Just in time for Valentine's Day!
I never watched The Polar Express because the facial expressions were downright creepy. The animators do a much better job in A Christmas Carol, but the animation is still not quite right. Something around the mouth is a little too stiff, too unnatural.
If you don't know the story, you probably can't read, so I'm skipping the plot recap. The plot of A Christmas Carol is its own genre now. Hollywood's started making movies using it without any relation to Christmas.
Watching this plot for the tenth time makes me realize I need to read the novella. This version did one thing different I hadn't seen before, which is to start the story at Marley's death, 7 years before the ghosts visit Scrooge. It's a good little scene, putting Scrooge's full miserliness on display. Need to find out if that's in the original.
Does this version do anything else different? Not really. They skimp on character development, not bothering to show us how he became so greedy. The sole benefit seems to be to allow for a more even split amongst the three ghosts. What's the end result? A silly chase sequence where Scrooge attempts to run from death. It nominally spruces up the movie, but adds nothing important.
On the bright side, there's some interesting creepiness early in the movie. The Ghost of Christmas Past is pretty wacky. It's not enough for me to recommend seeing the movie. Unless you've never seen any movie, or any previous version of A Christmas Carol. If that's the case, go see Scrooged, then maybe see this.
Final thought. Why is Carrey credited as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? The character doesn't say a word in an animated movie.
First Viewing: 2+2+2+2+2 = 10