3D Movie Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL - 7/10

Jim here. Saw Zemeckis' wonderful interpretation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (ACC) last night and I was more impressed than I thought I would be. But do I think it is in the caliber of AVATAR? Heck no. More on that later. No real spoilers here at all - read the whole thing!

I arrived 45 minutes early for the last show of the evening at 9:40PM and the lineup was already 200 deep. ACC is doing VERY well at IMAX, thank you very much. It will be interesting to see the 2D vs. 3D numbers!!

No AVATAR trailer in front of it at IMAX 3D. Saw ALICE IN WONDERLAND though and that was an unexpected treat. Looked, well... wonderful. 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL does exceptionally well with it's 3D, environments and excitement. I saw the movie in IMAX 3D and while there was some ghosting going on (not a pun!), I blamed it on the projection system and not the distribution. Could be a local event too, but these wrinkles need to be worked out. Several times through the showing dust dropped on the Projector lens and it was VERY distracting in 3D. It blew off about a minute later. Could hardly focus on the screen at all - interesting phenomenon. 

Jim Carrey is a genius. He really is. To pull off so many characters through facial expressions and vocally must have been quite a task. I can think of no one better suited for performance capture - and that includes Andy Serkis (did I say that?). You have to see JC's performances! 

Zemeckis did a heckuva job with the ghosts too. I was skeptical at first and still believe the 2D versions of them would not hold up nearly as well - but they were superb. Especially the Ghost Of Things To Come. If you have kids under 10 years of age you should strongly consider not bringing them. At least I won't be. 

ACC's old London was riveting! I love that era. Let's put it this way - if I had a holodeck in my basement, old London would be one of the first I would be dialing up. Sure it was kind of candy coated, but it's the holidays! And the close to first person flybys of the countryside is as close as you can get to a Disney ride in the theater :-) 

Does it compare to expectations for Cameron's AVATAR? No. No way. There are some similarities, like for example ACC is completely CG and performance captured - while AVATAR is about 60% CG and perfcapped. But the comparison ends there. The characters in ACC are clearly, CLEARLY CG, not photo real and no where near crossing the "uncanny valley". And yes, some of the characters were doing inhuman feats of acrobatics and I guess that helps with the feeling that "you shouldn't be thinking of these characters as human". But you can see the tremendous work that was put into the show and let me tell you to have something so well put together, end to end in pure CG is an awesome feat. Someday Zemeckis' expertise will be on top of the heap simply because that is where we are eventually heading. But for now? Good entertainment. Just not AVATAR. 

Oh and to Alan Silvestri I say well done on A CHRISTMAS CAROL's score! A pleasure to listen to indeed. How would I improve it? I would have scored it much better had they elaborated on the ending more - turn on the happiness faucet and sprayed goodwill all over the audience. As it is, it is far shorter than something like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The potential is clearly there and it would atone for the darker scenes for family viewing. 7 out of 10 for the ride. It could have been an 8 with the right emotions though.

New Trailer For Zemeckis' A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Jim here. In one of the more anticipated 3D movies of the year - Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL - we see Robert Zemeckis delivering his finely tailored performance capture wizardry once again.

Now comes a new trailer showing us some more scenes from the classic tale starring Jim Carrey as, well, just about EVERYONE :-) Check it out...

Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Update: Cannes Interview - Photos - Concept Art! And More ALICE!

Jim here. Got wind of a great video of Jim Carrey and Robert Zemeckis' stage discussion of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Cannes, through my friend Graham Fortin of Movieset. These guys do a great job. Check out the clip below!

Isn't Jim Carrey a likeable guy? Just watching his discussion here underscores what a treasure he is. Hope the kid never dies inside you man!

Oh and ANOTHER great Zemeckis interview right here. I hate it when embedding is disabled! :-(

Further 3D news: The Russian site Filmz.ru (via /film) has landed what seems to be authentic concept art from ALICE IN WONDERLAND. It appears real due to the uncanny resemblence to an actual film capture of Alice approaching a large outside door. I have a couple of shots embedded here, but click through to see the rest.

