Tag Archives: Scrooge

Scrooge Review

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It’s time for one of the original Christmas Carol adaptions. This was definitely a classic and while you can feel its age, it’s always impressive to still see it handle all of the story elements from the newer versions. Sure, it may have to go through some of them rather quickly but you definitely get the point of it. I would probably not put it ahead of any of the other versions that I’ve seen but any fan of the story should definitely get a kick out of this one.

The story starts with Scrooge being rather stingy as always and not even letting his partner Bob put some wood into the fire in peace. Scrooge wants to save every penny and that is how he has built his wealth over the years. A penny saved is a penny earned and all of that. Sure enough, it is a motto that works but he takes it to the extreme. He even declines to go to his nephew’s Christmas dinner and instead heads home. That proves to be a mistake as a ghost shows up and explains that Scrooge is about to be haunted and guilt tripped by 3 ghosts. Scrooge will either be convinced to walk a lighter path by the end of this, or his future will be looking bleak.

Scrooge honestly doesn’t put up a ton of resistance in this one I’d say. I think it’s the way the movie is approaching this where Scrooge is more of a harmless cynic as opposed to being a downright antagonist. Once the ghosts show him the error of his ways and rub his nose in it, Scrooge very quickly sees the light and works on being a better person. It’s a very quick turnaround time but it makes sense when you consider that he isn’t actively resisting the ghosts as much. It’s not like Scrooged where he is as corrupt as possible after all.

Scrooge definitely lost a whole lot over the years in trying to build his riches. It’s not something that comes without a price after all. In the end he blames himself the hardest for Tiny Tim and that’s definitely valid. When you’re rich, it’s not like you suddenly have a huge obligation to take care of everyone in your family. It’s not like I fault him for their being poor completely but at the same time he could have helped out in little ways over the years. Perhaps in running his business a little more fairly. At least the guy had a consistent approach to everyone and wasn’t just picking on a few people.

Keeping all the money was just what he did. The ghosts aren’t as fantastical as they would start to be in later films. They all have a little charisma but the personalities weren’t yet set in stone. In later adaptions the ghost of the future is always absolute horror fodder as he shows up in a crazy cloak and looks more and more demonic as the years go by. In this case he is marginally scarier than the others but it’s not by a great deal or anything like that. Scrooge is probably more scared of all the random people looting his house after death. No respect for the recently departed around here!

The writing is solid as always. Scrooge may not be a nice guy but he’s a well written character as are the others. The heroes try to keep a cheerful face on even when things are hard and so the whole thing comes together well. At its core the Christmas Carol is always a story of optimism and how anybody can be changed. It’s a fun story to watch around Christmas time in all of its different adaptions.

The film is fairly short and direct so there really isn’t a whole lot more to say about the film though. I thought Bob was a solid character who may be a little timid, but he puts up with everything that he can in order to provide for his family. It takes a lot sometimes to not fire back at the boss when he’s being crazy but you know you need the job. Then Fred was definitely a solid character for trying to keep on inviting Scrooge to things long after he has probably been turned down hundreds and hundreds of times in the past. Nobody would have blamed him if he’d given up long before that.

Scrooge was really lucky to be surrounded by so many good people if you think about it. In another setting things could have been tough for him even after the ghosts had rehabilitated the guy. It’s hard to just start fresh when you’ve completely alienated everyone around you after all. It’s not like anyone ever owes you a second chance inherently. You have to have someone willing to talk to you first and so Fred really came in clutch there.

Overall, Scrooge is a pretty good story. Admittedly there is little reason to watch this version over the newer ones since they have consistently improved more and more as the years have gone by. I really liked an animated one that came out in the late 2000s and for live action it’s hard to go away from Scrooged. Still, as this is one of the original ones, it’s playing the story straight without all of the flourishes and new directions. it can be good to remember what the baseline is here as opposed to all of the modern renditions. So if you are really curious how it played out then this is a good film to watch.

