A Christmas Carol

2000

Drama / Fantasy

5
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 724 724

based on novel or book christmas charles dickens

Plot summary

Loan shark Eddie Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Director

Catherine Morshead Photo
Catherine Morshead

Top cast

Ray Fearon Photo
Ray Fearon as Jacob Marley
Warren Mitchell Photo
Warren Mitchell as Eddie's Dad
Liz Smith Photo
Liz Smith as Joyce
Stefan Weclawek Photo
Stefan Weclawek as Lee
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
673.24 MB
1280*800
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds 1
1.22 GB
1440*900
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by adamjohns-42575 7 / 10

Worth your time.

A Christmas Carol (Ross Kemp) (2000) -While Ross Kemp, would never have been my first choice to play any variation of Ebenezer (Eddie) Scrooge and he wasn't brilliant in this role, basically playing Grant Mitchell (Eastenders), I did believe that his character had truly gone through a change as a result of his visitations, because at the very beginning I felt that he was way passed a redemption of any sort.This version of the classic Dickens novel was a hugely bastardised script that was actually as much 'Groundhog Day' (1993) as 'A Christmas Carol', but it somehow worked. Yes, I was surprised too!I actually did enjoy it, despite a few hammy and overacted performances.Will I be adding it to my list of films to watch every Christmas? Probably not, but I'm glad that I've seen it and I would watch it again in the future, although The Muppets, George C. Scott and Alistair Sim alternatives will always be lined up before it.In fairness, the bastardisation was only really done to bring it up to date for the time that it was filmed and set and I thought that it was done quite cleverly to show that the same issues still existed over 150 years after Charles Dickens wrote the source material. Sadly the world does not seem to have improved since the mid 1800's or even the Millennium and we still have that balance of rich and poor, instead of a world where everyone lives comfortably.Other than the fact that Liz Smith (Joyce) must have known the script to this story off by heart, this being at least the third one I've seen her in and the dodgy bit where Eddie was arguing with the ghost of Christmas future that was really quite weird, there's nothing more to say about this one, except perhaps to not judge it based on its premise and cast as I initially did 22 years ago.7/10.
Reviewed by jboothmillard 7 / 10

A Christmas Carol

The Charles Dickens story has been done on television and in films the traditional hundreds of times in the Victorian era, this is one of the only versions I know set in the modern world, and once I got into it I found it really interesting. Basically Eddie Scrooge (Ross Kemp) is a mean loan shark who works in a poor estate keeping most of the money from those he loans to, collects the debt they owe either by cash or their possessions and may have had some involvement in the murder of his business partner and friend Jacob Marley (Coronation Street's Ray Fearon). It is Christmas Eve, and Eddie is visited by the ghost of Marley who warns him that if he does not change his ways, he will face a horrible afterlife of pain and misery, and to help him mend his errors he tells him that three ghosts will visit him. He dismisses this as a dream, but soon enough the ghost of Eddie's Dad (Till Death Us Do Part's Warren Mitchell) appears to show him his past where he grew up surrounded by despair, including the death of his mother, the death of the Dad himself, and how his ways lost him the love of his life, nurse Bella (Angeline Ball). Eddie wakes up on the same day, Christmas Eve, and he just continues with his mean ways dismissing the events he experienced, but Marley returns acting as his second ghost as well, showing him the present and all people he has encountered, including his work colleague Bob Cratchett (Michael Maloney) who has a son, Tiny Tim (Ben Tibber), very sick in hospital. He sees that he is doing wrong, and waking up on Christmas Eve again he tries in his own way to make some things right, but not really changing his attitude and having a lot of true heart, so the third and final ghost still appears, that is the Ghost of Christmas Future (Ben Inigo-Jones), who is a young boy that he seems to recognise. Eddie is shown the potential future where Tiny Tim dies in hospital, Bella is one of only a couple of people to visit a poorly placed gravestone, and he is shocked to see that it is his own grave, this possible future where he may die is what really triggers him to have his change of heart when he wakes up. Eddie drops all debts people owe, he helps Mrs Marley (Shezwae Powell) find the person who killed her son Jacob, he pays for a holiday that someone mentioned, he pays for a family's Christmas, he helps an elderly couple, and having truly changed his ways he spends Christmas Day, and his future, with the forgiving and loving Bella, and their son (who was the final ghost). Also starring The Royle Family's Liz Smith as Joyce, The Thin Blue Line's Mina Anwar as Julie, Lorraine Ashbourne as Sue Cratchett, Daniel Ainsleigh as Dave and Claudie Blakley as Ellie. Kemp gives a really good performance, without having to go into recognised "bah humbug" and the other Scrooge traits he is a terrific choice, the supporting cast of familiar characters do great as well, it is a fun twist on the famous story and with the plot fits really well into the modern world, I found it just as moving and enjoyable as any regular version, a great drama. Very good!
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