I have said all along that A CHRISTMAS CAROL is going to surprise people and be one of the best of 2009. I think they are firing on all cylinders here. I hope the early clip of ACC was just a working reel - as it seemed very out of place. I believe that once we are immersed into the Dickens classic through Zemeckis' eyes, we will all be haunted by lingering thoughts of how great the movie is! :-)

And sure I harbor some concerns over the conversion of ALICE IN WONDERLAND from 2D to 3D, I think the project is going to be wild! I hope I am convinced that 3D conversion is viable for first run movies through this project.

Concept Art: "Disney's A Christmas Carol" & Spoilers

Jim here. Collider got their hands on some scans of DISNEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL concept art and it is right along the lines of what I have already posted here and here from the actual movie poster and stills.

I will reiterate that Disney is keeping the imagery to be very Dickens indeed and old London looks stunning and inviting (at least the shots I have seen). Insert Robert Zemeckis' wonderful performance capture prowess and you have what should be an instant Christmas classic to be watched on future Christmas Eves on your 3D Home Entertainment system... of course!

How far can Zemeckis take us down this journey? All the world is a canvas with motion capture so it is really only limited by his imagination - and one would imagine that Jim Carrey is ready and willing to fulfill any wish that he might have in this pic.

I am reprinting some of the spoiler info that was originally posted here back in March 2008 as I thought there is some very interesting items in it in light of the poster and stills we have seen:

**SPOILERS BELOW** Highlight the white text below to read the contents:

OVERALL COMMENTS:
- A Christmas Carol is full of Jim Carrey humor: Lots of yelling, screaming and facial expressions.
- He plays 4 characters at least - Scrooge and the ghosts. This is not new info of course, but confirmed.
- Michael J. Fox is DEFINITELY in the movie (IMDB shows it as a rumor). He has plenty of lines that are pure Fox humor - always down on himself, and very SARCASTIC. My source did not pass on what role he is playing however, although IMDB has him as Tiny Tim.
- There is a "Beggar" character that is constantly piping up with witty one liners throughout the movie. He will be seen carrying a cup.

JIM CARREY RELATED:
- There is a scene where ALL THREE of Carrey's ghost interact. They don't speak English either exactly - they speak with thick accents and the words don't sound right. There are actually spaces -or gaps of silence - between their words. Weird! Sounds awesome, but very odd. Right up Carrey's alley to be sure!
- Jim Carrey does A LOT of improvisation here. This is to be expected, but now it has been confirmed by a source. Apparently this improvisation has been a part of the movie since it was written! This openness to creativity has all been approved and made to happen by Zemeckis. Good on you Bob! They have a lot of confidence in Carrey and justifiably so. The guy cracks me up - always has.

SANTA CLAUS RELATED:
- YEP! THE BIG GUY IS IN IT. Remember little Sammi Hanratty letting this slip? Well it has been confirmed by my source.
- Santa wears - get this - a red and PURPLE Santa suit!
- My source heard John Goodman could be the actor in this role but he was NOT sure, so do not count on this. Only count on seeing Santa Claus in it.
- You can expect the REINDEERS to talk! Yep. Apparently Rudolph doesn't like Blitzen and they all have very unique voices.
- Santa and the reindeer don't have a very big impact on the film as far as storyline goes, but you can expect this part to be HILARIOUS. It's more like a cameo appearance :-)
- Apparently Santa is thinner in this movie than others.
- Sammi Hanratty is the character that interacts with Santa and the reindeer. I suspect it is her catching him performing his "Christmasly duties".

