|    Avg. user rating: 9 ratings The Rundown, November 2, 2009In Theaters: "A Christmas Carol"
Robert Zemeckis'
latest experiment in digital motion-capture animation, "A Christmas Carol,"
opens this Friday -- and I'll be seeing it, if only because I am a dickens of a
Dickens fan. Is it not the proof of the genius of "A Christmas Carol" that... more no
matter who you put in the role of Scrooge -- Michael Caine, Bill Murray, Henry
Winkler, Walter Matthau -- and no matter the setting -- whether New York's
broadcast TV industry, a universe populated with talking puppets or Victorian
England -- it works? I literally cannot think of a version of the classic tale
-- the community around Scrooge, his four nighttime visitors, his three visions,
his harrowing despair, his joy to know that he's saved (or, rather, that he
might yet be saved, and that he has the chance to change things) -- that doesn't
move me, and if Zemeckis merely gets that up on screen, I'll be fairly content.
But then I read pieces -- like, say, this New York Times article -- and I
remember how Zemeckis is making this another of his CGI motion capture projects,
like "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf." And my heart sinks. "Polar Express" was
a fun Christmas movie about, apparently, a group of drowning victims, judging on
how weirdly waterlogged and washed-out its computer-animated characters looked;
"Beowulf" pushed the envelope technologically, but that couldn't hide the fact
the envelope was empty, with swords and spears flashing off the screen
but not a single character worth caring about . Any time you read an interview
with Zemeckis, he sounds incredibly excited about the CGI/motion capture process
-- There's no camera to put in place! You don't have to worry about accidents or
focus problems ruining the perfect acting moment! -- but part of me worries that
Zemeckis has become more interested in using technology for its own sake than he
is interested in telling stories with technology. I'll see "A Christmas Carol,"
and if it's an improvement on Zemeckis' earlier computerized efforts, I'll be
the first person to say that -- but I hope the true spirit of "A Christmas
Carol" will still be in this new version under the bright shiny wrapping-and-bow
combination of Carrey and computer magic Zemeckis has draped it in. ... Close | |
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