Which “A Christmas Carol” reigns supreme?
Some stories are so good that they remain in the popular zeitgeist for hundreds of years. Such is the case with Charles Dickens’ classic holiday ghost story “A Christmas Carol.” The tale of miserly, old Ebeneezer Scrooge’s turn from greed to humility has been told, quite literally, hundreds of times. It is one of the great Christmas stories that manages to warm people’s hearts every single year. However, just as Scrooge was haunted by several spirits looking to change his wicked ways, I am haunted by one question. Who tells it best? Which version of the story is most faithful? Which one is able to embody the true spirit of the season?
First, we’ll take a look at one of the earliest adaptations: the 1938 version starring Reginald Owen as Ebeneezer Scrooge. This is the oldest movie I watched for this article, but that doesn’t make it any less good as an adaptation. Owen portrays Scrooge in the way most would expect, but that isn’t a bad thing. He is just as mean and callous as any other take on the character, and had the benefit of makeup to make him appear more elderly. Most of the original story is kept intact for this film, but they did change some story elements that I didn’t hate. However, it does suffer from the fact that it’s a very short movie. It’s only 69 minutes, and most of the time is spent on the world outside of Scrooge’s, so much so that the business with the three ghosts is almost glanced over. It is still a good movie, but the short runtime comes at its detriment.
Jumping forward in time, the Bill Murray-led parody, “Scrooged” is many people’s “Christmas Carol” of choice. It tells the story of Frank Cross, a Scrooge-like TV executive who shares a similar disdain for the holidays. While producing a live production of the Dickens story on his network, he is visited by three spirits, and ends up learning important life lessons. As an adaptation, obviously “Scrooged” doesn’t follow the story that well, but it is a pretty funny movie. Murray is great at playing the unlikeable protagonist, so much so that I kind of liked everyone else’s performance in the movie way more than his. The film has creative spins on the story’s classic elements, such as the fairy godmother-like Ghost of Christmas Present, played to perfection by Carol Kane. A good film, but it definitely isn’t the definitive version.
Plenty of people have gone to say that the most accurate adaptation is actually the 2009 motion-capture film starring Jim Carrey. On a surface level, I understand why. It has the most accurate book dialogue and is able to make London feel more expansive than it’s ever been on film due to the technology. Jim Carrey also doesn’t slack as Scrooge, or the three ghosts, which are also played by him in a clever casting move. Unfortunately, I feel that “A Christmas Carol” 2009 ultimately fails because it has a focus too heavy on slapstick comedy and an animation style that was impressive at the time, but has aged like milk. Director Robert Zemeckis seemed less interested in doing the story justice and more in showing off how cool his animation with IMAX is.
So what is the best adaptation of “A Christmas Carol”? Well, no spoilers but I don’t think it’s any of the films I’ve already mentioned. No, the best version of the Dickens classic in my opinion is none other than “The Muppets Christmas Carol” from 1992. I’m well aware that it may be blasphemy, but no other version in my mind captures the spirit of the original like the Muppets’ take. I’m sure I’m biased, since this has been my definitive version since I was a kid. Still, the film is simply superior. Ignoring the absolutely unreal levels of puppetry on display, the film’s distinctive trademarks make it. Michael Caine’s Ebeneezer Scrooge is one of my favorite portrayals. There’s never an insincere moment where Caine acknowledges the ridiculousness of his supporting cast. He plays it completely straight and kills it. The film doesn’t slack as an accurate adaptation of the source material either. It includes a surprising amount of book dialogue, and even gets elements right that not even the most faithful adptations do. Overall, the verdict couldn’t be more clear: “The Muppets Christmas Carol” is simply the best version of “A Christmas Carol” of all time.
