MovieChat Forums > A Christmas Carol (2004) Discussion > This movie is painfully bad

This movie is painfully bad

posted 15 years ago by macemace
9 replies | jump to latest

I'm a big fan of movie treatments of Dicken's classic, but this movie is awful. I have several versions on DVD and like them all. This is the first version I've found that is almost too bad to sit throught, and I must confess I didn't. When I saw that it was a musical version,I had great hopes but the musical numbers aren't very musical.
If it's a musical version of A Christmas Carol you want, stick with Mr. Magoo's version.

"Mediocre Marx Brothers is better than no Marx Brothers!"

[–] Jjanse22 15 years ago

I agree they might as well as had someone have a massive diarrhea attack on charles dickens grave.

Many segments of the movie were changed apart from the story (to many to count let alone list)

the acting was downright awful

the songs...they wernt even songs, just the same line repeated over and over and over.

also, what was with all all the really tight clothes, I understand that this is the victorian era but the costumes were rather crappy

[–] holchie 15 years ago

I agree it is HORRIBLE. It actually seems to be a very cheap made-for-TV version. Just terrible acting and worse casting. Especially Jason Alexander as Marley(???) Awful. And his death scene was laughable; maybe it was supposed to be? I have turned it off after watching it for a while with the same feeling drivers get when they see a horrible, gory accident: They can't turn away. And the wigs! Don't get me started...

[–] smerph 15 years ago

Currently watching it out of morbid curiosity and a lifelong appreciation of the story. It's terrible. Grammer is ridiculously miscast and the direction is very pedestrian.

But, perhaps worst of all, is that the songs consist of little more than dialogue set to verse (no chorus, no rhyme, very little melody). It's like a bad opera. Since the fact that this is a musical can at least differentiate it from the countless adaptations of this tale, you'd think they'd have written some actual songs...

Stick to The Muppets, people.
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[–] brian577 15 years ago

Personally I prefer "A Muppet Christmas Carol" when it comes to a musical version, but that's just me...

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[–] Jjanse22 15 years ago

now thats a good version, a few little things changed from the actual story but the muppets really make up for it.

[–] macemace 10 years ago

Yes, AMCC is great as well as musical, as is Mr. Magoo's and Albert Finney's. But as for the Muppet's version, Michael Caine is one of the all time top Scrooges. I would really like to see him in a more traditional version.

"Mediocre Marx Brothers is better than no Marx Brothers!"

[–] acwoodcraft-1 13 years ago

I've seen several versions of A Christmas Carol, some excellent, some bad, but this was just a sad pile of muck. Everytime it airs I'm sure Mr. Dickens is spinning in his grave. The best is still the 1951 version, Scrooge, starring Alistair Sim.

A heart can be broken, but it still keeps a-beatin' just the same.

[–] mojo2004 11 years ago

I just saw this today for the first time and I agree 100% with the OP.

Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon."

[–] macemace 11 years ago

Mr. Magoo, The Muppets, Albert Finney's version, ALL much better tellings of A Christmas Carol as a musical than this cesspool of a film. I like George C. Scott's version a lot, along with of course Alastair Sim's and a number of other classics. Scrooged with Bill Murray is probably the funniest retelling of this story ever made.

"Mediocre Marx Brothers is better than no Marx Brothers!"