Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stephen Donnelly directs. Leslie Bricusse scores. Graham Silcock cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 4 years ago.
• 2Original score by Leslie Bricusse. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 3Editor Graham Silcock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Luke Evans and Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley carry the top of the cast.
• 5IMDB entry: tt20917338 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 6Classified under 13 themes, including "london, england", "based on novel or book", "holiday", "musical".

The technical file

Original score

Leslie Bricusse

Editing

Graham Silcock

Production design

Gabriel Gomez

Runtime

97 min · 1h 37m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

G

IMDB

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022) ↗

Also by

Stephen Donnelly

• 
  Monster High: Welcome to Monster High

  2016 · ★ 6.9

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2023-06-14
  ★ 6/10

  I'm not really sure what Leslie Bricusse was trying to achieve here with this animated poor cousin of his far superior 1970 version of the timeless Charles Dickens story. That's not to say that Luke Evans isn't a fine singer - he has those mellifluous tones that would resonate well in musical theatre. The thing is, though, the the catchiest of the songs (not all of them) have been re-versioned, abridged and updated and the whole thing has a shocking sterility to it. Some creative effort has been put into the quality and style of the animation, and Stephen Donnelly has used his Netflix funds to assemble a decent enough vocal cast, but this is a story that has already been done to death. A remake simply isn't needed unless there is a profoundly different take to be had for the audience. This doesn't really offer that at all, and lacks the grittiness as "Scrooge" comes across without the grubbiness - of personality and attire - as this struggles to catch fire. It is watchable, and there's no denying "Thank You Very Much" and "I Like Life" still get the toes tapping as they remain amongst some new but forgettable songs from LB. Perhaps to encourage a new audience to watch the original - or other far better versions of this novella - this might just work. Otherwise, it's just plonk the kids in front of telly fodder.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Timeless Films

  GB

• 

  Axis Studios

  GB

Key crew

• NovelCharles Dickens
• ProducerRalph Kamp
• SongsLeslie Bricusse
• ProducerAndrew Pearce
• LyricistLeslie Bricusse
• ProducerLeslie Bricusse
• Executive ProducerCourtney B. Conte
• Executive ProducerPaul Grindey
• Executive ProducerCharles Moore
• Executive ProducerRichard Scott
• EditorGraham Silcock
• Production DesignGabriel Gomez
• CastingRebecca Kamp
• 3D AnimatorSteven Leaute
• Assistant EditorJack Brown

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• london, england
• based on novel or book
• holiday
• musical
• based on play or musical
• victorian england
• ghost
• based on movie
• christmas
• 19th century
• scrooge
• 3d animation
• animated remake

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)2022-11-18
• Digital2022-12-02G· Netflix

Also known as

International titles

• Scrooge: En julefortellingNO
• 斯克鲁奇：圣诞颂歌CN
• Scrooge: Cuento de NavidadES
• Скрудж: Рождественская ИсторияRU