A Christmas Carol (2009 film)

In 1843, on Christmas Eve in London, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old businessman, does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines his cheerful nephew Fred's invitation to his annual Christmas dinner party, and rejects two gentlemen's offer to collect money for charity. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit asks Scrooge to allow him to have a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees before leaving. In his house, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like he was, carrying heavy chains forged from his own greediness. Jacob informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits, who will guide him out of his misery.

First, Scrooge is visited by the candle-like Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his childhood and early adult life. Scrooge relives his lonely childhood in a boarding school and his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, who became the mother of Fred. Scrooge later began a successful career in business and money lending as an employee under Fezziwig, and he became engaged to a woman named Belle. However, the Ghost shows Scrooge how Belle left him when he became obsessed with wealth. A devastated Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with his candle snuffer cap and is rocketed back to the present.

Next, Scrooge meets the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows him the joys and wonder of Christmas Day. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning his family is content with their small dinner. All the while, Scrooge starts to take pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim. The Ghost abruptly ages, commenting that Tiny Tim will likely not survive until next Christmas. The Ghost warns Scrooge about the evils of "Ignorance" and "Want"; Big Ben begins tolling midnight as "Ignorance" and "Want" manifest themselves before Scrooge as two wretched children who grow into violent, insane individuals, leaving the spirit withering away.

Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, appearing as a dark shadow, and takes Scrooge into the future. He witnesses a group of businessmen discussing the death of an unnamed colleague, saying they would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided. After being chased across London by the Ghost, Scrooge recognizes his charwoman Mrs. Dilber selling the stolen possessions of the deceased. Shortly afterwards, Scrooge sees the aforementioned colleague's body on a bed, followed by a vision of a family who is relieved that he is dead, as they have more time to pay off their debt. The spirit transports Scrooge to Bob's residence, discovering that Tiny Tim has died. Scrooge is then escorted to a cemetery, where the Ghost points out his own grave, revealing Scrooge as the man who died. Realizing the consequences upon his actions, Scrooge decides to change his ways just as the Ghost forces him to fall into his empty coffin lying in a deep grave that sits above the fires of Hell.

Waking up in his own room on Christmas Day, with love and happiness in his heart, a gleeful Scrooge decides to surprise Bob's family with a turkey dinner, and ventures out with the charity workers and the citizens of London to spread happiness in the city, and later attends Fred's Christmas dinner, where he is warmly welcomed. The following day, he gives Cratchit a raise. Cratchit states to the viewers that Scrooge becomes a father figure to Tiny Tim, who escapes death, and Scrooge now treats everyone with kindness, generosity, and compassion.

• Jim Carrey as:
  • Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy, grouchy and selfish old man, whose sheer miserly nature leads him to despise Christmas and all things which engender happiness.
  • Ghost of Christmas Past, the first spirit that haunts Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent. He is depicted as an androgynous man with a flickering flame for a head and a body like a candle, and speaks with an Irish accent.
  • Ghost of Christmas Present, the second spirit. He is depicted as a towering man with red hair, a full beard, and a green ermine robe. He is a jolly figure prone to hearty laughter, and speaks with a Yorkshire accent.
  • Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the third and final spirit. It is depicted as a shadowy Grim Reaper cast across the ground or a wall, and is the only spirit that does not speak.
• Gary Oldman as Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's cheerful assistant and underpaid clerk.
  • Oldman also portrays Jacob Marley, the ghost of Scrooge's former business partner, who is bound in chains and cursed to walk the earth in penance of a cold-hearted life.
  • Oldman does the motion capture for Tiny Tim, Cratchit's youngest son. Ryan Ochoa provides the uncredited voice of Tiny Tim.
• Colin Firth as Fred, Scrooge's cheerful nephew and only living relative. Fred is the son of Scrooge's younger sister Fan.
• Bob Hoskins as Mr. Fezziwig, the proprietor of a warehouse business for whom Scrooge worked as a young apprentice.
  • Hoskins also portrays Old Joe, a fence who buys the belongings of the deceased Scrooge from Mrs. Dilber.
• Robin Wright Penn as Fan, Scrooge's beloved younger sister who has since died.
  • Wright also portrays Belle, Scrooge's neglected fiancée.
• Cary Elwes as Portly Gentleman #1/Dick Wilkins/Mad Fiddler/Guest #2/Business Man #1
  • Elwes would also act as a stand-in for Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present in scenes where two Carrey characters appear together, standing-in as the character interacting with Carrey during filming. An example would be, that whenever filming scenes with Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Carrey would perform as the Ghost, while Elwes would act as a stand-in for Scrooge, feeding that character's lines to Carrey, and vice versa would act as a stand-in for the Ghost when Carrey performed as Scrooge.
• Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's charwoman.
• Steve Valentine as Funerary Undertaker/Topper
• Daryl Sabara as Undertaker's Apprentice/Tattered Caroler #1/Beggar Boy #1/Peter Cratchit/Well-Dressed Caroler #1
• Sage Ryan as Tattered Caroler #2
• Amber Gainey Meade as Tattered Caroler #3/ Well-Dressed Caroler #2
• Ryan Ochoa as Tattered Caroler #4/Beggar Boy #2/Young Cratchit Boy/Ignorance Boy/Young Boy with Sleigh
• Bobbi Page as Tattered Caroler #5/Well-Dressed Caroler #3
• Ron Bottitta as Tattered Caroler #6/Well-Dressed Caroler #4
• Sammi Hanratty as Beggar Boy #3/Young Cratchit Girl/Want Girl
• Julian Holloway as Fat Cook/Portly Gentleman #2/Business Man #3
• Jacquie Barnbrook as Mrs. Fezziwig/Fred's sister-in-law/Well-Dressed Caroler #5
• Lesley Manville as Mrs. Cratchit
• Molly C. Quinn as Belinda Cratchit
• Fay Masterson as Martha Cratchit/Guest #1/Caroline
• Leslie Zemeckis as Janet Holywell, Fred's wife.
• Paul Blackthorne as Guest #3/Business Man #2
• Michael Hyland as Guest #4
• Kerry Hoyt as Adult Ignorance
• Julene Renee-Preciado as Adult Want

After making The Polar Express (2004), Robert Zemeckis stated that he "fell in love with digital cinema"[9] and tried finding an avenue in order to use the format again. He eventually figured out that an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol would be an opportunity to achieve this.[9] Upon rereading the story, he realized that "the story has never been realized in a way that it was actually imagined by Charles Dickens as he wrote it," as well as that "it's as if he wrote this story to be a movie because it's so visual and so cinematic." [9] Zemeckis has stated previously that A Christmas Carol is one of his favorite stories dealing with time travel.[10] Carrey has described the film as "a classical version of A Christmas Carol […] There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents […] I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, 'Yeah, that's for real.' We were very true to the book. It's beautiful. It's an incredible film."[11]

Disney partnered with Amtrak to promote the film with a special nationwide train tour, starting in May 2009 and visiting 40 cities, finishing in New York in November.[12][13]

A Christmas Carol opened London on November 3, 2009, and was theatrically released on November 6, 2009, in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures.

The music was composed by Alan Silvestri and orchestrated by William Ross, and John Ashton Thomas. The entire score was conducted by Ross, and was performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony and a freelance choir.[29] Much of the music was based on actual carols. The album was later issued physically through Intrada Records. The theme song "God Bless Us Everyone" was written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard and performed by Italian classical crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli.

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