Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most delightful grumpy old men there’s ever been. Seriously. Can you think of any better? Why even the old codgers from The Muppets or Fred Sanford from Sanford and Son couldn’t hold a candle to the gloriously irascible old coot from A Christmas Carol. Part of it, of course, is the fact that Charles Dickens penned all his precisely elocuted biting harangues.
“If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ’Merry Christmas’ upon his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!”
Now, is that great dialogue, or what?
That’s probably why actors through the ages have thronged to play him. Why, in my acting days, I even had the chance to growl out his bad-tempered barbs on stage—following, of course, in the footsteps of the greats such as Alastair Sim, Albert Finney and Mr. Magoo. (Hey, even Fred Flintstone and Barbie gave it a shot at one point.)
Well, I recently screened and reviewed Jim Carrey’s take on the surly geezer in Disney’s A Christmas Carol that opens this weekend. And I’ve got to say—as a Scrooge loving, watch-every-version-of-Christmas-Carol-that-plays-in-the-holiday-season kind of guy—I thought he did an excellent job. To be truthful, considering the whole shebang, I think this animated version of the tale is probably the best one I’ve ever seen.
Now some of you purists may be clucking your tongues and invoking the names of Lionel Barrymore or George C. Scott or Susan Lucci, but I’m telling you it’s pretty bah humbugging good. (Pretty scary for little ones in the ghosty parts, too, I’ll admit. But have you seen the 1921 Alastair Sim version? Brrr.)
Now, you tell me: Who’s your favorite? Which Scrooge, in your mind, would Dickens be the most proud of?
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