them sit down to a bumper Christmas lunch before, inevitably, we're told that 'That's All Folks'.

This cartoon owes as much to Dickens' original text of 'A Christmas Carol' as Tweety Pie does to the letter S, but it was a reasonably fun romp.  Strictly for the pre-teens though...call them through and sit them in front of the video below.

Alastair Sim Stars in the 1971 Richard Williams Animation

This is the second version in a row I've seen with a Scot playing the curmudgeonly, cantankerous lead role.  Perhaps that goes some of the way to explaining the national stereotype or perhaps it's due to the widely-held belief that Alastair Sim still leads the way as the archetypal Scrooge for his 1951 live action performance?  Either way, Sim is almost certainly the star of the show once more in this celebrated animation.

It is not difficult to understand why this version is so widely loved.  Firstly, it sticks religiously to the original text featuring nearly all the key lines which make repeated viewing of this story such a treat.  Secondly, this was to my knowledge the very first time the story had been animated, a medium which allowed the expansion of Marley and the three spirits beyond camera trickery.  Unfortunately on this, my first viewing, I was left a tad disappointed; my main gripes being the prohibitive running length and the stomach-churning animation during flying sequences.  However, perhaps these should be applauded - Scrooge is turned from snarling malcontent to laughing, leaping philanthropist in record time and, for once, the audience does feel what it is like for the miser to be dragged quickly through the night.

You can watch the whole damn thing here though - make up your own mind.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hA5T1G7rxg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwii8AMfgkA
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXsALUC4HEU
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsV8QZXS7Q

Beavis Stars in 'Huh Huh Humbug'

The 'Christmas Carol' take-off is a popular seasonal device of the American animated series.  The longer a series runs, the closer they approach a situation where a major character adopts miserly tendencies and achieves redemption within a strict twenty five minute running time.  In fact, the longest running animation of them all, The Simpsons, went a step further by parodying a parody - more on that later.

At the height of their popularity, MTV's Beavis and Butthead starred in a 1995 Christmas special. It was split into two parts (a superior parody of 'It's a Wonderful Life' starred Butthead in the second part) and the first of these saw Beavis jump into the role of Scrooge.

Having managed to achieve promotion to Assistant Manager of Burger World, Beavis leaves for the night to 'spank his monkey' to a video called, oh yes, 'Ebeneezer Screw', leaving his replacement as burger-jockey, the now former Principal McVicker, square in the put-upon Bob Cratchit role.  However, his enjoyment is continually ruined by a series of ghosts: his 'former partner' Butthead; Mr Anderson as the Ghost of Christmas Past who shows him that he has spent each Christmas doing nothing but sitting on the sofa watching TV; Mr Van Driessen as the Ghost of Christmas Present who shows him that McVicker has to sneak stolen happy meals to his grotesque family to keep them alive and Mr Buzzcut who, well you get the point.  Unfortunately Beavis doesn't.  See for yourself with the links to the full episode below...

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6URV5pxGHw
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALOkrIIEbQ