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Review: A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart) 1999

For over a decade, Patrick Stewart has performed a critically acclaimed one-man reading/performance of A Christmas Carol. Despite hearing the baritone voice of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Stewart personifies Scrooge his interpretation of the character is never a clich but a believable man whose life and pursuit of wealth has made him cold Stewart is just such a great actor - English stage performer, a trained Shakespearian player and master of the stage. He brings a depth and great believability to Scrooge. (Patrick Stewart was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his 1999 portrayal as Scrooge in this movie)

The Good: The entire movie is VERY faithful to the original story.

Patrick Stewart dominates every scene he's in you can't take your eyes off him. He is AMAZING.

The look on Scrooge's face when he sees Fan (called Fran in this interpretation) is very moving it is so very obvious how much he adored his little sister. The simple gesture of Fran placing her head on her brother's shoulder as they ride home exemplifies this love beautifully.

Scrooge's fiance, Belle (Laura Fraser) is absolutely beautiful and in her first appearance, she is demure and so lovely, and obviously so in love with Scrooge, and they kiss tenderly.

In the scene where Belle later breaks her engagement with young Scrooge, old Scrooge yells at his past self, begging him to go after her, to talk to her, to make it work. In some ways, he's getting a preview of what Jacob Marley must feel he's a spirit, desperate to assist a soul in need but unable to do so.

Tiny Tim is well cast; many versions of the story show Tim as sickly; this film simply portrays him as a normal-looking little boy who happens to be a cripple. The later scenes of Tim, laying dead in the bedroom is VERY powerful.

I really liked that the scenes where Christmas Present and Scrooge travel the world to a lighthouse, a ship, a jail, a coal mine, where each location's denizens are singing Christmas carols. Faithful to the original story, these poignant scenes aren't included in many adaptations and make the film feel bigger than it is.

I like the way Stewart plays Scrooge as not immediately being converted at the point in the story where Scrooge is telling the Ghost of Christmas present that he will go willingly because the lesson from last night is working even now, Stewart's Scrooge tells the spirit, "Let's get this over with," and even in the future Scrooge is pleased to see the

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