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
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