Don't get me wrong, I like Patrick Stewart, but I love "A Christmas Carol", and I feel that this version falls a bit short.
First the good. Great production values - you can almost smell London circa 1845 looking at this version. The ghostly effects, esp. Marley and Christmas Past, are right on the mark.
Also some interesting choices in the film work. Scrooge and Christmas Past walking through the old school building, and having the building change from an apparent burned out shell to the facility it was in Scrooge's day (and back again) was inspired.
Pretty good casting all around. Joel Grey steals this show as Christmas Past - an excellent performance. Stewart is very good, though I wanted more range from him. Tiny Tim was handled well - the part is all too frequently sacharine. I've nothing good to say about Christmas yet to come - it doesn't seem like much of a part, until you see how bad it can be in this version.
I was unsatisfied with the Ghost of Christmas Present. I've always liked the Ghost of Christmas Present as seen in the 1951 version (aka, "The Alistair Sim version") - Scrooge is overwhelmed with what is spread before him. In this version, Stewart hardly seems surprised at the "bounty" before him. No surprise, as it's a fairly meager bounty to begin with.
The Ghost of Christmas yet to come? Bah! Humbug! It seems like the production was filmed in sequence, and they ran out of money in the third act. A tall dark figure with glowing red eyes - looking more like a character from the first "Star Wars" movie than a specter from the grave. Not even a bony hand, but a fleshy grip that looked like it belonged to a butcher more than a reaper.
The transformation of Scrooge from miser to Christmas fanatic lacks the range I'd hope to see. If most of us are at a mid-point on the Christmas spirit scale, I would hope to see Scrooge start out at a (-10) and go to a +10 - at least when he wakes on Christmas morning. For me, Stewart starts at about a (-2) and goes to about a +5. Again, in the Sim version, his reformed Scrooge is all laughter, dancing, head-standing, JOY.
Stewart's Scrooge seems more like a man that has recovered from a bad cold.
Still, it's worth watching, especially the Christmas Past scenes. I'm sticking with the '51 version as my favorite, but this one shows that someone may yet get this story right in an up to date production.
First the good. Great production values - you can almost smell London circa 1845 looking at this version. The ghostly effects, esp. Marley and Christmas Past, are right on the mark.
Also some interesting choices in the film work. Scrooge and Christmas Past walking through the old school building, and having the building change from an apparent burned out shell to the facility it was in Scrooge's day (and back again) was inspired.
Pretty good casting all around. Joel Grey steals this show as Christmas Past - an excellent performance. Stewart is very good, though I wanted more range from him. Tiny Tim was handled well - the part is all too frequently sacharine. I've nothing good to say about Christmas yet to come - it doesn't seem like much of a part, until you see how bad it can be in this version.
I was unsatisfied with the Ghost of Christmas Present. I've always liked the Ghost of Christmas Present as seen in the 1951 version (aka, "The Alistair Sim version") - Scrooge is overwhelmed with what is spread before him. In this version, Stewart hardly seems surprised at the "bounty" before him. No surprise, as it's a fairly meager bounty to begin with.
The Ghost of Christmas yet to come? Bah! Humbug! It seems like the production was filmed in sequence, and they ran out of money in the third act. A tall dark figure with glowing red eyes - looking more like a character from the first "Star Wars" movie than a specter from the grave. Not even a bony hand, but a fleshy grip that looked like it belonged to a butcher more than a reaper.
The transformation of Scrooge from miser to Christmas fanatic lacks the range I'd hope to see. If most of us are at a mid-point on the Christmas spirit scale, I would hope to see Scrooge start out at a (-10) and go to a +10 - at least when he wakes on Christmas morning. For me, Stewart starts at about a (-2) and goes to about a +5. Again, in the Sim version, his reformed Scrooge is all laughter, dancing, head-standing, JOY.
Stewart's Scrooge seems more like a man that has recovered from a bad cold.
Still, it's worth watching, especially the Christmas Past scenes. I'm sticking with the '51 version as my favorite, but this one shows that someone may yet get this story right in an up to date production.