Английская Википедия:A Christmas Carol (2009 film)

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Disney's A Christmas Carol (or simply A Christmas Carol) is a 2009 American animated Christmas dark fantasy film produced, written for the screen and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital, and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. The film was animated through the process of motion capture, a technique used in ImageMovers' previous animated films including The Polar Express (2004), Monster House (2006), and Beowulf (2007), and stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes. It is Disney's third adaptation of the novel, following Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).

A Christmas Carol was officially released in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on November 6, 2009. Its world premiere in London coincided with the switching-on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights. The film grossed $325 million on a $175–200 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visuals, Alan Silvestri's musical score, and the performances of Carrey and Oldman, but criticized its dark tone and script. The film and Mars Needs Moms (2011) were the only ImageMovers Digital projects made, before the studio was shut down by the Walt Disney Company for unsatisfactory box office results.

Plot

On Christmas Eve 1843, in London, stingy miser Ebenezer Scrooge hates the merriment of Christmas, declining his nephew Fred's invitation to an annual Christmas dinner party and refusing to make a donation to the poor to two charity workers. His loyal, underpaid employee, Bob Cratchit, asks Scrooge to give him a day off on Christmas Day, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees. At home, Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley, his seven-year dead business partner, bound in heavy chains. Marley warns Scrooge to change his wicked ways or be condemned to the same fate, telling Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits over three nights, regardless of Scrooge’s suggestion for them to come at once.

Scrooge is visited by the candle-like Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his lonely childhood in a boarding school. Scrooge eventually was brought home by his beloved little sister Fan, the long dead mother of Fred. Scrooge became an employee under the kind Fezziwig, and became engaged to a woman named Belle, who later left him as he developed an obsession with wealth. Overwhelmed, Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with his candle snuffer cap and is rocketed back to his house.

Scrooge meets the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows him the joys of Christmas. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning that his family is content with their small dinner, and Scrooge takes pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim, whom the Ghost comments will die unless the course of events change. The Ghost begins to age as they next visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred insists that they raise a toast to Scrooge in spite of his cold demeanor. Arriving in a clock tower, the Ghost warns Scrooge the evils of "Ignorance" and "Want" before dying when the clock begins tolling midnight. "Ignorance" and "Want" manifest themselves before Scrooge as two wretched children who grow into violent, insane individuals, leaving the spirit laughing as he withers away into a skeleton and vanishing.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, appearing as a dark shadow, takes Scrooge into the future. He witnesses a group of businessmen discussing an unnamed colleague's death, with one saying he would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided. After being chased across London by a ghostly version of the hearse that carried Marley’s body, first by a ghostly coachman and the ghost of Yet to Come, being shrunk to a small size and ending up in the shop of a fence named Old Joe. Scrooge recognizes his charwoman Mrs. Dilber selling the stolen possessions of the deceased. Scrooge is transported to his bedchamber where he sees the man's body on his own bed, but is fearful to see his face. Scrooge asks to see emotion connected to the death, and is shown a couple who is relieved that the man is dead, as they now have more time to pay off their debt. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected to death, he is shown the Cratchit family, who are in mourning over the death of Tiny Tim. When he inquires as to the identity of the dead man, Scrooge is taken to a cemetery, where the Ghost points out the man's neglected tombstone. The snow wipes away from the tombstone, bearing the name of Scrooge, and indicating that he will die on Christmas Day at some point in the next six years or perhaps even the very next morning. Scrooge vows to change his ways, just as the snowy ground opens up into an impossibly deep grave, revealing a coffin above a glowing light which opens up to be empty. The ghost shows its eyes and turns a branch Scrooge is holding onto into its finger. Scrooge feels a sense of peacefulness as the ghost’s eyes narrow before he is forced to let go and falls into the grave. Before he strikes the coffin, he finds himself back in his own room.

