Review by Michael_Elliott

A Christmas Carol (1994)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Toshiyuki Hiruma and Takashi directed this animated version of the Charles Dickens' story about the mean Scrooge who is visited by three ghosts to see if he can change his ways. One thing I like to do is see as many versions of a classic story that I can get my hands on. Stuff like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and A Christmas Carol have been done so many times that it's not hard to keep finding new versions to check out. I've always felt that the Dickens' story is so strong that it would be hard to mess it up and that continues with this version. I will say that this here is probably one of the weakest versions I've seen but it's still very much worth watching. I think the biggest problem with this here is that the Scrooge character just isn't all that interesting. I never really enjoyed him as the mean old man at the start of the film and the joyous turn at the end didn't really work either. It just really seems that the directors watered the character down and it just never came to life. The story itself certainly does as we're given a pretty good version of the ending and there are several good moments throughout including the Ghost of Christmas Future. I also really enjoyed the look of the film and especially that of the three ghosts as they're given a quite creepy look. If you've never seen a version of the Dickens' story then you won't want to start here but if you're like me and enjoy seeing various versions, this here has enough going for it.