Publisher: CinemaSerf June 15, 2023
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.