Overall 6/10

An American Christmas Carol Review

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It’s time for an American version of the classic Christmas Carol. My main issue with this one is that it doesn’t really change things up all that much from the classic story so it didn’t take advantage of the different setting. It’s not one of the stronger Christmas Carol adaptions either. It’s decent fun but you’re not going to walk away from this one a changed person. You’ll just want to go watch Scrooged again as the definitive version of the story.

It starts off with Slade having his assistant Thatcher help him with taking back all of the valuables he loaned out. Basically he planned it out just right so he would give things to everyone in town and when they couldn’t pay it back he would get everything back with interest. He basically owns the city now but everyone else is dying in the cold. That night he is visited by a ghost and this would be the beginning of 3 more visits that would haunt him in the nights to come. Are these ghosts real or is he dreaming?

You can guess the entire story from that because the Christmas Carol is a story as old as time. It is following the classic beats here. I suppose they changed up the names but that’s about it. Slade was close to getting engaged/married to one girl but he directly sent her father to the grave by convincing someone to lend money to him instead of her father. Slade also began using very dubious selling techniques to get more money and squeeze the value out of the end user. It was all rather rough but that’s just his style. Now he sees just how much he was hurting everyone and how he has to make things right.

It feels like the movie is pretty much on automatic. He does a 180 real fast by the end and agrees to help out. This Scrooge just didn’t go through as gradual a character arc. Having the actual Christmas Carol be a book within the universe was a questionable choice. It’s cliché but I would have liked him to have said Humbug at least once. It’s a staple at this point. I would also argue that this version of Scrooge as Slade was a lot meaner than the others which made it harder to redeem him.

Put it this way, the average Scrooge is someone who destroys Tiny Tim but does so unknowingly. He fires people for nothing and doesn’t donate to charity but otherwise that’s the extent of it. He’s rich and everyone can’t stand him because he’s a harsh boss and doesn’t help the community. At no point in those stories is he actively taking away people’s furniture and possessions. It is a completely different ballgame here with Slade doing all of that. Because now he is actively harming all of their lives as opposed to doing it passively.

We’re in the middle of a great depression during this film’s timetable with everyone dying out as it is and then he’s taking the piano, chairs, and everything else? They have nothing to sell or barter with now so of course everyone’s dying. This Slade already knew that so it’s less believable for him to have a change of heart when he sees the visions. At least usually the main character isn’t going that far so when he sees the end results of his actions then he is ready to change.

Additionally this Slade doesn’t seem very smart. When we get to the future ghost we see people partying because someone died and they’re all making fun of him. Slade has to ask who died several times even though it’s patently obvious from the start. He just can’t figure it out and it would almost be funny if it wasn’t just odd. Scrooge had to be a slick customer in order to get rich and mess everyone over. He should be able to very quickly deduce that the only person disliked enough for this to happen is himself. We don’t need him to be questioning this at any point.

The rest of the characters are about as you’d expect. This version of Tiny Tim is having a really tough time and is getting sicker and sicker. Thatcher tries to stay upbeat about this while his wife is furious at Slade and wants to take him down. Their daughter tends to panic about what’s going on which is rough since they were trying to play it cool. She was just a little too young to handle it. Then you have the ghosts who are here to take a lot of pot shots at Slade as they show him where he went wrong.

While it would have been a bold approach, I think maybe playing this off as a Scrooge origin story could have been good. In fact I’m surprised nobody’s done that yet. The flashback got me thinking about it because it was a little longer and more detailed than I’m used to. Seeing him rise up the ranks and always be ready to make a deal just got me interested. That would make for a very fun film and it would be completely unique. So that’s a win/win if you ask me. Now I want to see a film like that and you can even keep in the supernatural elements if you want but I don’t think you’d need them.

I’ve been comparing this one to other Christmas Carols a lot but I do want to still point out that this is a good film. True it doesn’t hold its own next to the others but if you look at the movie in isolation then it’s still a good story. It’s got a solid beginning, middle, and ending. The supernatural impact of the ghosts is solid and the writing is good. You should be engaged all the way through the movie and that’s the sign of a successful picture. You won’t get bored or anything like that during the movie.

