Rating: On the 0-Christmas scale this gets Sugar Plum Fairies!
IMDB rated it 7.0/10
Let me make a point first and foremost. Yes, Marley is dead! Yes, this isn’t a Hallmark! Yes, this is a “mainstream” film. I apologize to none.
As part of my continued English Gentleman’s training my wife and I unabashedly watched the entirety of Downton Abbey . We liked the character Matthew, played by Dan Stevens. For those who watched the series, remember Matthew dies in a car accident while speeding down the ride with a childish smile on his face and the wind in his hair. Then, boom!
He was good in Downton Abbey. We thought he was nothing short of AMAZING in this creative flick. Stevens plays Charles Dickens, the famed writer on the verge of bankruptcy as he battles recent book flops, family dynamics, and a pressing deadline to get his new book to the press before Christmas.
As Dickens writes the book he engages in his mind with Scrooge and other characters as they wrestle with the staves.
I can’t say too much. I don’t want to ruin in. Picture “A Christmas Carol” being played out in real time as Dickens is working through the plot in his mind. It is fascinating! It is so well done!.
IMDB gives this a 7.0/10. This is blasphemy considering “Pride, Prejudice, and Mistleoe” was in the 6-something/10 and had nothing to do with Pride and Prejudice. While that mess was an impostor to Jane Austin, this serves Dickens well.
I professedly may be slanted. I LOVE A Christmas Carol. I find it one of the top literary masterpieces of all-time. There are two books I read at Christmas. A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and The Mansion by Van Dyke. Christmas isn’t Christmas without them.
Please, I beg of you, watch this film! Sure, it has some revisionist spin. Sure Stevens at times resembles a Cocker Spaniel. Look past those and into your heart and enjoy this show!
