Stylish but barely mediocre overall

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

With all the decent versions of "A Christmas Carol" available, why would anyone waste their time on this. Kelsey Grammar is a decent actor with a nice bent for understated comedy. Playing Ebenezer Scrooge just doesn't work. He just never gets into the character, looking dull and unconvincing, and generally uncomfortable. I know it was a made for TV movie, but so was the George C. Scott one. They are on opposite poles. And why didn't he just play the role straight. Why a musical. Several weak and stale songs don't help much. Finally, the supporting cast is made of the miscast. There is no charm, no spark, to this rendition. Drive a sprig of holly through its heart.

Hello!Though I have visited the IMDb.com site for many years, this is my very first review here, because I felt a strong moral obligation to warn others about this movie.I have seen perhaps 15 movie versions of "A Christmas Carol".Without a doubt, this awful piece of garbage ranks dead last, even after bad half-hour animated versions.Everything is so appallingly bad, that it's difficult to point out anything in particular.Kelsey Grammar, who I have not hated before this movie, turns in one of the most dreadful performances I have ever seen, anywhere, in any movie! I was stunned by the ham ridden, exceptionally poor performance, in what should have been a drama. Don't expect much more from the other "actors", many of whom act as if they are on drugs (I blame this on the director, Arthur Allan Seidelman. SO many actors can't have turned in such bad performances, without the director being hugely at fault!).The script has been dramatically changed from the original story, every time, making this movie worse, and worse, and worse. Now, I understand that most stories or novels can't be translated directly into a movie without alterations, HOWEVER, that doesn't excuse the butchery of the original story that was done in this movie, with no point. AND, "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens, READS almost as a screenplay. Many adaptations have stayed very close to the original source material, with sometimes very great results.The music varies from inane, to horrible. I know that Alan Menken has done decent stuff before, but this certainly has to have been one of his poorest efforts.Rather than continuing to harp on the vast shortcomings of this unwatchable piece of crud, I will list the versions of "A Christmas Carol", that I consider best, in order:1. "A Christmas Carol", George C. Scott, 1984, long version. 10 star movie. Brilliant performance by Scott, probably the best of his entire career, even better than in "Patton". He portrays Scrooge as a textured, real person, rather than the over-the-top performances you see by most actors. ALSO, this version is closest to Dickens original story "A Christmas Carol", of any of the movie versions that I have ever seen (and I sometimes READ the story, along with the movie, while it is going on!) Also, this movie has the strongest supporting cast of any of the movie versions. Particularly memorable, is Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present.2. "A Christmas Carol", George C. Scott, 1984, 101 minute version. Almost as good as the longer version.3. "Scrooge", Alastair Sim, 1951. Sims puts in a good performance as Scrooge, but not as good as Scott's.4. "Scrooge", Albert Finney, 1970, UK version, 120 minutes. I consider this the best musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". Finney, unfortunately, was too young for this role in 1970. He's probably the right age now, and I would suspect he would put in a better performance, now (2011)!5. "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol", Jim Backus, 1962, animated musical. I consider this the best version for children. The story has been simplified a bit for children, BUT, does not pull any punches. It also focuses on the children in the story a bit more. Good music by Jule Styne, that I understand was originally written for a Broadway show that fell through, but it found a good home here. Better music, I think, than in the Finney "Scrooge".6. "Scrooge", Albert Finney, 1970, US version, 113 minutes. The seven minutes cut from the UK version really butchers the ending.7. "A Christmas Carol", Patrick Stewart, 1999. 2nd best supporting cast out of any version I have seen. Unfortunately, Patrick Stewart was the weak link, here. He really did not seem to understand the character of Scrooge at all, and put in a remarkably flat and dull performance.My 2 cents worth.Hope this was helpful.Karl

I am not sure if this is the same one that I remember, it states that this was made in 2004.. the musical I remember I watched as a child.. a long, long time ago.. IF this is the same one that I remember.. it was one of THE BEST renditions of A Christmas Carol I have EVER seen. One of the songs I remember best was "Thank you very much" when Scrooge died and they were dancing on his coffin, it seemed to epitomize.. the character.. however, I find that you do not see it on TV anymore.. one that I would watch, again and again.. I am a musical fanatic.. love them and tend to remember songs more than anything else.. One of the things I love about this rendition is being able to sing along the 2nd time I saw it..

Trying to catch the same fun of the 1970 musical "scrooge" but falls way short. Bad acting plus poor singing makes a bad movie. Kelsey grammar would have been OK if he took the role seriously but instead did an terrible overacting piece.visually not bad but still all around god awful. does no credit to the classic tale. ridiculous songs, poor acting make this very very hard to watch. perhaps instead of trying to come up with a different angle on the tale someone will make it as it is. this movie makes you say BAH HUMBUG when watching it, thats if you can stomach watching it. Kelsey grammar spends the movie looking like a confused pirate. not grasping the scrooge role at all. the ghosts look more like camp counselors than ones trying to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. but where this goes so wrong is the musical score. the songs are awful. they add no value to the story. its poorly done and written.