The animation is uncanny, but Robert Zemeckis’s Christmas Carol is a masterpiece that ventures into so many parts of the novel that other adaptations don’t. So it’s time we had a real talk about why this might be Dickens’s favorite feature-length version if he were still around today.

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Citations & Credits:

Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act, allowances are made for “fair use.” Examples include news reporting, comment, critique, education, and research purposes. Fair use is permitted by a statute that may otherwise be an infringement of copyright. All clips, posters, and stills from the works referenced in this video are used for the purposes of criticism, commentary, and educational analysis of media. No copyright infringement is intended. Use of this material does not imply endorsement by the original rights holders.

Zemeckis, Robert, dir. Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2009.

The Muppet Christmas Carol. Dir. Brian Henson, perf. Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, and Steve Whitmire. Walt Disney Pictures, 1992.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Dir. Burny Mattinson. Walt Disney Productions, 1983.

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Dover Publications, 2017.

Dickens, Charles, et al. The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose. W.W. Norton & Co, 2004.

LA Times article — https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-nov-01-ca-carol1-story.html

Music: Royalty Free Music YouTube Creation tool — Youtube.com/royaltyfreemusicent

Charles Dickens photo by Antoine Claudet — https://picryl.com/media/charles-dickens-by-claudet-1852-crop-37abe8

Illustration of Charles Dickens — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_of_Charles_Dickens_Wellcome_L0067697.jpg

Dickens portrait, National Library of Wales — https://picryl.com/media/portrait-of-charles-dickens-4671094-5e21f1

Photo of Andrew Agnew — https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/22933

A Christmas Carol (2009) deleted scenes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgacaST3xMY

A Christmas Carol (1999) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIn1SFsu3K4&t=160s

A Christmas Carol train tour photo, credit to Paul Young — https://screenrant.com/bored-disneys-christmas-carol-amtrak-train-tour/

Mark Zoradi photo — https://www.nab.org/documents/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?id=1748

“Mark Zoradi steps down,” The Wrap — https://www.thewrap.com/mark-zoradi-resigns-president-disney-motion-pictures-group-9867/

Robert Zemeckis photo — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Zemeckis_%22The_Walk%22_at_Opening_Ceremony_of_the_28th_Tokyo_International_Film_Festival_(21835891403)_(cropped).jpg

Miners singing: photo by Jack Esten/Daily Herald, © National Science and Media Museum

0:00 Box office performance

0:35 Reasons for the film's flop

1:04 Dickens and industrialization

3:14 Opening and character design

4:44 Marley's ghost scene

5:58 Systemic criticism

6:42 The three spirits

7:21 The ghost of Christmas past

9:20 The ghost of Christmas present

10:30 Critique of social systems

12:51 The Cratchit and Fred scenes

13:46 Ignorance and Want

14:12 The ghost of yet to come