Here's a shocker: Patrick Stewart makes a great Scrooge. Yeah, I know, who'd've thunk …?
The rest of the cast here is pretty good, too. If you haven't seen this version, it's worth doing so, though I still have a sneaking fondness for my first "Christmas Carol," where Scrooge was played by Mr. Magoo …
A ★★★★ review of A Christmas Carol (1999)
It’s been a while since I’ve watched a straight-up adaptation of Dickens’ tale, and my daughter had never seen one (only variations on the theme on various TV shows). I’d not seen the Patrick Stewart version before, so it was an experiment for everyone. And a darned successful one. Stewart makes a brilliantly crusty, internally crumbling Scrooge, by turns cynical and terrified and moved by Marley, the Three Ghosts, and his voyage of discovery. He…
I just watched this earlier in the week. It was good. But then anything based on A Christmas Carol. I am not proud of it but watched one the other night with Vanessa WIlliams in it, and it was STILL okay.
There were numerous fine actors in this version. I really liked it.
Patrick Stewart does a fine job reading A Christmas Carol. I started out with it on tape, and now have the CD. I thought the movie was OK – until the appearance of The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, who looks like a giant Jawa. I have to look away when that spirit is in the scene. I find it ludicrous and distracting. Then…there was the open grave. When I first saw it, I thought, “No. No, they aren’t going to go there. No.” But, they did. So, I own it and I watch it, but it’s not my favorite. I prefer the audio, even with the very fine actors in the movie.
Still, it’s about 5000% better than the latest Carol I watched which was a production directed by Jason Figgis. If you deserve punishment for anything, I recommend watching this film. I believe he was influenced by Swedish art films, and had it been in Swedish, it would probably have been an improvement. @Jamie Jordan, the Vanessa Williams one is a masterpiece compared to the Figgis.
+Tom Spinella OMG, MRS. FEZZIWIG IS A SLITHEEN!
No, overall a solid cast. Joel Gray looked a bit … odd as the Ghost of Christmas Past (and they did a very irregular job with his shimmering aura, which seemed to come and go at odd moments), but I still enjoyed him.
Patrick Stewart is great in anything he does.
Yeah, he's on my "I'd watch him reading the phone book" list.
A commenter on my blog reminded me of one other blotch in the SFX Department: the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come resembles a Hyperthyroid Jawa. It's … distracting. To say the least.
I did enjoy that one. Although I think my favorite is still the Muppet Version.
Did you hear him on Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me last Saturday?
http://www.npr.org/2014/12/13/370331835/not-my-job-actor-patrick-stewart-gets-quizzed-on-g-i-joe
If you want to see the Magoo version, it's airing on the CW on Christmas Eve.
Want to add, since I’m planning on listening to it this evening, Jonathan Winters also did an audio recording of Christmas Carol which is quite enjoyable. Not the same as Patrick Stewart (who I would listen to if he were reading sports news, and I don’t follow sports), but very good as he does the voices of the various characters.
I liked the wonderful version with Albert Finney, too. musical, called I think, just "Scrooge".