It's hard enough to limit my list to twelve; I'm not placing them in order of preference, but in chronological order, starting with the year of my birth, 1962 and ending with the year 2010. (No, the Alastair Sim adaptation of Scrooge (1951) does not make my list - not even close!) All of these films have stood the test of time for at least nine years, and I find myself watching them every year, year after year.
1. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)(TV-G):
Featuring the voice of Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo, as Ebenezer Scrooge, this adaptation of A Christmas Carol, released approximately two months after I was born, is perhaps the only adaptation of A Christmas Carol that I've watched every year I've lived. Besides the fact that it's the oldest film on this list, and has, therefore, stood the test of time the longest, it deserves to be on this list because the artwork is attractive, and it's both funny and heart-warming.
It also has very catchy songs, written by Jule Styne or Bob Merrill, including "Good to Be Back on Broadway," "Ringle, Ringle," "Lord's Bright Blessing," "Alone in the World," "Winter Was Warm," and "We're Despicable."
This adaptation of A Christmas Carol is framed as a Broadway performance, starring Mr. Magoo.
Perhaps the most drastic departure from the original novel, in this adaptation, is that the Ghost of Christmas Present appears before the Ghost of Christmas Past.
2. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)(TV-g):
Featuring the voice of Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown, and released when I was celebrating my third Christmas, this animated film is both funny and heart-warming, and it also has very catchy songs, composed by Vince Guaraldi, including "O Tannenbaum," "What Child Is This," "My Little Drum," "Linus and Lucy," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Skating," "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," "Christmas Is Coming," "The Christmas Song," and "Greensleeves."
In this film, the Peanuts gang, created by Charles M. Schulz, puts on a Christmas play, about the birth of Jesus, which is what Christmas is all about. Linus quotes Luke, Chapter 2.
The gang also has a Christmas party, and Charlie Brown is tasked with providing a Christmas Tree, so he, of course, finds one of the ugliest Christmas Trees imaginable. But, with a little tender, loving care, his friends turn it into the best Christmas Tree ever.
3. Scrooge (1970)(G):
Starring Albert Finney in the title role, this is a big budget, live-action, musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, set in England in 1860, instead of when the book was published, in 1843, which is when conventional adaptations are set. This adaptation is both hilarious and heart-warming.
It also has very catchy songs, written by Leslie Bricusse, including "I Hate People," "Father Christmas," "Happiness," "You...You," "December the 25th," and "Thank You Very Much!"
The song and dance routines are huge, including background extras, some of whom ring bells, and others who sing and dance. Mr. Fezziwig's Christmas Ball, attended by twenty couples in the original novel, actually seems like a ball, unlike the small gatherings and toasts in low budget adaptations.
One drastic departure from the original novel, in this adaptation, is that Scrooge goes to Hell. In Hell he is forced to work for the Devil as a clerk, in the only cold place in Hell. Another departure is that the day after Christmas is not shown, and Scrooge goes directly to Scrooge's house, on Christmas Day, disguised as Father Christmas.
4. Rich Little's Christmas Carol (1978)(viewer discretion advised):
Starring Rich Little, this is a particularly amazing adaptation of A Christmas Carol, because he impersonates seventeen celebrities, playing the roles of the characters in the original novel; he plays four of the seventeen as celebrities playing other characters, playing the roles in the novel, as follows:
W.C. Fields as Scrooge
Paul Lynde as Bob Cratchit
Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs, as the Ghost of Christmas Past
Peter Falk as Columbo, as the Ghost of Christmas Present
Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, as the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come
Richard Nixon as himself, in lieu of Jacob Marley
Truman Capote as Tiny Tim
Groucho Marx as Fezziwig
Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, as Mrs. Cratchit
Johnny Carson as Nephew Fred
Jimmy Stewart as Dick Wilkins
John Wayne as a Businessman
George Burns as a Businessman
Jack Benny as the Boy Outside the Window
James Mason as a Businessman
Stan Laurel as a Charity Solicitor
Oliver Hardy as a Charity Solicitor
This film is also one of the funniest, musical adaptations of A Christmas Carol. It includes several musical numbers, including "This Will Be the Merriest Christmas Yet," "It's a Typical Office Party," and a duet with Scrooge and Dick Wilkins arguing about whether it is better to give or receive, titled "No One's Ever Gonna Get a Cent From Me."
