Perhaps too bizarre in its animation for some, the 2009 A Christmas Carol is still an eccentric and worthy addition to the Dickens' legend. The voice acting and motion-capture performances are also spectacular- Jim Carrey oscillates between Scrooge and the three ghosts of Christmas Gary Oldman switches between Bob Cratchit, Marley, and even Tiny Tim Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth, and Robin Wright Penn are all additionally wonderful.

'A visual marvel that begs to be seen in theatres,' according to Brian Gallagher, the freedom of the animation allows for particularly unique interpretations, especially of the Christmas ghosts which had somewhat lost their strange and legendary spookiness after a century of visual storytelling. The style has been divisive for critics and audiences alike, creating a kind of uncanny valley with its almost-too-real moments, but it is used to great effect and well suited for this Dickens adaptation. While there are excellent television versions of the story, these are the best theatrically-released movie versions of A Christmas Carol, ranked.īefore his version of A Christmas Carol, Robert Zemeckis had created two hit films, Beowulf and the similarly snowy Polar Express, using a then-pioneering animation technique known as performance-capture. Cinema alone has delivered approximately 57 adaptations, from 1901's silent Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost to the upcoming adaptation Spirited with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell. It's understandable, then, that A Christmas Carol has inspired almost countless adaptations, with literally hundreds of versions across theatre, radio, television, opera, and even video games. It's mostly thanks to him that Christmas became a federal American holiday in 1870. His book was perhaps the most important factor for the ubiquity of the modern Christmas experience, helping ( along with Coca-Cola) to cement now-standard practices like indoor Christmas trees, Christmas cards, caroling, and paid Christmas vacation. When Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, it fundamentally shifted conceptions about the holiday and inspired people of all social classes with the Christmas spirit. A confluence of forces changed all this by 1843- new technologies and factories created affordable presents, labor laws like the 1833 Factory Act gave families time to celebrate, and a middle class grew out of poverty thanks to these trends and other social reforms. By the 1600's, the holiday had died out for a variety of reasons, including the ironic antagonism of Puritans and the extensive poverty and awful working conditions of most people if Christmas existed at all, it was mainly for the rich.

Consider a time when hardly anybody celebrated Christmas.