048: A Christmas Carol (2009): Part Two of An Xmassy Adventure - WITH BONUS!

Robert Zemeckis, co-writer  and director of Back to the Future (1985), returns to the world of the time travel movie with this lively and very faithful adaptation of the Charles Dickens story.  Produced as a performance capture movie, and released in 2009, the film has a visual dynamism and invention to it that makes it an especially effective version of the source material.  Jim Carrey’s performance across several roles is fascinating and the sense of atmosphere and place, and of menace and of whimsy, are beautifully realised.    Amidst the visual spectacle of the movie, the core ideas that Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey articulate are not overshadowed.    For James, this adaptation of A Christmas Carol is one of the very best there has ever been. The movie also works as an excellent double-bill with Zemeckis’s other Christmas movie, The Polar Express (2004).   BONUS: Stay tuned at the end for a short report from Alexandra Palace by Ellen & Paul of the stage adaptation by Mark Gatiss, showing to 4th January 2026.