DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Now we have Jim Carrey as both Scrooge and the trio of ghosts in Disney’s A Christmas Carol, filmed in the same “performance-capture” animated style employed for Polar Express that leaves familiar faces (Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins and Colin Firth) looking severely airbrushed.

Writer-director Robert Zemeckis sticks reverently to the tried-and-trusted tale of the penny-pinching old misanthrope shown the error of his miserable ways by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Humour and warmth are in relatively short supply until a very jolly finale and the film may be a little too intense for smaller children.

A surprisingly restrained Carrey creates a Scrooge who looks like Steptoe and sounds like Trigger from Only Fools And Horses and the use of 3-D leaves the not unpleasant sensation that snow is gently falling throughout the entire cinema. A respectable, high-tech stab at an old favourite but the Alastair Sim version remains the best.

VERDICT 3/5

(Cert PG; 96 mins)