A Christmas Carol: The Musical

I thought this was a pretty good musical of Charles Dickens' classic. Greedy and selfish Scrooge gets visited by the ghosts of colleague Jacob Marley, Christmas Past, Present, and Future and is reformed into a more giving human being.

While a pretty nice and feel-good film, I wished Jennifer Love Hewitt would of gotten more screen time. Other than that, the story, acting, choreography and music were generally on spot. The special effects were well done. Jane Krakowski's portrayal as the Christmas Ghost of the Past was my favorite. They could have, though, used a better Bob Cratchit though, as I think he gave a weak performance.

Overall, a nice feel-good Christmas film that is perfect for the entire family.

Grade B

When I first watched this movie I didn't even get to see the whole thing but even without the ending I knew this was worth watching again so when Hallmark repeated it I naturally sat back down and didn't move from beginning to end. This is a beautifully put together film and the cast is fabulous. Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily was the best rendition of the role I'd ever seen. The role is small but she managed to do something with her two short scenes that I have never seen done in any version of this story. The score is something I could listen to for weeks on end especially my two favourite songs: The Nights Of Long Ago and A Place Called Home. Both these songs were beautifully performed especially by the two main ladies (The Ghost of Christmas past and Emily). The weird thing is that when I first heard the score I didn't realize it was written by Alan Menken. I have been a fan of this composer for years ever since I was a kid watching the classic Disney movies like 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Aladdin'. I swear that when I first watched it I said "Wow! this sounds like something Alan Menken would write". So you can imagine my delight at finding out it was in fact him who composed the music for this film. I say that if you read reviews before seeing the movie it's a waste of time because someone's always going to disagree with your final decision of what you think of the film. So don't take my word for it... Watch the movie and make up your own mind about it. It will be repeated on Hallmark on the 25th and 26th of the month and early next year as well. I hope you'll/you'v Enjoy/ed the film as much as I have. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I want to start out by admitting I really don't like musicals. I usually find them silly, boring and they give me a headache. Thankfully none of these happened any of the times I watched NBC's enchanting musical starring Kelsey Grammar as Scrooge. What a delight! The songs were very good, the production values superb and the true spirit of Dickens' novel came through! I was particularly impressed with Grammar's Scrooge and Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present. I really only watched this because I adore Jennifer Love Hewitt, I'd watch her in hour-long commercial for fruit! But I really thought this was just great. Every time I watch I like it better!

There have been so many productions of Dickens' classic that it is hard to be different and good. This one surprisingly was both. Most striking was the seemingly very authentic settings--sets, decorations, costumes, characters all seem to take us back to Dickens' London. The music was quite good overall, some songs not as strong but most were hummable and the lyric captured the story and mood. Choreography though anachronistic at times had some very good moments. The women soldiers in the theater seemed a take-off on the Rockettes. The leads performed well, especially a strong K. G. in acting and (yes) SINGING (surprise). Those who hated this will find flaws to pick at, but perhaps we expect too much from an overworked Seasonal classic. It was entertaining and worth the viewing!

I can honestly say that this was the worst show of any kind I have ever seen. Wooden performances, horrible sickly sweet songs, a script that mangles Dickens. I believe this movie actually scarred me mentally.

The reviewers who say this was 'lackluster', 'disappointing', or 'good but flawed' must have been sipping too much egg nog. This thing - I balk at calling it any word that might make people think it was made for purposes of entertainment - was absolutely terrible. I dread to think of what could possibly cause people to actually like this piece of refuse.

The only reason I kept watching was because it was so incredibly bad. It had the horrible fascination of a slow motion train wreck.