Movie Review: A Christmas Carol

Sometimes, I just might blog about movies.

Today, I'm blogging/reviewing A Christmas Carol. It's the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart. I watch it every year around Christmas, and I've always enjoyed it, but nevertheless, it is still a creepy, creepy movie.

Everyone is familiar with the story of A Christmas Carol. Grumpy Ebeneezer Scrooge hates Christmas, gets visited by 3 ghosts, and then has a change of heart and loves Christmas and all the people in the world. However, there is more to this movie than meets the eye.



The movie starts out with eeeeeeeeveryone badgering Scrooge about Christmas. The first problem I had with Patrick Stewart was that he plays Professor X in X-Men, and for some reason my thoughts kept straying back to Hugh Jackman and his buff manly muscles. Couldn't tell you why. ......
Anyways, in this scene his nephew Fred comes and harasses him about saying Merry Christmas. Fred is the kind of person that you either love to death or want to kick repeatedly. Mostly I thought this scene was funny because of Bob Cratchit. The relationship between Bob and Scrooge strongly reminds me of the relationship between Mr. Burns and Smithers. Smithers has a little man crush on Mr. Burns, but Mr. Burns hates everyone. Same goes with Bob and Scrooge.

One thing I didn't understand about this movie is that everyone makes a gigantic deal about Christmas. I suppose people still do that nowadays, except it's become a lot more commercialized. I think people are so crazy about Christmas because all this takes place in London in the early 1900's, which basically means they had no other fun holidays like the 4th of July or Thanksgiving for an excuse to not work and eat a lot.

I couldn't help feeling bad for Scrooge though. People really get after him for not celebrating Christmas. Maybe he is just Jewish! Hmmm?

The next scene is definitely the creepiest scene in the entire movie. My entire childhood I dreaded this part, simply because Jacob Marley is really scary when he is dead. Scrooge of course takes the whole thing really well, just like everyone in every movie ever made. It hardly even phases him that his best friend is coming back to haunt him. Yeah, he yells a little, but mostly just sits there are listens to everything Jacob has to say. If it were me, I would have run screaming from the room the second he walked through the wall.

Jacob tells Scrooge that he'll be visited by 3 ghosts, then moans about ghostly things like all the regrets of his life. If I could have one wish, it would be that I could send 3 ghosts to whoever I wanted. Think about the possibilities! What better way to drive a point through than sending a person 3 ghosts to show them why they need to change. It seems to be really effective on Scrooge. Hmmmmmm. This could lead to something fantastic.

Ahem. Anyways, the first ghost that visits Scrooge is the ghost of Christmas past. When I was a child, I was never really sure if it was a man or a woman. To this day I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's a man. Pretty much what happens in this scene is Scrooge is shown his holly jolly past, and then feels all sorts of regret for the mistakes he made. I for one would die if I had to be visited by the ghost of Christmas past. I have no desire to look back on my past. May it stay where it is. However, Scrooge learns a valuable lesson. And then gets mad and gets rid of the ghost by putting a hat on him until he disappears. Essentially.

The next ghost, the ghost of Christmas present, starts out really happy and jolly, like a Santa Clause, but by the end turns really old and sad and scary. This scene shows a lot of the Cratchits, and their little son, Tiny Tim. The lesson to be learned from this ghost is that even if you are poor, you can still be happy at Christmas. The ghost also brings out a couple of kids called Ignorance and Want, and talks about how dangerous they are to mankind. I have to disagree. I once wrote an essay about how ignorance really is bliss, and I've been proved right more than enough times. But I do see where the man is coming from. Ignorance and Want do have the potential to screw us over. But still. Just a little sketchy.

The ghost of Christmas future is the scariest character in this movie, hands down. Jacob Marley was pretty spooky, but this guy takes the cake. It's the eyes that get to me, personally. If it weren't for the eyes he wouldn't be that bad. Anyways, he shows Scrooge what the future will be like if he keeps up hating Christmas. It's pretty horrible, because everybody hates him and nobody is sad that he dies. The scene ends with him falling into his own grave, and he wakes up Christmas morning.

This scene is interesting. He is sitting on his bed and starts having what seems like a heart attack, but it's actually just his heart growing three sizes. Just like the grinch. He goes wild with Christmas spirit and runs around making friends with everyone. It's a great end to a great movie.

All in all, I really do like the story. It's kind of like the horror movie of all Christmas movies. But it can totally pull it off. It's also the only version I've ever seen, besides part of the mickey mouse version. So if you have any suggestions of different versions I should check out, please leave a comment :) other than that...
Peace out!
Kaela