A Christmas Carol (1994)

Really Surprised!

One of my all time favorites.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I was searching all over YouTube, looking for the 1997 adaptation of A Christmas Carol when I found out about this film. I was shocked, I didn't know there was another animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol This film was a waste of time and I don't really like A Christmas Carol anyway... it's boring and lame. This film lacked originality, it must be avoided because of its flaws, since when does Scrooge have brown hair and sound like a 40-year-old man? He was too ashamed.This film really scared me too. I stopped this upon the time when he met the Ghost of Christmas Past, it was choppy and cheesy. This film reminds me of the 2001 adaptation which I haven't finished yet but I think it was more interesting but then again, I don't like A Christmas Carol and that one was also pretty cheap too.

A Christmas Carol (1994)** 1/2 (out of 4)Toshiyuki Hiruma and Takashi directed this animated version of the Charles Dickens' story about the mean Scrooge who is visited by three ghosts to see if he can change his ways. One thing I like to do is see as many versions of a classic story that I can get my hands on. Stuff like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and A Christmas Carol have been done so many times that it's not hard to keep finding new versions to check out. I've always felt that the Dickens' story is so strong that it would be hard to mess it up and that continues with this version. I will say that this here is probably one of the weakest versions I've seen but it's still very much worth watching. I think the biggest problem with this here is that the Scrooge character just isn't all that interesting. I never really enjoyed him as the mean old man at the start of the film and the joyous turn at the end didn't really work either. It just really seems that the directors watered the character down and it just never came to life. The story itself certainly does as we're given a pretty good version of the ending and there are several good moments throughout including the Ghost of Christmas Future. I also really enjoyed the look of the film and especially that of the three ghosts as they're given a quite creepy look. If you've never seen a version of the Dickens' story then you won't want to start here but if you're like me and enjoy seeing various versions, this here has enough going for it.

I saw this Jetlag version of A Christmas Carol as I do like Jetlag's animations in general and adore the story. Of the three Jetlag Christmas animations, the others being Magic Gift of the Snowman and The Nutcracker, both of which I loved, A Christmas Carol was the one that fared least. It is also one of my least favourite Jetlags alongside Alice in Wonderland and Jungle Book, lacking in what was so good about the likes of their animations of Heidi, Magic Gift of the Snowman and Little Red Riding Hood. It does get some good points for the whimsical score and the heartwarming song Keep Christmas in Your Heart. I however found the other songs Sleep No More and A Wholesome Merry Christmas to be forgettable with lyrics not as meaningful in comparison to those of Keep Christmas in Your Heart. However, I didn't like the animation, finding the character designs awkward and the backgrounds flatly coloured. The writing doesn't fall into the trap of being over-simplified but it did feel corny when meant to be amusing and actually cloying in the more emotional moments. A Christmas Carol(1994) also suffers from being too short, I personally would give an adaptation of this story 70 minutes minimum so that you can feel the emotional impact of the story's meaning and to identify with the characters. I consequently found the storytelling rushed, and in regard to the characters the Cratchits are barely developed and Scrooge's reform is the least convincing I've seen for any adaptation of the story. The details are there of course, the problem is that the emotional impact for me was not. On the whole, very disappointing and one of Jetlag's weakest though not irredeemable by all means. 4/10 Bethany Cox