VDT - Second Thoughts

So it's been about five months since Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out in the cinemas. A couple of weeks ago my brother, Sir Lipine, and I borrowed the DVD and rewatched it. Our thoughts, now it wasn't on the big screen?
Well, there's no easy way to say this, so I'd better just get this out of me. We thought it was pathetic. Most opinions we had of the film in the cinemas were completely washed away, leaving only disappointment their place. We so wanted this film to be great, to capture the heart of my favourite book, but once we saw it on DVD we could no longer deny that this was a terrible adaptaion and a terrible film.
For the next while or so, in an effort to keep myself blogging more often, I'm going to write small posts covering in detail different aspects in the film. I'll have a post for the plot, a post for each of the characters and a post for each of the themes. After this, I'll do a sum up of all these things and the way they all impact on the overall film.
That's the plan, anyway. :)
~SON

A Christmas Carol (2009 Animated)

Hello there, my loyal bookworms! I've finally escaped (for a time) that ugly black hole of homework and study! With this new-found (though likely short-lived) freedom, I am very happy to present to you another one of my (admittedly rare) comparative analysis reviews. This is one I've been wanting to do for ages, so now, without further ado, A Christmas Carol!

Overall position of the film:

I began watching this film expecting an adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' for children, with more modern, easy-to-understand language and a fair bit of slapstick humour. However, I was completely caught unawares! This is a thorough, very close adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel that barely deviates from the plot, language and most importantly, themes, that were in the book. I would even go as far as to say that it is the closest film adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' that I have ever seen.

Plot:

As I mentioned earlier, the plot barely deviates from the book at all in this film. There is slight poetic licence taken here and there (for example, Scrooge is at one point chased by the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come), but for the most part, Dickens' work is greatly respected and great attention to detail is shown in the story.

Characters:

Scrooge - This was certainly one of Jim Carrey's more serious roles. He voiced Scrooge with much conviction and character, bringing the old miser at the centre of this story to life. I also loved the way the animators portrayed him: tallish, very skinny, with thin lips, and a long, hooked nose.

Marley - I thought that the filmmakers were very clever in the way they portrayed Marley's ghost. He was, in all truth, a fairly scary guy, with his glowing chains and message he gives to Scrooge, besides the fact that he is the first ghost we see in this tale. The filmmakers proceeded to make him seem a little less intimidating by throwing in a little bit of slapstick humour, but not so much as to make the audience forget the what is about to happen to the main character.

The Ghost of Christmas Past - I was quite startled at how well this ghost fitted the book's description, for it is one of those things that is easy to imagine but hard to visually portray. Dickens described it as:

"Like a child: yet not so like a child as an old man, [...] from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm."

The thing I was perhaps most impressed with was the way the face was constantly changing from old to young. I applaud the animators for the admirable job they did in bringing this character to life.

The Ghost of Christmas Present - Can't really complain for this ghost, either. Of course, this ghost, being the one closest to human form, is the easiest to visually depict. The way he was represented was not really very different to any other films, but it fitted the book's description, so I was still fairly happy with it even though is perhaps lacked the 'wow' factor of the other ghosts.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - My goodness, this spirit was by far the scariest of the three! I absolutely loved the way the animators chose to portray it, for it was like nothing I had seen before and highly original. It actually had no form; it was only seen as the shadow of a cloaked figure, and this made it all the more frightening. Because there was no indication of how tall or short it was, and because it wasn't something one of the characters could touch any more than you or I could grasp a shadow, there was a huge element of mystery involved in this character. The filmmakers understood a very important concept here: the fear of the unknown is far greater than the fear of what you can see, because it lets the viewer's imagination fill in the gaps.

Themes:

I think that anyone who has read this classic novella would agree with me that it has the amazing theme of redemption running through it as Scrooge goes from a miserable old man who cares for nothing but himself to one who sees the error of his ways and is completely changed into a new man. This was not at all downplayed in the film for the comfort of the general public, which I was greatly appreciative of.
The theme of compassion is one that also runs throughout the book as Scrooge learns the importance of caring for others, not just one's self. This too was very much a part of this movie.

Christian Messages:

Even though the novel never explicitly mentions God having a hand in Scrooge's redemption or Scrooge realising Christ to be his personal savior, there are nevertheless many Christian messages present in this book. One of them is the fact that said main character was not able to change on his own. For that matter, he didn't even realise that magnitude of his actions until the three spirits showed him. This is something also picked up in the film - that redemption is not something we can achieve ourselves.

Setting:

All the background sets were very well thought out to highlight the fact that this is a story set in England somewhere around the year of 1843 (which was when this tale was published). I found it a fascinating insight to the way people lived back then, with the horse-drawn carriages and the huge churches and the small shops. They were the sort of sets that really took you back to the time and showed you what day to day life looked like.

Animation:

What can I say? The animation and art departments for this movie did a truly spectacular job. There is nothing I can really complain about, because everything they visually presented absolutely respected and embraced the spirit of this classic tale.

Music:

The music very much fitted in with the emotion of the film, at points full of Christmas cheer, at other times suspenseful and fast-paced. I especially loved the incorporation of much percussion with the other orchestral instruments (in my opinion, a good film score is one that makes good use of percussion!).

Things I disliked about the film:

• The only thing I can think to say is that this was advertised as a family film, but because of some scary scenes and the complexity of the language, it's more geared towards the 10+ age group.

Things I liked about the film:

• Accurate portrayal of all the characters
• Preservation of key themes from the text
• Lack of deviation from the text
• True to the cultural and historical context of the text

Overall:

I must say that I was very impressed by this adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol'. The choice to use animation rather than live action lent itself extremely well to this story, as things that would be difficult to depict in real life were presented skillfully in this medium. What I most of all enjoyed about this movie was the respect the filmmakers had for the original text and their reluctance to deviate from it. At the same time, however, their approach was creative. I would definitely recommend both the film and novella, but would caution that the film should not be seen by children under the age of ten years.

So there we have it, folks. I'd be interested to hear what you think of 'A Christmas Carol', whether it's insights about the book or comments about other film adaptations. You know what that means. ;)

Signing off,

~SON

Help!

Greetings, bookworms.
Currently trapped in a pile of homework with a mass greater than that of a black hole the size of jupiter. Will not let me blog. Hope to escape soon. Wish me luck!
~SON