Another version of the Dickens’ story in which cruel Ebenezer Scrooge (Patrick Stewart) learns the meaning of Christmas from three spirits.
Quick Review: A garden-variety re-telling of A Christmas Carol, there are no huge mistakes, but also nothing to make it more than average. The sets look a bit too much like a sound stage, but are acceptable. The supporting cast does a fine job, but none of the members are worth recalling after the final credits roll. The fx for the ghosts are glitzier than in most other versions (are there any big budget versions of A Christmas Carol?), but don’t make them scarier or more captivating. Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge without any originality or humor, and with little drama. It’s a Scrooge that it is impossible to care about. Stewart transforms the character’s cruelty and self-involvement into stiffness, with few facial expressions and a nearly monotone delivery (he yells from time to time, but it would be nice if volume wasn’t the only change in his voice). Again, this doesn’t make Stewart a horrible Scrooge, just an uninteresting one. If this uninspired A Christmas Carol was the only one, I’d recommend it, but it isn’t.