**SPOILERS ABOVE** Highlight the white text above to read the contents:

So, yeah - I am pretty hyped about this movie; that's why it is number 3 on my list of the Top Ten Most Anticipated 3D Movies of 2009. Stay tuned for more when I get it! :-)

Must See: First Look At Jim Carrey As Scrooge In "Disney's A Christmas Carol"

EXCLUSIVE

Hey guys - Jim here. A new source of mine sent me a rather interesting hi-res photo and I have been able to blow it up revealing some interesting pictures within the picture! The photo is of Robert Zemeckis' and DISNEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A couple people have asked why I placed A CHRISTMAS CAROL well above Pixar's UP in my list of most anticipated 3D movies in 2009. Because quite simply Zemeckis is going to astound with this effort - he has the knowledge and certainly has had the time to pull this one together and I say WATCH OUT.

First up is a new poster from the movie! It is clearly of Jim Carrey playing Scrooge - his face lit up by candlelight and superimposed over the streets of old London.

Can you feel it? I sure can - this movie is going to blow people's minds! Yeah, I am a Jim Carrey fan and with him playing SEVEN roles in this movie we should all get a taste of his range within a movie :-) Of course Gary Oldman is no slouch.

I will have more pics for you tomorrow from the same hi res photo and hopefully I can get more out of it as some of it is a bit grainy blown up.

ENJOY! And be sure to check back tomorrow!

Quick Post: Zemeckis and Carrey Talk "Christmas Carol"

Hey everyone, Michael here.  Movieweb has an interesting article detailing Disney's presentation of Bob Zemeckis' 3-D performance capture A Christmas Carol at today's Walt Disney Studios Showcase event at the Kodak Theater.  While no footage was shown, both Zemeckis and Carol star Jim Carrey had a lot to say about the film. Some snippets:

Zemeckis: "It is one of the greatest time travel tales ever written. A Christmas Carol has never been shown on film the way it was intended. This is the perfect story for this new motion capture technology.”

Carrey: "Robert Zemeckis has come in and freed up the process. He has revolutionized Motion capture...I loved being the king in Robert’s virtual kingdom."

Also, /Film has a photo of the first official banner for the film.  Hopefully we will soon get to see some of the concept art, paintings, props and models that were on display!

"A Christmas Carol" 3D Update

Crachit's MOTHER is in "A Christmas Carol". My source has recanted that the Crachits are not in the 3D movie as he simply did not see any lines for them back when the original spoiler post was made on March 5th. For all the spoilers check out that original post for details.

Who the heck is playing the mother? That role is not listed on IMDB at all. The casting with this movie is swirling with rumors more so than any other movie in recent years. Why? One reason could be that because this movie is performance capture based that many roles may be shared, the body of one and the voice of another. Doesn't explain why there are more confirmed roles though - especially because this movie had been in production for over a month now!

Who knows the casting? Contact me will ya? Sheesh. :-)

"A Christmas Carol" Secrets Revealed! Zemeckis & Carrey 3D Movie Spoilers!

** UPDATE April 2nd, 2008 - This source has confirmed that there are indeed Crachits in the movie just like the original. He was passing on that he had not seen any lines for Crachits from what he had saw back then, but that now he has seen lines for Crachit, Tiny Tim and Crachit's mother.

What is this, some sort of "Exclusive Spoilers Week" at MarketSaw? YOU BET! I am damn excited about what my sources have been able to uncover - and it doesn't stop at the "Avatar" exclusive posted yesterday. I feel like Jim Carrey's "Fire Marshall Bill" character from Saturday Night Live who was always yelling "Let me show ya somethin' !"

Today's big news comes from "Christmas Caroler" - a longtime fan of MarketSaw, so that means before we broke all "The Hobbit" exclusives lol. Now I do not have as much of a storied history with this particular source as I do with others, but it all rings with the sound of truth to me and he has the ability to have seen this information to be sure. So with that knowledge, we continue...

