SCROOGE a.k.a. A CHRISTMAS CAROL

 

I'm not a big fan of "mainstream" sappy-crappy Christmas films (as, of course, you saw in my earlier review of the decidedly non-"mainstream" Christmas flick Santa's Slay). However, the "classic" Christmas film Scrooge, which was released as A Christmas Carol in the U.S., is a major exception, primarily because I thought actor Alastair Sim did a most excellent job portraying the classic Charles Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge. You, of course, are probably well aware of the story's plot by now even if you've never read the book or watched any of the scores of film adaptations (and, believe you me, there have been some definite stinkers!): Scrooge, who's an apparently miserable and nasty rich old man who cares far more about money than he does his fellow man, gets "visited" by his old partner Jacob Marley one Christmas Eve night and warns him that he'll be "visited" by three Christmas ghosts from the Past, Present & the Future who manage to get Scrooge to change his ways and become a better human being (excuse me while I go puke up my eggnog!). I do, however, have two minor complaints with both the story and the film: First, when Scrooge gets "visited" by the Ghost of Christmas Future who shows him his future grave, what exactly was the "message" here? That Scrooge would get to live forever if he DID change his ways or whatever? And one tiny little complaint about the film that I have is the character Tiny Tim (tiny, get it?) whom I regard as the Jar Jar Binks of the flick in that he's by far the most annoying character in the whole movie. I swear, when that little turd starts going off about the pudding--"Oh, the pudding, mother! The pudding!"--I just wanna take his cane and bash him over the head with it! (I wonder, was that a little TOO politically incorrect?) And when he makes his famous "God Bless Us Everyone!" line (that, for me, ranks right up there with "Can't we all just get along?") I always think to myself I wish God WOULD "bless" the little bastard . . . right in his damn mouth! (Again, too politically incorrect?) A sidenote: For anyone out there who's EVER been called a Scrooge, here's a history lesson: Apparently Charles Dickens wasn't a fan of A Christmas Carol as he apparently only wrote it for (gasp!) money, thinking that writing a Christmas tale would bring him some BIG bucks. So, the next time somebody calls YOU a Scrooge for NOT being in The Christmas Spirit or whatever, just tell them THIS story, all right? And, lest I forget, have a Merry "Shatting" Christmas and, in the immortal words of Tiny Tim himself, God bless us everyone . . . right in the damn mouth!