As is tradition, Scrooge: A Christmas Carol is this year’s faithful adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novella. It’s the story you know, it’s animated, it’s got songs, and it’s on Netflix. But does this latest take on A Christmas Carol offer anything new, or should you stick with the two or three versions of the story that you already rewatch every year?
SCROOGE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The title pretty much says it all. This is a new animated feature film version of A Christmas Carol, albeit one by way of 1970’s Scrooge — the live-action musical that featured Albert Finney in the title role. The area of overlap between these two version consists primarily in songs from the late Leslie Bricusse, many of which are given a refresh and presented anew in this animated feature. Considering that the 1970 Scrooge features no tap-dancing frogs, Scottish ducks, or Bills Murray, it’s incredibly likely that most audiences will be unfamiliar with these tunes. And if you want to rewind and see the original, you can find 1970’s Scrooge on Paramount+.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: As mentioned, this one takes heavy inspiration from the 1970 Scrooge — so much so that Leslie Bricusse gets a co-writing credit on the film (he passed in 2021).
Performance Worth Watching: Olivia Colman is a standout as the charming, seemingly naive (but oh so wise) Ghost of Christmas Past. Her character design, that of a burning candle consisting of shape-shifting wax, is also inspired and provides some kinetic visuals during her sequence.
Memorable Dialogue: For an example of how this movie handles exposition, here’s Scrooge to his overly optimistic nephew: “Harry, life is full of disappointments. One such disappointment came on the glorious Christmas Day that you stumbled into this world — the very same Christmas Day your mother, my beloved sister, left it.”
A Holiday Tradition: At this point, getting a new version of A Christmas Carol every year is the tradition.
Two Turtle Doves: This isn’t the only version of A Christmas Carol this year. If you are looking to make this a double feature, you can pair Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with its spiritual sequel, Apple TV+’s Spirited.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Seeing as how this is a straightforward take on the Dickens classic and it borrows from Scrooge, the title makes sense. It doesn’t help differentiate it from the dozen other movies titled either Scrooge or A Christmas Carol.
Our Take: Considering that hundreds of versions of A Christmas Carol already exist, any new take on the 179-year-old tale really has to justify its existence. Every family, probably every person in every family, already has their preferred version of A Christmas Carol, and they are prepared to defend it. It’s gonna take a lot for any new version of this story to grab hold, especially since kids these days have parents that grew up on the (modern) classics.
This version of Scrooge eschews any of the tricks that helped other adaptations become permanent fixtures. This isn’t a pastiche set in a different country or time period. It doesn’t feature previously existing characters playing the parts. It is, quite bluntly, A Christmas Carol as told by Dickens. It stands apart due to its modern approach to storytelling, one where everything in a story must knock into everything else like dominos. The film centers Scrooge’s relationship with his nephew Harry (renamed from the original Fred) right away and really emphasizes why Scrooge hates Harry, and therefore Christmas. Scrooge literally bumps into Tiny Tim long before he knows who he is. There’s even a surprise connection between Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, a connection that’s also connected to Scrooge’s broken engagement.
The selling point to some may be the songs of Leslie Bricusse, especially those who count the 1970 Scrooge as their favorite version. However, removing those traditional songs from their original live-action context and placing them in fantastical, CG animated scenes with neon colors removes a lot of those songs’ warmth, warmth provided by film grain and desaturated colors.
The character designs stand out — particularly this rendition of Jacob Marley, complete with glowing, firey yellow eyes. But even with those in mind, this version of A Christmas Carol doesn’t have enough going for it to really stand out in quite possibly the most crowded sub-category of holiday films. The story is more briskly told in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol has a better Scrooge, the Alastair Sim Scrooge from 1951 is scarier (if that’s what you’re looking for), and the very film that this one is loosely based on has better versions of these songs. And that’s the problem with adapting A Christmas Carol yet again. You’re inviting comparison to some of the most beloved holiday works of the last hundred years.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Your reigning version of A Christmas Carol is at no risk of being dethroned just yet.