Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues with a review of this Hallmark Channel adaptation of the Dickens story.
IT’S CHRISTMAS, CAROL! (2012) – Well, to borrow from another holiday, I hold these truths to be self-evident –
*** Hallmark productions in the 21st Century are mostly bland and harmless. Never too good or too bad.
*** Adaptations of A Christmas Carol that set the story in whatever their “present day” is have been going on for so long now that the state of technology and the cultural attitudes depicted provide plenty of fodder for contemplation quite independent from the core story.
*** Not providing separate, distinct natures for the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come is like coming up to bat with one or two strikes already against you.
All that said, I won’t be able to use my usual format for my reviews of A Christmas Carol since Marley and the Christmas Ghosts are all played by one person. And it’s not a case of a comedian or a chameleon-like thespian so skilled at crafting characters that it’s a showcase for their talents. (Picture Robin Williams doing different personae for the Ghosts, for instance.)
We’re talking one lone character appearing as all four spirits with no changes to them. Fans of the more urbane and wry Carrie Fisher – as opposed to fans who only liked her as a space princess – will love It’s Christmas, Carol! Continue reading
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