A Christmas Carol
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: November 6, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
16
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A marvelous and touching yuletide toy of a movie. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An exhilarating visual experience and proves for the third time he's (Zemeck) is one of the few directors who knows what he's doing with 3-D. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
As beautiful as the animation is, Zemeckis' real masterstroke is combining it with a loyalty to Dickens' story. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith Uhlich
The unspoken theme underlying Dickens’s prose--that the money-grubbing Ebenezer is conversing with semblances of his own self--finds near-perfect cinematic expression through Carrey’s efforts. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
A ghost story, a bustling action-adventure and an example of the comedy tour-de-farce, in which the star validates his virtuosity by appearing in a plethora of funny disguises. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Shockingly, the new film turns out to be very good, at times close to brilliant: a darkly detailed marvel of creative visualization that does well by Dickens and right by audiences - when it’s not trying to sell them a theme park ride. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Could there possibly be anything left to gain from yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale about crabby old Ebenezer Scrooge and his life-changing encounter with three ghosts on Christmas Eve? In the case of Disney's A Christmas Carol, the answer is a surprising, resounding yes -- at least so far as the IMAX 3D version goes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
If some of the animation overdoes it, a lot of it is downright gorgeous. Few images this year have followed me home like the Ghost of Christmas Past, here imagined as a bright-flamed candle with the face of a child. It flickers. It whispers. It flies. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This time, though, Zemeckis has another technical trick up his sleeve – 3-D – and for once the gimmick succeeds. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There's something to be said for the power of a classic, even if it has been given an imperfect makeover. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A Christmas Carol -- I mean the source material, without a corporate possessive attached to it -- remains among the most moving works of holiday literature, and Mr. Zemeckis has remained true to its finest sentiments. He is an innovator, but his traditionalism is what makes this movie work. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Nearly every line of dialogue in this adaptation of A Christmas Carol comes directly from the story. What interpolations there are have to do with juicing up the transitions between scenes with unnecessary, but not obnoxiously intrusive, action. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Carrey’s Scrooge is deliciously pinched and credible. As, indeed, is this film -- that is, when it feels like Dickens and not a theme park ride. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Jim Carrey is good as Scrooge. There’s surprisingly little shtick in his performance. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Like a dime-store holiday card, this Christmas Carol is well-crafted but artless, detailed but lacking soul. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
It’s always a good story, this time told more creepily than usual. Good, but not as good as The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, Scrooged, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol or some great, classic live action classic versions. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol is, in its essence, a product reel, a showy, exuberant demonstration of the glories of motion capture, computer animation and 3D technology. On that level, it's a wow. On any emotional level, it's as cold as Marley's Ghost. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Shortchanging traditional animation by literalizing it while robbing actors of their full range of facial expressiveness, the performance-capture technique favored by director Robert Zemeckis looks more than ever like the emperor's new clothes in Disney's A Christmas Carol. Read full review
50
Village VoiceElla Taylor
A Christmas Carol is a whiz-bang 3-D thrill-ride with all the emotional satisfaction squeezed out of it. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
It's eerie rather than wondrous. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Zemeckis captures all the story’s terror, but its pathos has always been the real challenge, and it mostly eludes him. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Visually immersive but emotionally uninvolving. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The holiday spirit feels real, but the film does not. Read full review
50
NPRScott Tobias
Gary Oldman pulls off his own hat trick, playing both noble Bob Cratchit and sickly Tiny Tim, as well as Scrooge's late partner, Marley, who haunts the miser in fluorescent green. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This Christmas Carol seems like a pale ghost of Dickens' magical Christmas classic. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
A fable that is by turns antic, scary, sweet and, in the end, slightly soulless. In other words, it's a heartwarmer that doesn't have much of a heart itself. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Unless the director was aiming for a Victorian "Black Christmas," though, he overshot his mark Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Zemeckis tries to juice things up by staging numerous chase scenes up and around London, but do we really need "A Christmas Carol: The Action Picture"? Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Either you cotton to Zemeckis’ motion-capture aesthetic or you don’t: To me, it seems like an awful lot of effort for an insignificant payoff. But it appears that the filmmaker is stuck on the technique – at least until holographic movie technology comes along. Read full review
40
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
The 3-D film is flat, the CGI-enhanced characters oddly waxen. In the center of the action is Jim Carrey -- or at least a dead-eyed, doll-like version of Carrey -- playing Scrooge, the ghosts, a younger version of himself, and probably a dozen other parts. As a general rule of thumb, one Jim Carrey is plenty for any movie. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
What are in very short supply, though, are the central chords of Dickens' carol: Crachit's generous spirit, Tiny Tim's sad plight, Scrooge's emotional arc as he finds his humanity. Oh, the scenes are there amid the action, but they are fleeting. By the time A Christmas Carol finishes piling its many shiny presents with their many bells and whistles under the tree, there's no room left for tears for Tiny Tim. Bah humbug indeed. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This sad excuse for family entertainment tries to enshrine a classic while defacing it. Read full review
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