A Christmas Carol - The DV Review

So, I'm back home at Davies Towers in the warmth after a long but massively enjoyable day at Bradford. I hope those of you who went had a good time. I'll put some pictures up on the blog (don't worry you won't be in any) some time tomorrow. Anyway, I thought I'd pass on my thoughts about the movie; Disney's A Christmas Carol. But not just the movie, you see I think there were two parts to the experience today: 1 - the movie and 2 - the IMAX.

So here's my feelings about the movie; I liked it. But then you'd have to do a pretty horrible job to get a story that good, wrong. It really is a classic, but that does lead to some problems. How many versions of A Christmas Carol do we need? Goodness knows how many there is (I could check imdb but I really can't be bothered), and so the director has to make his version feel fresh. Zemeckis (our director) has tried to do this with CGI and motion capture, much like with his Beowulf from a few years back. Now I'm not sure about this. There's something, well, a bit weird looking about some of these characters.

Today it was Fred, Scrooge's nephew; he sounded like Colin Firth and he looked a bit like Colin Firth, but like Colin Firth would if you soaked him in brandy for six weeks and put him in a Christmas pudding. I think its the eyes; they seem weirdly dead - a bit still. Which is surprising because some of the other animation was superb (Scrooge's lip twitching with unease when he has to spend money) and at times breathtaking. So overall, I liked this version, but then I like most versions of this (especially the Muppet version - "We're Marley and Marley, woooooohhhh"), there were funny bits (Carey does a good job), scary bits (those horses) and good old fashioned soppy Christmassy bits ("God bless us everyone!") and so at the end of it, I'm happy to have seen it.

And how we saw it. The IMAX! My first IMAX movie and I have to say I loved it. I was surprised at how small the cinema was, but also how BIG the screen was. At times it really did feel as if you were having the action squashed into your face! The 3D stuff worked well, especially the flying sequences (some felt really fast and exhilerating). On the down side, at times the screen did feel blurry, especially around the periphery of the screen and if I moved my head I sometimes got a shadowing, or double lines. Having said all that I thought the whole IMAX 3D experience really added extra entertainment value to the film and that some shots were breathtaking. I don't know if I would want all my cinema experiences to be in 3D IMAX (but maybe Avatar!), but for today and for that film it worked a treat.

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