Before I begin comparing and contrasting the two films, let’s make one thing perfectly clear: The Muppet Christmas Carol is a Walt Disney movie too. Therefore, rather than call it “Disney’s A Christmas Carol“, I’m going to refer to the 2009 film as “Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol”. Interestingly enough, another famous adaptation (not reviewed by this article), Mickey’s Christmas Carol, is also brought to us by Walt Disney. Scene by scene, spirit by spirit, this article seeks a winner.
The Ghost of Jacob Marley
In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley is joined by a fabricated brother, Robert Marley. This is done so that the two spirits can be played by the two Muppet “hecklers”, Statler and Waldorf… and so they could sing “Marley and Marley”. Even though I do like the song, it takes up so much of the scene that very little of the original text makes it into the scene.
In Jim Carrey’s film, Jacob Marley appears as a very frightening specter, who, because the movie was shown in 3D motion-capture animation, threw his lockboxes around a lot for dramatic and visual effect.
In both films, you’ll see this type of thing a lot: gimmicks. In the Muppet’s film, you’ll see relatively family-friendly Muppet-humor: “Our assets are frozen!” You’ll see them break out into song and dance every five minutes or so. Admittedly, though, I love all the songs from this movie so much that I have the soundtrack and the sheet music book. On the other hand, however, more songs ultimately means less of Charles Dickens’s original text—text that Jim Carrey’s film has.
Considering this scene only, which movie portrays the true spirit of the text the best? This is actually hard for me to decide. In the Muppet version, we see Jacob Marley as friendly and familiar to Scrooge, despite his being a ghost. In the Jim Carrey version, we see Jacob Marley as very ghostly, despite that he should be familiar to Scrooge, since he did work with Marley for many years, after all. All in all, though, Jim Carrey’s version, which even includes the “air filled with phantoms” bit, is the winner here. If I were to choose my favorite of the two scenes, though? “Marley and Marley” it is!
The Spirit of Christmas Past
In the Muppet version, this spirit appears as a child. In the Jim Carrey version, the spirit appears as a candle, complete with a snuffer. In the text? This spirit is meant to appear as a child, but it also wears a cap to cover the light that emanates from its head. I think that the Muppet version wins this battle of text-accuracy. However, I happen to like the candle a bit better, only because the child in the Muppet version is a bit creepy-looking if you stare into her all-blue eyes.
Jim Carrey’s film also shows more of the original text in these scenes than the Muppet film does, and it shows “Young Scrooge” with more Dickens-text-accuracy. Scrooge did not start out as a young boy who always hated Christmas. While attending school, we see Scrooge treat his little sister Fan with tenderness. We see them share a mutual excitement for the upcoming holiday. The Muppet version doesn’t even show us Fan. Even though his apprenticeship, Scrooge looked forward to the Fezziwig Christmas party. He wasn’t sitting in a back room “looking over accounts”. Scrooge, believe it or not, had a friend at this apprenticeship: Dick Wilkins. We see him in the Jim Carrey version, but you guessed it, we don’t see Dick in the Muppet version. Instead they show the “younger” Jacob and Robert Marley. Perhaps the Muppet version wanted to avoid this rather awkward line: “He was very much attached to me, was Dick.”
Again, though, the Jim Carrey version is full of gimmicks: the “helicopter promenade”, performed by Mrs. Fezziwig, the “flying across the moonlit sky on a snuffer cap waltz”, performed by Ebenezer Scrooge. Both great for 3D animation. Both pointless when it comes to telling a good story. But then, the Muppets have their gimmicks too: Gonzo lights Rizzo the Rat on fire, then pushes him into a barrel of water, where he freezes into a perfectly-shaped rat-cicle.
For me, the best adaptations are those that stay closest to the original text and do not embellish too much. But then, you do need a gimmick these days to get an audience: “Come see A Christmas Carol as you’ve never seen it before!” From a true-to-text perspective, this is the moment to pick your poison. For me, I think the Jim Carrey version serves as the best adaptation of this scene. I also personally prefer this scene, so Jim Carrey is the clear winner here.
The Spirit of Christmas Present
Here, we have a life-sized Muppet whose jocularity is infectious, versus a demanding spirit with a creepy laugh. Yes, the second spirit in the Jim Carrey film, as with the first and with Marley’s ghost, is truer to the text than the Muppet film is. There’s really no surprise there, as we can see a pattern emerging. Jim Carrey’s film even includes the boy, “Ignorance”, and girl, “Want”, under the second spirit’s robes. Jim Carrey’s second spirit utters more text word-for-word from Dickens than the Muppet’s second spirit. Jim Carrey’s version even has an added bonus for me: flying over Elizabethan London, which is truly a beautiful thing to behold, and it makes me desperately want to go back to London. However, I didn’t quite care for the “view through the floor” effect, as it blocked or distracted from the view of London at times.