Overall, An American Christmas Carol is an interesting idea in concept but it just didn’t work out compared to the others. The film to do this angle the best was Scrooged as it really took a deeper look into what a jaded CEO type could really be like. To convert him they really had to put him through the wringer and he was even in near death situations like being shot at. Throwing in some spice like that helps to make the story unique and would also have a more American flavor as opposed to just telling the same story again with brand new names.

Overall 6/10

Mickey’s Christmas Carol Review

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It’s time for a fun look at the classic Christmas Carol. I’ve seen many versions of this over the years and it’s a nice way to get prepared for Christmas. Mickey Mouse and the gang adapt this story well. As the special is very quick, they go through the 3 ghosts in record time. It may feel a tad too short at times, but it gets the job done. Scrooge does a good job portraying…Scrooge and Mickey Mouse has the solid one liners when necessary. It’s a fun special and there’s nothing to really dislike here.

In case you don’t know the plot of the Christmas Carol, it follows a jaded old man. His name is Scrooge and money is the only thing that he likes. He has lived his life like this for many years, but this year is different. He is visited by three ghosts who show him the past, present, and future. If Scrooge doesn’t change his ways, he’ll be in chains for his whole afterlife and a little kid will die. Scrooge must see the value of Christmas or he will go down this dark path. Will he see the error of his ways?

Scrooge is easily the best character here. Convincing the people trying to earn money for the poor that there work wasn’t going to end well was pretty strategic. Scrooge consistently shows that he is the smartest guy in the room. He also gets some of the best lines like when one of the ghosts said “It’s time to go” Scrooge responded with “Then go already!” As a cynical old duck, it’s fun to see him boss everyone around and try to sour everyone’s day. Only giving Mickey half a day off for Christmas shows just how strict he is. He even gave up his fiancee and then charged her for rent so he could get richer. Naturally, he’s not quite as fun once he turns into a nice guy, but it had to happen at some point. It would have been quite the ending had Scrooge decided that he just had too much Eggnog before bed and then went back to his old ways. It’s a rather sudden turnaround and it may not be all that believable, but it’s not supposed to be. Also, there is only so much that you can do for a character’s development in the course of 20 minutes.

Mickey Mouse is a nice supporting character. He’s a nice guy who just does his best the whole time, but he also gets in a few moments of rebellion such as when he told Scrooge “Bah Humbug!” before “catching himself” and saying Merry Christmas instead. Tiny Tim was around as well and he’s never been my favorite character, (A little too cheesy the whole time) but the special would be quite different without him I suppose. The rest of the family were less antagonistic towards Scrooge than they were in the Scrooged film. (Still the definitive adaption of the Christmas Carol. Not necessarily the best, but it’s the one that I automatically think of) There aren’t a whole lot of other characters around, but we do have the 3 ghosts. The ghost of the present was easily the most annoying one. I liked the ghost of the past though since it was a very fitting choice. Disney’s characters were really made for this roles. The ghost of the future was suitably mean, but at least he was a nice guy here since he’s using scare tactics to get Scrooge to make the right call. That sort of counts as being nice right?…

The animation is pretty fun and retro. This special certainly came out a long time ago and yet it looks a lot crisper and more modern than Charlie Brown and other similar cartoons from its time. Depends on how long of a period we call the same time era though. There’s not much of a soundtrack, but music wasn’t a really big focus in media back in the day. That’s just how it was at the time. The sound effects really stand out this way though so that’s a positive.

Overall, This was a fun special. I still know these characters more from Kingdom Hearts than I do from the old classics so it’s neat to see them in their less serious forms for a change. It’s like looking at the characters before they peered into the darkness and learned how grave everything around them was. Donald’s voice is still perfect for all of his scenes. This special may not have gone out of its way for any exaggerated humor or forced jokes, but that’s exactly why it managed to be humorous. It’s a well written special and the kind of program that you couldn’t really expect to find nowadays. There’s just something to be said for these classic characters adapting such a classic story. I definitely recommend it for Christmas and I’m sure that I’ll be seeing more Christmas programs before the year is up.

Overall 7/10