This is actually a pretty good adaptation of A Christmas Carol with good match-ups of Disney animated characters with the various roles in the story; Scrooge McDuck is, of course a no brainer for Ebenezer Scrooge and Mickey is an obvious choice for Bob Cratchit. One of my favourite and not so obvious casting choices was the character of Black Pete as a menacing and gleefully malicious Ghost of Christmas Future. Though my four year old niece was rather spooked by him and had to get up and sit on her Mum's lap for the duration of his time on the screen. It also has some pretty humorous lines in it; I always laugh when Scrooge says that Marley left him money to pay for his headstone, and he had him buried at sea. It's also short, clocking in at about half an hour, so doesn't require much of a time investment for parents who have young children with early bedtimes. All in all, not my favourite adaptation by any stretch, but a good introduction for children to this classic tale.
We recently watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, Disney's animated retelling of Charles Dickens' 1843 work, with two young nieces. It was first released in 1983 when Disney was still capable of producing quality entertainment for kids, so it's a straight-up retelling without Tiny Tim being non-binary or Fezziwig being denounced as a toxic representative of the patriarchy. This is actually a pretty good adaptation of A Christmas Carol with good match-ups of Disney animated characters with the various roles in the story; Scrooge McDuck is, of course a no brainer for Ebenezer Scrooge and Mickey is an obvious choice for Bob Cratchit. One of my favourite and not so obvious casting choices was the character of Black Pete as a menacing and gleefully malicious Ghost of Christmas Future. Though my four year old niece was rather spooked by him and had to get up and sit on her Mum's lap for the duration of his time on the screen. It also has some pretty humorous lines in it; I always laugh when Scrooge says that Marley left him money to pay for his headstone, and he had him buried at sea. It's also short, clocking in at about half an hour, so doesn't require much of a time investment for parents who have young children with early bedtimes. All in all, not my favourite adaptation by any stretch, but a good introduction for children to this classic tale. A better adaptation is 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Scrooge. We recently watched this as well. Unlikely as it seems, this film manages to successfully mesh together puppets, people, slapstick humour, and genuine pathos, producing a movie which truly expresses the message of the original work. A lot of the credit for this belongs to the puppeteers who so adeptly manage to convey human emotion through their muppet characters and of course Michael Caine, who plays Scrooge as if he were appearing in a West End production, not co-starring with a fabric frog. It also doesn't hurt that the music score is great. Speaking of which, we always watch this on an old VHS tape we have, because it's the only version which has The Love Is Gone in it, the song which was stupidly cut for the theatrical release. This was a bizarre misstep, because anyone with an understanding of narrative structure can see that excluding this song messes it up. The song is sung by Belle, the fiancee whom Ebenezer leaves behind in his obsession with riches. Then, at the end, it is reprised by Scrooge himself, only now as The Love We Found, completing the thought. But of course, to those who watch the cut version, this reprise seems to spring from nowhere and packs no emotional punch, not showing that Scrooge has now received the love which he once scornfully rejected. Also, the cut leaves a rather abrupt and unsatisfying end to that scene in Scrooge's past, though maybe that wouldn't be noticed as much if the viewer hadn't seen the uncut version previously. In any case, watch the original version with The Love Is Gone if at all possible; I understand that Disney+ released it this year on their streaming service, though of course I never recommend subscribing considering what they've been up to lately.
Comments
|
About MeI'm a lover of good books, classic movies, and well-written shows (as well as some pretty cheesy ones, to be completely honest). Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
Fun SitesOdds & Ends |