(2026) Ebenezer - The Latest Adaptation of A Christmas Carol

This movie was already promoted in Coming Soon section of cinema websites for quite some time but somehow I was never interested. Not until few days ago I read the synopsis and only realized it was an interesting story that I have known for a while which made me intrigued. As I was busy when the film was released on Wednesday, I only got the chance to see it yesterday with my wife. All right then, let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in the 19th century England, Ebenezer Scrooge (Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Carribean's movies, Murder on the Orient Express etc) was a very stingy businessman who disliked Christmas. So when his nephew Fred (Sam Claflin - Lazarus mini series, Charlie's Angels 2019 etc) invited him for Christmas eve dinner with his wife Clara (Daisy Ridley - We Bury the Dead, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker etc), Ebenezer flatly rejected. He also turned away two people asking for donations to the poor. Ebenezer only had one employee named Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint - Harry Potter movies, Knock at the Cabin etc) who had been working dilligently after Ebenezer's partner Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen - Beauty and the Beast live version, The Hobbit trilogy etc) passed away seven years before, though he was poorly treated and never even got a raise.

That night, Ebenezer had a dream where he would be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas past, present and future so he could change his life.

So what would happen to Ebenezer Scrooge? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said above, I only decided to see the movie after finding out the story was actually adapted from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens which was a very famous novella that had been adapted numerous times in movies, TVs, plays and other forms. My wife actually had known about this and she did point out about Scrooge though it did not really hit me until I read that synopsis. Anyway I don't think I have ever watched the complete adaptation and only remembered the part about 3 Ghosts so it was pleasing for me to be able to see the full adaptation which seemed to be mostly loyal to the novella itself.

Since I did not have the full picture of the complete story, I enjoyed the film like it's the first experience. I loved how the dialogues were done in those rather sophisticated English wordings as I had always have soft spot on them. I also thought the set and costume were quite well done and pretty convincing showing the British 19th century setting. However I thought that sometimes it was too dark, though it was understandable since the story has a bleak tone. The performance of Johnny Depp was pretty good to our opinion even if it might not be his best compared to his previous movies. But I still could see the personification of Scrooge here and reminded me of why the name was so well known. 

There were several other cast in the movie who did decent job such as Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, To Leslie etc), Tramell Tillman (Spider-man: Brand New Day, Dietland TV series etc) and Robert Strange as Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come respectively. My favorite here would be Tillman who left great impression to me. In addition, the movie also had several support cast such as Arthur Conti (Carrie TV series, &Sons etc) as young Ebenezer, Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals, Willow TV series etc) as Belle, Charlie Murphy (Happy Valley TV series etc) as Bob's wife Emily and few others. The film itself was based on screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern and directed by Ti West whose past experience included the highly rated The Innkeepers, X etc. However I was a bit surprised that this movie was not well received by critics who did not appreciate Depp's performance and for other stuff.

As a film adapted from that famous novella, I thought this one quite captured the spirit of the main story. Though it is not going to be a classic, my wife and I still enjoyed it and she even got emotional especially in the fifth chapter (referred to as "stave"). But I do believe this might be too weird for those who are not familiar with the story. In the studio we saw this, two people left the film early and one constantly played his handphone till the end which truly bothered us. Luckily he sat way in front and at least the disturbance was not as bad. Oh the sound effect was pretty awesome here as several times we were quite affected by the surprising sound. Btw the movie had duration of 116 minutes with closing credits but no mid or post end credit scene. There was no requirement for it anyway cause the whole story had been told during the movie.

Overall it was a nice Christmas story with a good enough performance of Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge. I think the message was successfully sent across here and the ending should lift our Christmas spirit. The 19th century setting was well done though the screen sometimes too dark and not exactly my favorite even if I could understand it. So if you want to see the latest adaptation of "A Christmas Carol", then you can certainly give it a try especially if you are not familiar with it. But if you are fans of other better received adaptations then this might not truly satisfy you. For me and my wife though, we are quite content and still enjoyed it. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars