A Christmas Carol (2009) Film Review

With Marley's unhinged jaw, he went on several more minutes with a deranged face speaking to Scrooge. The loud cackling and thunderous thumping of his chains added to my little one's fright. As Marley sped away, I was surprised that still, Disney did not attempt to make the scene a little more comical. Something to assure the little ones that everything will be alright.

Then comes the ghost of Christmas past. There is something plain old freaky about it. The smile on it's face that just will not dissipate and that strange tick in it's neck that is used to break tension during moments of pause. The voice that Jim Carrey uses for this character amplifies the creepiness of it all. If a doll were to me made out of this thing, I would surely be freaked out by it.

As for the ghost of Christmas Present, the giant that sits atop the Christmas tree, with his torch blazing. I didn't have much of a problem with him, since he's made in a similar figure to that of Santa Claus, but there was the talk of death near the end of tenure that didn't sit well with me. He spoke of greed and ignorance and the children used as their symbols were that of those that belonged in a Silent Hill game and when he reiterates to Scrooge that his time has come, he laughs hysterically as his flesh withers away with each bell of the clock. Skin peeling away and when they show his feet, a clear cut image of bones and death were left in his wake. Death...

The ghost of Christmas Future was clearly meant to be made in the splitting image of Death. Shadowy figure that does not speak, bony fingers protrude it's clock, and he rides in a chariot pulled by demon horses from hell. Nothing is made humorous this ghost. He clearly intends to take Scrooge to hell and makes that known when a coffin surrounded by the flames of hell is sitting under Scrooge as he dangles, barley holding on to Death's finger. And again, no comic relief during the frantic chase or the cold stares from Death.