Even Dickens himself, who didn't hesitate to call a character "Fezziwig", would have found parts of this cartoon adaptation over the top: there is a particularly gratuitous action sequence in which a miniaturised Scrooge is pursued by horses from hell. Generally, though, the film's loud, gaudy style (in places too macabre for small children) is true to the story's spirit. It is done with skill and imagination, and overseen by a director, Robert Zemeckis, who knows the value of occasionally quietening things down for a bit of tension or a precisely timed joke. My only complaint is that - as in Zemeckis's other animations,
The Polar Express and Beowulf - the characters are glassy-eyed waxworks who in some cases bear a weird resemblance to the actors supplying their voices.
Gary Oldman (Cratchit), Colin Firth (Fred) and Bob Hoskins (Fezziwig) are all caricatured in this unnerving way, so we must be grateful that Scrooge isn't a dead ringer for Jim Carrey (whose vocal performance as the old miser is none the worse for sounding quite a lot like Alastair Sim).
PG, 96 mins