Scrooge: A Christmas Carol
Netflix’s animated version of Charles Dickens’ novella is just the latest of umpteen versions of the story.
There have been at least thirty, maybe more, film versions of Dickens’ seasonal tale, including at least ten with the title of Scrooge plus others specially tailored for Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, The Flintstones, Mr Magoo, The Muppets, the Smurfs and Gremlins, to name just a few. Here we have another animated version not only faintly based on Dickens but also taken from the musical written by Leslie Bricusse for Anthony Newley, Albert Finney and Tommy Steele.
Bricusse (who died in October 2021 and to whom the film is dedicated) has taken liberties along with the director Stephen Donnelly and introduced elements that were not in the original story. It is now a psychedelic journey through the life of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge where he comes face-to-face with his future doom. The basic ideas are still extant, with the appearances of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, but the film lacks the period charm of the original story. The busy but uninspiringly animated characters just look like people of today, mere caricatures done up in funny, old clothes. And where did Prudence, Scrooge’s dog, come from? I fear she is there looking cute so the audience can enjoy a collective ‘Aaww!’ factor.
The visions start off as waxworks that come alive to haunt Scrooge but what are the accompanying ‘angels’ and ‘devils’ that appear in these psychedelic transformations? The good angels, here called Cheerlings, resemble the aforementioned Smurfs, while the devils, or Fearlings, appear to be like Gremlins on their day off. Anyway, once Scrooge has encountered his fate by facing up to his own future demise, he soon becomes a changed man. So, job done, but it's all rather perfunctory...
There may be some sort of kudos in having Scrooge spoken and sung by Luke Evans, but the songs are pretty mundane apart from ‘Thank You Very Much’ and ‘I Like Life’. Olivia Colman doesn’t get much of a look-in as the voice of Christmas Past. Jessie Buckley is the voice of Isabel Fezziwig, Trevor Dion Nicholas is Christmas Present and Johnny Flynn voices Bob Cratchit. As Jacob Marley, Jonathan Pryce is fairly wasted.
Rather like some of the previous film versions of A Christmas Carol, this one will no doubt join the ranks of suitable seasonal fare for regular annual appearances. However, of the countless other versions the best is still Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 Scrooge with Alastair Sim in the title role, merely because you cannot improve on a classic, however hard you try.
MICHAEL DARVELL
Voices of Luke Evans, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Jonathan Pryce, Johnny Flynn, Trevor Dion Nicholas, James Cosmo, Fra Fee, Giles Terera, Oliver Jenkins, Devon Pomery.
Dir Stephen Donnelly, Pro Leslie Bricusse, Andrew Pearce, Gareth Kamp and Rebecca Kamp, Screenplay Leslie Bricusse and Stephen Donnelly, based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Pro Des Gabriel Gomez, Ed Graham Silcock, Music Jeremy Holland-Smith; Original Songs by Leslie Bricusse, Animation Supervisors Simon Allen and Marion Strunck.
Timeless Films/Axis Studios/Netflix Animation-Netflix.
97 mins. UK/USA. 2022. Rel: 2 December 2022. Available on Netflix. Cert PG.
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