Preview: Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)

Synopsis:

The oft-remade Charles Dickens classic gets another facelift with the motion capture technology of The Polar Express.

• Poster: C+

Review:

I love the under-construction Big Ben in the background, but the silly rocket-horn and the unrealistic face on Scrooge makes for an awkward poster even if it is nicely detailed with strong coloration.

• Trailer: C; C+

Review:

Being forced to watch Jim Carrey play himself in a character that looks a bit too creepy to be real, this photo-realistic film looks as uninteresting as The Polar Express did and being directed by Robert Zemeckis as well doesn't give me much hope for this film, especially not after the rather ludicrous vocal style used for "Bah humbug!"

The opening of the trailer, music imagery and such, was charming and then Carrey's camera-mugging started and the rest of the trailer seemed derivative, containing mostly just scenes from the first teaser.

Oscar Prospects:

No doubt this will be submitted for Animated Feature consideration (as well as for Visual Effects), but I fully expect the Academy's animation branch to ignore the medium once more (Polar Express and every other photo-realistic motion capture film so far made have failed to earn Oscar nominations).

Release Date:

• November 6, 2009

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (September 20, 2009) Original

-Wesley Lovell (October 4, 2009) New Trailer