Finding it is Christmas Day, an overjoyed Scrooge anonymously sends Bob's family a turkey, gives a donation to one of the charity workers and spreads cheers to the citizens of London, then attends Fred's Christmas dinner, where he is warmly welcomed. The next day, Scrooge plays a practical joke on Bob, pretending to be about to fire him for being late, but instead raising his salary and pledging his support for Bob's family. Bob narrates that Scrooge became the embodiment of Christmas and a "second father" to Tiny Tim, who recovered.

Cast

• Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy, penny-pinching, and lonely old man whose sheer miserly nature leads him to despise Christmas and all things which engender happiness.
  • Carrey also portrays other roles in the film including:
    • Ghost of Christmas Past, who is depicted as an androgynous man with a flickering flame for a head and a body like a candle and speaks with an Irish accent.
    • Ghost of Christmas Present, who is depicted as a towering man with red hair, a full beard, and a green ermine robe, and is a jolly figure prone to hearty laughter and speaks with a Scottish accent.
    • Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who is depicted as an ominous shadow of Scrooge’s alter ago. His appearance is of a figure in a large black hooded cloak.
• Gary Oldman as
  • Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's poor underpaid clerk.
  • Jacob Marley, the ghost of Scrooge's former business partner who is bound in chains.
  • Oldman also provides the motion capture for Tiny Tim, Cratchit's youngest son.
• Colin Firth as Fred, Scrooge's cheerful nephew and only living relative. He is the son of Scrooge's long dead sister Fan.
• Bob Hoskins as Mr. Nigel Fezziwig, the proprietor of a warehouse business for whom Scrooge worked as a young apprentice.
  • Hoskins also portrays Old Joe, a fence who buys the belongings of the deceased Scrooge from Mrs. Dilber.
• Robin Wright as
  • Fan, Scrooge's beloved younger sister who has since died.
  • Belle, Scrooge's neglected fiancée.
• Cary Elwes as Portly Gentleman #1/Dick Wilkins/Mad Fiddler/Guest #2/Business Man #1
  • Elwes would also act as a stand-in for Scrooge or the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present in scenes where these characters appear together, as all were portrayed by Jim Carrey.
• Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's charwoman.
• Steve Valentine as Funerary Undertaker/Topper
• Daryl Sabara as Undertaker's Apprentice/Tattered Caroler #1/Beggar Boy #1/Peter Cratchit/Well-Dressed Caroler #1
• Sage Ryan as Tattered Caroler #2
• Amber Gainey Meade as Tattered Caroler #3/ Well-Dressed Caroler #2
• Ryan Ochoa as Tattered Caroler #4/Beggar Boy #2/Young Cratchit Boy/Ignorance Boy/Young Boy with Sleigh/Tiny Tim
• Bobbi Page as Tattered Caroler #5/Well-Dressed Caroler #3
• Ron Bottitta as Tattered Caroler #6/Well-Dressed Caroler #4
• Sammi Hanratty as Beggar Boy #3/Young Cratchit Girl/Want Girl
• Julian Holloway as Fat Cook/Portly Gentleman #2/Business Man #3
• Jacquie Barnbrook as Mrs. Allie Fezziwig/Fred's sister-in-law/Well-Dressed Caroler #5
• Lesley Manville as Mrs. Emily Cratchit
• Molly C. Quinn as Belinda Cratchit
• Fay Masterson as Martha Cratchit/Guest #1/Caroline
• Leslie Zemeckis as Janet Holywell, Fred's wife.
• Paul Blackthorne as Guest #3/Business Man #2
• Michael Hyland as Guest #4
• Kerry Hoyt as Adult Ignorance
• Julene Renee-Preciado as Adult Want

Production

After making The Polar Express (2004), Robert Zemeckis stated that he "fell in love with digital theater" and tried finding an avenue in order to use the format again. He eventually decided that an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas would be an opportunity to achieve this. Upon rereading the story, he realized that "the story has never been realized in a way that it was actually imagined by Charles Dickens as he wrote it," as well as that "it's as if he wrote this story to be a movie because it's so visual and so cinematic." Zemeckis has stated previously that A Christmas Carol is one of his favorite stories dealing with time travel. Ebenezer Scrooge actor Jim Carrey has described the film as "a classical version of A Christmas Carol […] There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents […] I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, 'Yeah, that's for real.' We were very true to the book. It's beautiful. It's an incredible film."