"Christmas Caroler" (CC) contacted me and shed some much needed light on Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" that will be hitting theaters on November 6th, 2009. A LOT of light it turns out! There are spoilers in this so you know the routine by now - and if you don't - READ MORE MARKETSAW! :-)

**SPOILERS BELOW** Highlight the white text below to read the contents:

OVERALL COMMENTS:
- A Christmas Carol is full of Jim Carrey humor: Lots of yelling, screaming and facial expressions.
- He plays 4 characters at least - Scrooge and the ghosts. This is not new info of course, but confirmed.
- Michael J. Fox is DEFINITELY in the movie (IMDB shows it as a rumor). He has plenty of lines that are pure Fox humor - always down on himself, and very SARCASTIC. My source did not pass on what role he is playing however, although IMDB has him as Tiny Tim.
- There is a "Beggar" character that is constantly piping up with witty one liners throughout the movie. He will be seen carrying a cup.

JIM CARREY RELATED:
- There is a scene where ALL THREE of Carrey's ghost interact. They don't speak English either exactly - they speak with thick accents and the words don't sound right. There are actually spaces -or gaps of silence - between their words. Weird! Sounds awesome, but very odd. Right up Carrey's alley to be sure!
- Jim Carrey does A LOT of improvisation here. This is to be expected, but now it has been confirmed by a source. Apparently this improvisation has been a part of the movie since it was written! This openness to creativity has all been approved and made to happen by Zemeckis. Good on you Bob! They have a lot of confidence in Carrey and justifiably so. The guy cracks me up - always has.

GENERAL STORYLINE:
- There are NO CRATCHITS in this movie! The movie deviates from the original Dicken's classic in favor of some very funny scenes involving Jim Carrey - and others...
- The storyline is of course very funny but also heartwarming.

SANTA CLAUS RELATED:
- YEP! THE BIG GUY IS IN IT. Remember little Sammi Hanratty letting this slip? Well it has been confirmed by my source.
- Santa wears - get this - a red and PURPLE Santa suit!
- My source heard John Goodman could be the actor in this role but he was NOT sure, so do not count on this. Only count on seeing Santa Claus in it.
- You can expect the REINDEERS to talk! Yep. Apparently Rudolph doesn't like Blitzen and they all have very unique voices.
- Santa and the reindeer don't have a very big impact on the film as far as storyline goes, but you can expect this part to be HILARIOUS. It's more like a cameo appearance :-)
- Apparently Santa is thinner in this movie than others.
- Sammi Hanratty is the character that interacts with Santa and the reindeer. I suspect it is her catching him performing his "Christmasly duties".

MY CONJECTURE:
My source keep referring to something sneaking up on us and it being a "monster" hit - so it would NOT surprise me if the Grinch (I know - red tape with this) gets into this somehow (Carrey's character after all) or perhaps the Abominable Snowman? - but this is just my conjecture at this point. I could be way off on that - but he did hint at something! He said he would get back to me soon with more, so... This particular source (god love him) likes to have me guess most of the time at what is going on in the movie before he will confirm. SCOUNDREL! However, he is more than friendly and a great MarketSaw source. A great part of the family :-)

**SPOILERS ABOVE** Highlight the white text above to read the contents:

So there you have it. AWESOME isn't it? I can't wait to see how all this great storyline and character development plays out in the performance capture (the same technology he used for Beowulf found here) that Zemeckis is famous for.

It feels like Christmas around here already :-)

New "A Christmas Carol" Poster Revealed!

Hey - here's a little bit of alright for ya. Looks kinda dark and "Beowulfish" if you ask me, but I am game.

Apparently Jim Carrey plays a ton of different characters including Ebenezer Scrooge, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present, Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come and wait for it... Santa Claus.

Yes, the young starlet that accompanies Carrey on this ride, Sammi Hanratty, has been quoted as saying that Jim plays Santa Claus in the movie too. Wouldn't surprise me at all - why not? I think they have suspension of belief on their side sooooo...

Really counting the days down to this one - looks awesome. "A Christmas Carol" is written and directed by Robert Zemeckis and is pegged for a November 6th, 2009 release. Look out - Jim Carrey has unlimited freedom in this one. There are no limits with the "Zemeckis Polka Dot Suit" on!

(That's the 3D performance capture suit used in Beowulf for those who didn't quite get it!)