I’m not quite ready to call this a new classic, but Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” in 3D is magical and spooky, a faithful re-telling of the classic Dickens’ tale… with a few flaws.

This movie is rated PG and may be scary for younger kids… with the ghosts and spooky images.

(My review is of the 3D version, it contains very minor spoilers – unless you don’t know the basic storyline !!)

Jim Carrey is perfect as Ebenezer Scrooge… grumpy, grouchy, and cheap… a man so offensive, he’s even feared by the dog on the street.   Since the movie is animated that is a credit to both the animators and what Carrey can convey just through his voice.

With great looking animation that is closer to looking real, the story is more convincing, and the characters actually look a little like the actors voicing them.

The biggest challenge after the animation is to tell this story we’ve seen before and make it fresh… and Director/Writer Robert Zemeckis achieves just that, adding in tweaks and leaving the main pillars of the story alone.  Zemeckis tells the story of Scrooge in a slightly different way going back in time when his partner Jacob Marley passes away… the movie also lets a lot of the scenes breathe instead of moving on to the next scene… it allows the moment to be fully conveyed: from Scrooge’s disdain for charity to his terror of seeing his old partner as a ghost.

The movie also succeeds by spending plenty of time (but not too much) showing the audience how much of a grinch Scrooge is before his Christmas eve hauntings… as the story clearly shows his changing outlook during visit from 2nd spirit… and how he is convinced to seek redemption after the visit from the 3rd spirit.

So what was wrong?

I’m a Carrey fan, but his versatility (4 roles) is a little distracting… he nails them, but since he’s essentially talking to himself… it detracts from the experience.

Also, some of the dialogue is unintelligible – I couldn’t make out what the characters said a few times – between the heavy accents and the way they spoke… and the other noise in the scene… also distracting.

The movie balances between being a movie just being 3D for the sake of it (with things coming at you plus flying the camera around and through objects)… and using the 3D effects to tell the story, giving the audience a unique perspective.

THE BOTTOM LINE: (more…)

(RE-POSTING FROM 7/19/08)

“The Dark Knight”: The Best of 2008… and much more

“The Dark Knight” is THE BEST MOVIE so far for 2008, it doesn’t just raise the bar, it bench presses it !!! This has the right mix of everything… not too much joker, not too much batman, not too much action, and not too much dialogue.

 “The Dark Knight” (A spoiler-free review)

MY TAKE: You probably shouldn’t take little kids (because of the graphic and scary images), but if you see it and don’t like this movie… don’t ever go to the movies again… just stay home, watch tv or read a book.. you just lost your movie-going privileges… and you’ll have to earn them back.

Heath Ledger is amazing.. he’s not just playing the Joker… he is the Joker… if you though Jack Nicholson was good as the Joker… wait until you see Heath Ledger’s Joker… its my pick right now for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL