‘Scrooge: A Christmas Carol’ The Upcoming Film Adaptation Of The Classic Tale

This Christmas will be a little merrier. There’s no denying that the release of Disney’s classic adaptation of Scrooge: A Christmas Carol is just around the corner. Rather than staying too close to their source material, Apple TV+ are giving us Spirited, starring Octavia Spencer and Ryan Reynolds; perfect for your holiday viewing.  Well, it looks like they’re not content with simply playing it safe this December; instead, they’re releasing an animated film called Scrooge: A Christmas Carol on 2nd of December. The trailer gives a taste of what we can expect in terms of tone and style, lively colours paired with a toe-tapping soundtrack. It looks like a classic. This is sure to be different from any other adaptation we’ve seen so far, and I am quite excited for the film’s release this December. It looks like it will give children the dazzling experience they deserve during the holidays, while still keeping the original story intact. 

Who is in the cast?

• Jessie Buckley as Isabel Fezziwig
• Luke Evans as Ebenezer Scrooge
• Olivia Colman as Ghost of Christmas Past
• Jonathan Pryce as Jacob Marley
• Johnny Flynn as Bob Cratchit
• James Cosmo as Mr. Fezziwig
• Fra Fee as Harry Huffman
• Trevor Dion Nicholas as Ghost of Christmas Present
• Sil Van Der Zwan as Young Ebenezer
• Giles Terera as Tom Jenkins
• Jemima Lucy Newman as Jen Scrooge
• Homer Todiwala as Tamal
• Devon Pomeroy as Kathy Cratchit

The release date:

Disney have confirmed this film will be premiering on 2nd December, 2022 in the US and Canada. No word yet on when it will be decided whether or not it’ll get dubbed for other countries.

About the film:

This is a faithful adaptation of Charles Dickens classic story, and follows the well-known protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge. The film was directed by Stephen Donnelly. The animation style is rather unique in comparison to other adaptations, as it gives the film a distinctly old-fashioned feel—it definitely breathes onto my nostalgia for childhood Christmas specials which are full of bright winter colours. The film also uses some very subtle stylized techniques that I don’t usually see on modern adaptations—a lot of the detail throughout the whole movie is quite delicate and it has kind of an elegant feel to it. “One of the most notable aspects of this film’s animation is the surprisingly mature and thoughtful approach to character design. The facial expressions and body movements are so well done that the characters feel like realistic human beings. That is, aside from their constant changing of facial expressions whenever they speak to each other.

What makes this adaptation different and better than others?

Unlike the classic animated films made by Disney before or after, this version is the first to be done with such a stylized, “old-fashioned” look to it. There is a distinct difference between this and the other films that were done by modern directors—while they were definitely “darker” in tone than Scrooge, they were still animated in a slightly naturalistic way. This, however, uses more subtle methods of stylized animation as opposed to using realistic ones.

Who can watch this film?

This film is suitable for children, who are very likely to have watched one of the aforementioned Christmas classics by now. The animation is refined, in a way that could be easily appreciated by younger children but also give older ones something to look at. The film would be a great introduction to this classic Christmas story, especially since it doesn’t directly adapt the story of the original book.