Newest 'A Christmas Carol' has more thrills and effects

To haunt and be haunted, here he comes again – and it’s only Nov. 6,  three weeks before Thanksgiving.

Is it really time for Ebenezer Scrooge – again?

Apparently so. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opens today with all the technology modern moviemaking can muster – including 3-D, with snowflakes that seemingly drop into your lap; Imax, with screens the height of a skyscraper (at the big Imax theaters); thundering digital stereophonic sound that would shake the tinsel off any tree; and computer-generated humans who look weirdly inhuman with strange skin tones and dead eyes.

There’s no denying that it’s a really big show. In fact, it’s jaw-droppingly awesome most of the time. Jim Carrey is fine in his voice readings, not only as one of the more snarling Scrooge misers in the canon but also as the three ghosts who visit and transform him. (Since the ghosts have long been psychoanalyzed as facets of Scrooge’s own character, or perhaps just a bit of undigested food, the multicasting is thoroughly plausible.)

Although the screenplay is credited to director Robert Zemeckis, it’s mostly word for word from the original Charles Dickens. A thrill-ride aspect has been added, however, with Scrooge sweeping across 1800s London and even up to the moon in ways that may cause a headache for some viewers. Scrooge now surfs aboard a cracked icicle and is more adept aloft than even Superman. The franticly moving camera is showy and self-serving, but it’s not quite obtrusive because, after all, it’s feasible considering the flights of fancy in the 1843 Dickens novella.

If it is true that every generation gets its own “Christmas Carol,” this 2009 version reflects our technological era. Zemeckis used performance capture, in which the actors purportedly pranced around on a bare soundstage wearing skintight suits covered with sensors that captured every movement and facial expression. Later, costumes, sets, faces and visual effects were added by computer animators.

The result is an eye-catching novelty, but one can’t help but wonder, if all this effort is spent on realism, why not just use real actors in the first place? Carrey is all but unrecognizable in the ultra-thin stick figure that is Scrooge – complete with bony fingers that snatch the two gold coins from the dead eyes of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Even more veiled is Gary Oldman as what looks like a curiously tiny Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s faithful but poor clerk. It also is odd to see a recognizable Oldman’s oversized head placed atop Tiny Tim.

Why, with computers, Woody Allen could be cast as Hercules.

Bob Hoskins comes on strong as the boisterous, fun-loving Fezziwig; Robin Wright Penn, one of the most underrated actresses in the business, is both Fan, Scrooge’s sister, and Belle, his deserted love. (She comes across as bland as both.) We spend a good deal of time trying to guess which character is played by which actor. 

Zemeckis seems obsessed with this performance capture oddity. His “Polar Express” was panned by the critics for its dullness and opened slowly before eventually becoming a semi-hit, probably because of holiday bookings. His “Beowulf” never caught on, even though it had Angelina Jolie in one of her more vampish roles (even if she wasn’t technically on camera). The improvements in skin tones and human-looking expressions are noticeable in “A Christmas Carol,” but what’s wrong with real humans?

True, the effects seen here would have been impossible in a live-action film, but performance capture requires broad playing from the actors and robs them of any real subtlety in performance. This “Carol” is not among the more dramatic of the many versions. 

Walter Elias Disney has not been dead as long as Charles Dickens, but the last time we checked, Dickens was still the author of this study of miserly redemption. That makes it rather cheeky to call the film “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” If anything, it belongs more to Zemeckis.

 The same parents who recently worried about “Where the Wild Things Are” should be concerned about whether this noisy adaptation is too scary for children. With an open grave that exposes even the brimstones of hell, it’s darkly foreboding.

The adults may get the yell scared out of them by the idea that they should give away their money. A Scrooge in 2009 is facing an economy that may be as threatening as the original London world of workhouses and debtors’ prisons. Dickens’ story, though, seems secure in its goodwill goal, no matter what the economic atmosphere. 

Stunning in look, the new 3-D “Carol” lives up to its origins as a ghost story. In fact, it’s so scary that it will require several extra choruses of “Joy to the World” to set things happy. If there’s not too much for the soul, there’s plenty for the eyes.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347,  mal.vincent@pilotonline.com