The Walt Disney Company partnered with Amtrak to promote the film with a special nationwide exhibition train tour, starting at Los Angeles in May 2009 and visiting 40 cities, finishing in New York City in November.

Music

Track listing Шаблон:Track listing

The music was composed by frequent Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestri, and orchestrated by William Ross, Conrad Pope, Silvestri, and John Ashton Thomas. The entire score was conducted by Silvestri and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony alongside Page LA Studio Voices and London Voices. Much of the music was based on actual carols, including "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," "Deck the Halls," "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the World." The album was later issued physically through Intrada Records. The theme song, "God Bless Us Everyone," was written by Glen Ballard and Silverstri and performed by Italian classical crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Release

A Christmas Carol opened London on November 3, 2009, and was theatrically released on November 6, 2009, in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Home media

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on November 16, 2010 in a single-disc DVD, two-disc 2D Blu-ray/DVD combo and in a four-disc combo pack that includes a Blu-ray 3D, a regular Blu-ray, a DVD and a digital copy. This marked the first time that a film was available in Blu-ray 3D the same day as a standard Blu-ray,Шаблон:Citation needed as well as Disney's first in the Blu-ray 3D market along with Alice in Wonderland (2010). The DVD contains deleted scenes and two featurettes called "On Set with Sammi" and "Capturing A Christmas Carol". The Blu-ray also has a "Digital Advent Calendar" and the featurette "Behind the Carol: The Full Motion-Capture Experience". The Blu-ray 3D has an exclusive 3D game called "Mr. Scrooge's Wild Ride".

The film grossed $69 million in home sales.

Reception

Box office

A Christmas Carol grossed $137.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $187.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $325.3 million. Due to its high production and marketing costs, the film lost the studio an estimated $50–100 million, and forced Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group and the head of worldwide marketing, to resign.

The film opened at #1 in 3,683 theaters, grossing $30.1 million its opening weekend, with an average of $8,159 per theater.

In the United Kingdom, A Christmas Carol topped the box office on two occasions; the first was when it opened, the second was five weeks later when it leapfrogged box office chart toppers 2012, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Paranormal Activity despite family competition from Nativity!, another Christmas-themed film.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 202 critics have given the film a positive review with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman." On Metacritic, another aggregator, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "an exhilarating visual experience". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, applauding the film as "a marvelous and touching yuletide toy of a movie". Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3/5 stars and stated the film "is well-crafted but artless, detailed but lacking soul." Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com gave the film a mixed review claiming the movie "is a triumph of something—but it's certainly not the Christmas spirit." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote in his review that the film's "tone is joyless, despite an extended passage of bizarre laughter, several dazzling flights of digital fancy, a succession of striking images and Jim Carrey's voicing of Scrooge plus half a dozen other roles." The Daily Telegraph reviewer Tim Robey wrote, "How much is gained by the half-real visual style for this story is open to question—the early scenes are laborious and never quite alive, and the explosion of jollity at the end lacks the virtue of being funny." Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian also criticized the technology: "The hi-tech sheen is impressive but in an unexciting way. I wanted to see real human faces convey real human emotions." Time Out London praised the film for sticking to Dickens' original dialogue but also questioned the technology by saying, "To an extent, this 'Christmas Carol' is a case of style—and stylisation—overwhelming substance."

Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named A Christmas Carol the eighth-best film of 2009.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Recipients	Result
2010 Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie	Jim Carrey	Шаблон:Won
	Favorite Animated Movie	A Christmas Carol	Шаблон:Nom
36th Saturn Awards	Best Animated Feature		Шаблон:Nom

See also

• List of Christmas films
• List of ghost films
• Adaptations of A Christmas Carol

External links

• Шаблон:Official website
• Шаблон:IMDb title
• Шаблон:TCMDb title
• Шаблон:Bcdb title
• Шаблон:AllMovie title
• Шаблон:Mojo title
• Шаблон:Rotten-tomatoes
• Шаблон:Metacritic film