Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Review: A 2022 animated musical take on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, this film is really just okay. With how many adaptations there are of ‘A Christmas Carol’ they really have to do something different or be really good to set themselves apart. This adaption of an adaptation, actually being based on the 1970 musical ‘Scrooge,’ doesn’t do a ton to set itself apart and it’s also not very good. It’s perfectly fine and I don’t regret watching it, but there are no less than 8 other versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ that I’d watch prior to this one, including 3 animated versions. The film features Luke Evans as Scrooge and while Evans gave a great vocal & singing performance, I really think they should’ve gone with someone that had an older sounding voice. The vocal talents of Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Jonathan Pryce, Johnny Flynn, & James Cosmo, I feel like none of them were really able to leave their mark in a meaningful way. Stream it on Netflix if you want to check it out for yourself.

High: I liked how it built a little more on Scrooge’s back story and relationship with his nephew, Harry (usually called Fred) voiced by Fra Fee. It led to a few more moments of payoff when the end of the story rolled around, so a solid job to the filmmakers for planting those throughout the film.

Low: The film took some interesting choices with character designs and I’ll give them some credit for going out on a limb. But they weren’t very good. They were really just kind of strange, but also pretty forgettable. The animation wasn’t super ambitious and while there were a couple of cool moments, I feel like they TRIED to take advantage of the animation medium, but none of it really worked.

Rating: 5.5/10