Again, though, the “view through the floor” effect is another 3D gimmick. As I see it, the three spirits serve three distinct purposes in changing Scrooge for the better. The first spirit causes Scrooge to regret the choices he made when he was younger, particularly in giving up his love for Belle, in favor of his love for money. The second spirit shows Scrooge the true joy of celebrating Christmas in the “here and now”. While Jim Carrey’s second spirit may be “truer to the text”, I really think the Muppet’s second spirit does a better job at fulfilling its purpose—he certainly fills me with the joy of Christmas!
Is there a winner? With text accuracy, Jim Carrey wins again, but the Muppet’s second spirit remains my favorite.
The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come
As with the first and second spirits, the third spirit also serves a purpose in changing Scrooge. The third spirit changes Scrooge by causing him to fear what might happen if he doesn’t change. Clearly, the Muppet’s third spirit fulfills this purpose much better than Jim Carrey’s third spirit. In Jim Carrey’s film, we have gimmicks times twenty—in the form of a totally pointless “third spirit against Scrooge” chase scene. Scrooge isn’t learning anything from being chased by the third spirit. Scrooge’s fear is rooted in what’s chasing him, not what could happen to him in the future, as it really should be. Sure, the scenes that cause Scrooge to fear what could happen in the future still remain (the men talking about his funeral, Mrs. Dilber selling his possessions, Tiny Tim dying, his clients rejoicing at his death), and the chase scene really only serves as transition, but I still don’t like it. I still think the film would have been better without it.
However, the Cratchit’s grieving over Tiny Tim’s death really almost makes the chase scene worth it for me. Gary Oldman is absolutely brilliant. His performance as Bob Cratchit brought tears to my eyes when I first saw Jim Carrey’s film, much more than Kermit the Frog could ever do for me. And, really, that’s the whole point: A Christmas Carol is a quintessentially British story. It is a story that should only be performed by British actors and actresses, because, let’s face it, British actors are far better actors than any American actors could ever hope to be. With that opinion stated, I do vastly prefer the British actors in Jim Carrey’s version, even over the Muppets. But then, the third spirit is not a speaking role anyway, so these opinions about British actors versus non-British actors don’t really belong here.
Even though the Muppet version doesn’t include the scene depicting Scrooge’s former clients rejoicing at his death, a scene that appears both in the original text and in the Jim Carrey version, the Muppet version does show the other three scenes mentioned earlier, and in the end, when Scrooge arrives back at the graveyard, in a strange departure from the pattern, the Muppet version wins out as the truest-to-text here. In the original text, Scrooge does not fall into his own grave, even though it makes for a great transition. Instead, he falls into the third spirit, which turns into his bedpost. The Muppet version is closest to this, in that Scrooge falls into the third spirit’s cloak, which becomes his own bed curtains.
The winner here, both by text and my favorite, is the Muppet version.
The End of It (My Thoughts on Scrooge)
Firstly, I like that the Jim Carrey version includes Mrs. Dilber after we see her selling Scrooge’s possessions, because we have a point of reference as to who she is. I also like that Scrooge visits Fred’s house for more than just a moment, as we see in the Muppet version. I also love the reaction on Fred’s and his friends’ faces when they see Scrooge arrive. I also love Scrooge’s sheer humility when he says to them, “…if you’ll have me.” Here we see a Scrooge truly changed.
As with Gary Oldman, Colin Firth is brilliant as Scrooge’s nephew Fred. However, the one American actor who serves as the representation for this entire film is Jim Carrey. I don’t like Jim Carrey. I have always disliked actors who act stupid. I have always disliked stupid humor. Jim Carrey is known for this kind of annoying, obnoxious, stupid humor, and so I had a bias going into this film. He toned it down, perhaps, but Jim Carrey still doesn’t hold a candle to Michael Caine.
Michael Caine—the incomparable Michael Caine—is among my all-time favorite British actors. With this said, I am obviously going to prefer The Muppet Christmas Carol over Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol.
Overall, Jim Carrey’s film is clearly the true-to-text winner. However, The Muppet Christmas Carol remains my favorite. It is a Christmastime staple for my family, and it always puts me in the Christmas mood. I grew up watching it, and nothing can replace the nostalgia I feel when watching it—certainly not a film that came out four years ago.
Which adaptation is your favorite? Share your favorite in the comments!
