As if we didn’t already have enough film version of Charles Dicken’s seminal Christmas tale, now Netflix have got in on the act. Very much like yesterday’s review of Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022), my decision to watch Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022) was a later one as I was oblivious to this film's existence until it appeared on Netflix. And yes, I may have already done a review this year for one of the millions of versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ but it isn’t like I am ever going to run out. This version came out this year which is evidence that people will never stop making films from this story. You all know the story and I frankly can’t be bothered to write a synopsis here, so if for some reason you aren’t familiar you can look it up (but also where on earth have you been all your life).
I went into this film with some trepidation. After all, it is a Netflix film and from my experience, that isn’t always a great proponent for quality. However, I have to say I rather enjoyed it for the most part. That doesn’t mean that film isn’t without its issues. Firstly, and rather importantly, the film is a musical in which the musical numbers aren’t all that great. There are a couple of exceptions, ‘Later Never Comes’ is a great ballad that is performed really well by Luke Evans and Jessie Buckley. It matches the scene well, moves the story along and builds on the characters involved, and crescendos to quite an epic conclusion. The second good song is not even an original for this film and is instead a cover of a song from Scrooge (1970). The song they cover is ‘Thank You Very Much’ and, while not as good as the original version, it remains fun and works well as a more modern take on the song. Another issue the film has is that it decides to take some liberties with the story and characterisation, especially that of Scrooge (Luke Evans). I don’t think all these choices are inherently bad, but there are a couple that didn’t add all that much to the story and seemed needless. The main culprit here is that in this version it turns out that Scrooge and Jacob Marley (Jonathan Pryce) had had a hand in Bob Cratchit (Johnny Flynn) being poor as they had previously refused to give his father an extension on a loan, eventually ruining him financially. It adds extra personal motivation for Scrooge to help Bob I guess, but it isn’t explored much further than this and seems like a pointless addition.
However, I am willing to forgive additions like this because I really appreciate that this film was willing to do its own thing with this story. Because I watch so many of these it has become a little tiresome watching films that are not all that different from each other when you break them down, and a lot of them tend to blend into each other. There is no danger of that from this film, which is very obviously its own thing, especially when it comes to its depictions of the three ghosts and the ghost of Jacob Marley. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is quite similar in his appearance to other depictions, but the way the film decides to have him appear is like nothing I have seen in any version of this film I have ever seen. They choose to have the Ghost of Christmas Present physically transform into him, with his body contorting and changing into this horrific spectre. It is wonderfully creative, and the animation absolutely does it justice. But my highlight is the reveal of Jacob Marley’s ghost before it becomes a little too kid friendly with the tone. His reveal is wonderfully imagined from a visual perspective and with the sound design. The design of Marley’s ghost is really great, and the whole sequence plays out somewhat like a horror film. It is a great visual scene in a film full of great visual scenes.
I am genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this film and looking at early impressions I seem to be in a minority group for this. I think I am just extremely appreciative that the film decided to make so many changes and take some risks narratively and visually. Does it always land? No. But when it does it really sticks the landing and I really like that about the film. It isn’t going to be on a list of my ‘must-watch’ Christmas films but I definitely see myself coming back to this film in the future.
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