Jim Carrey is ready for his close-up in 'A Christmas Carol'

By Sarah Sluis

In preparation for the November release of A Christmas Carol, Disney hosted a "Christmas in July" event to preview some advance footage. Although we were warned the CGI animation wasn't 100% complete, the images looked theatre-ready to me, and the animation choices speak to the tremendous advancements made in CGI since Toy Story.

One of the two preview scenes showed Charles Dickens' famed misanthrope Scrooge (performed by Jim Carrey), sitting in his armchair, as he fearfully meets Marley the ghost. The ghost itself has more of the smooth surfacing we expect in CGI animated films (to clarify, the film uses motion capture footage, which is then overlayed with computer animation), but the close-ups of Scrooge's face are a sight to behold. In 3D, on a theatre-size screen, you can see each and every pore. It's more real than the real thing; the kind of definition you would see if you were examining someone's skin with a magnifying glass, or from 6 inches away. The exaggeration of imperfections in the face and contours is a pleasure to study, and seems real, even though it's not how you would ever view someone sitting in a chair.

Another accomplishment evident from the footage is the incredible contrast between light and dark. Scrooge's face is illuminated by candlelight and fire, and surrounded by spots of extreme darkness--it's chiaroscuro is the kind of shadowing achieved by painters, not cinematographers. Besides being beautiful to look at, it lends the film a darker tone, the kind that had audience members questioning whether the film would be rated PG or G.

Having seen only two brief scenes, I can't say how much life the filmmakers and actors are going to breathe into the story itself. Many film adaptations of A Christmas Carol have been successful by casting cartoons and puppets in the starring roles--who doesn't love the versions with Mickey Mouse and the Muppets? What will this version have to set it apart?

If done right, A Christmas Carol (2009) will have the bragging rights of being in 3D, and rendered using cutting-edge CGI motion-capture animation. The star power of Jim Carrey, who previously led a holiday film to success while masked (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), and is playing multiple roles, also helps. My one worry is originality. Besides the beautiful cinematography, I want a story that takes at least a few liberties with the adaptation. I saw the possibility for that in one clip from the montage. Scrooge captures the Ghost of Christmas Past in a funnel, but then is launched, rocket-style, over London, a scene I don't remember seeing in any other version of Dickens' tale. If there are enough little tweaks that add originality and visual pleasure to the story, A Christmas Carol has the chance to go from good to great. Whatever the outcome, I've no doubt that family audiences will turn out in hordes for the film. It releases on November 6th, giving kids a maddening two months to be thinking about what Santa will give them for Christmas.