Review of A Christmas Carol (1999)

Last night we watched the 1999 version of A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It rates 7.1/10 on imdb.com and 4/5 on amazon.com. Read on for my review.

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If you ask most people I know, they would say their favourite version of A Christmas Carol is the 1951 version which starred Alastair Sim. If you asked me this morning, I'd still say the 1951 version is my favourite. However, if you are a fan of A Christmas Carol, you owe it to yourself to watch the 1999 version.

Why? First of all, the special effects are really good. I won't go so far as to say the effects are great (after all, this version was made for TV, not the big screen) but they are a lot better than the 1951 effects. Of course, this should not be surprising and in fact it should be expected. Some particularly good effects in the 1999 version are:

• The wandering spirits at the end of the "Jacob Marley's ghost" scene fly around and actually look like spirits instead of underexposed photos.
• The ghost of Christmas past has a surreal, ghostly glow about him.
• Scrooge and the ghosts actually walk through walls and it looks real (well, at least it looks like I imagine it would look if it were actually possible).
• The transitions between Scrooge's actual world and the ghost world are dreamlike instead of looking like an abrupt cut from one scene to the next.

Another thing I liked about this version is the understandability of the dialog. Okay, let's be honest, this is a Dickens story so of course some of the language is going to be hard to understand. But compared to the 1951 version, this dialog is a lot more understandable. Of course, much of the dialog in the 1999 version is the same (e.g. "I'll retire to bedlam") but in some instances, they changed the odd word or two from an arcane one to a more common one. In addition, they also added a sentence or two (perhaps from the original book) to clarify what the characters were saying. In a sense, the dialog in the 1999 version is sort of like a "Coles Notes" representation of the dialog in the 1951 version. Some people don't like Coles Notes but I found them very handy when I studied Shakespeare in my high school English courses.

Another thing I liked about the 1999 version is the sound clarity. Even fully remastered releases of the 1951 version have pops, squeaks and other audio glitches that sometimes make it hard to hear what the characters are saying. It took me years and years of careful listening to realize what some of the lines were in the 1951 version.

The Ghost of Christmas Past, played by Joel Grey, was particularly enjoyable in the 1999 version, and, in my opinion, better than the old fossil in the 1951 version. Furthermore, the whole Ghost of Christmas Past sequence did not wear out its welcome and drag on and on like in the 1951 version.

Now for the lowlights. While Patrick Stewart's performance was very good, I got the sense that he was playing Scrooge as opposed to being Scrooge. In the beginning of the movie he was just not grumpy enough. He needed to be more curmudgeonly to make me believe he was Scrooge. Another small nitpick is that Patrick Stewart is a bit too handsome to play Scrooge.

While the special effects in the "ghost of Jacob Marley" scene are very good, the scene is not nearly as scary as in the 1951 version. I was very disappointed because that scene is one of my favourites in the 1951 version.

The Ghost of Chrismas present was a bit disappointing too. He was not the larger-than-life-Jolly-old-soul that we saw in the 1951 version. No, this 1999 ghost was quite bland and he seemed like he was bored or perhaps on sedatives.

If you like classical music, you'll probably like the soundtrack from the 1999 version but for me it was a bit hollow and did not contribute as much to the story as the 1951 soundtrack did (imagine watching Star Wars without the soundtrack!). In particular, the opening track was a bit too sprightly and made me long for the more bellicose and somber sound of the opening track in the 1951 version.

The scene where Scrooge's servants and the undertaker meet at the pawn shop was also disappointing. Kathleen Harrison's portrayal of Mrs. Dilber in the 1951 version was unforgettable as she made the "chow lady" character come to life. Sadly, the 1999 Mrs. Dilber had only a few lines and the actor's delivery of those lines left a lot to be desired. Again, this was a favourite scene of mine from the 1951 version that was poorly done in this version.

Overall, this version lacked the emotional impact of the 1951 version. I was certainly entertained by it and I did feel some emotions but I did not feel like I had been to hell and back. Having said that, if you are a true fan of A Christmas Carol, you really must watch this 1999 version. The slightly more simplied dialog gives you a greater understanding of the story, which adds some meaning to the 1951 version and helps fill in some gaps.

My overall rating is 3.5 stars out of 5.