5. "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983)(G):
Featuring the voice of Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck, this short film is funny, artistic, and well animated, with Mickey Mouse and other popular Disney characters, such as Jiminy Cricket, in the roles of Bob Cratchit and the various Ghosts of Christmas.
It also features an original song, titled "Oh, What a Merry Christmas Day."
6. Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)(viewer discretion advised):
Starring Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder, this is a twisted, irreverent adaptation of A Christmas Carol, in which "the Scrooge" goes from being generous to a fault, to becoming evil. He gets his comeuppance, though.
7. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)(G):
Starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, this is a funny, yet reverent, musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, featuring Muppets in most of the roles. Gonzo plays Charles Dickens. Rizzo the Rat plays himself. Kermit the Frog plays Bob Cratchit. Fozzie Bear plays Mr. Fozziwig, instead of Mr. Fezziwig. Miss Piggy plays Mrs. Cratchit.
Paul Williams wrote several excellent, original songs for this film, including "Scrooge," "One More Sleep Till Christmas," "Bless Us All," "Marley and Marley," "It Feels Like Christmas," and "When Love Is Gone."
Although Brian Henson claims, on his audio commentary track on the DVD and BluRay editions of this film, that it is one of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol most faithful to the original novel, there are numerous, drastic departures from the original. Besides the appearance of Charles Dickens and Rizzo the Rat, and Muppet pigs, frogs, et cetera in the rolls of the characters, another departure is the addition of Robert Marley; hence, the song "Marley and Marley," which Jacob and Robert Marley sing to Scrooge. Furthermore, Scrooge employs about a half dozen rats, in addition to Bob Cratchit, in this adaptation. Another departure is the absence of Fan. Young Scrooge is seen in the schoolhouse, during about a half dozen Christmases, played by about a half dozen actors in order to show him aging, but, instead of being rescued by his sister, Fan, he simply graduates!
8. Maxine's Christmas Carol (2000)(viewer discretion advised):
Starring the queen of sarcastic greeting cards, Maxine, this is a modern, animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol, in which Maxine's heart is softened enough to attend a neighbor boy's Christmas party. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is replaced by extra-terrestrials; the Ghost of Christmas Present, by a guru; and the Ghost of Christmas Past, by a Valley Girl.
A live, theatrical adaptation of this adaptation was performed in Branson, Missouri, in 2017.
Starring Jim Carrey, this film is based on the Dr. Seuss classic, children's book, which my father used to recite by heart when I was no older than three; it's an upgrade from the one released when I was four years old, in 1966. I particularly like the stylized wardrobe, architecture, and prosthetic makeup in the Jim Carrey adaptation. I am also a fan of the 3D, animated adaptation released in 2018.
The Jim Carrey adaptation is musical as well as humorous, and includes the song "Where Are You Christmas?"
10. "Dr. Who": "A Christmas Carol" (2010)(TV-PG):
Starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, this science fictional adaptation of A Christmas Carol makes several drastic departures from the original novel. To start with, it takes place on another planet, controlled by a Scrooge-like man named Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), who doesn't care that a spaceship full of 4,003 people is about to crash on his planet, where fish fly, and he has absolute control over the weather, thanks to an isomorphic machine only he can control.
In an effort to save his friends on board the crashing spaceship, the Doctor travels back and forth in time, becoming Kazran's ghosts of Christmas until he persuades him to help save the spaceship and the personnel on board.
A young Kazran falls in love with a singer named Abigail (Katherine Jenkins), but he ages, and she, due to cryonics, does not, and, due to a disease which limits the number of times she can survive being unfrozen, he dares not unfreeze her for what will almost certainly be the final, short-lived time.
The Doctor mentors Kazran as a child until he becomes a different man, but by then, he can no longer control the weather because the machine that he uses to control the weather no longer recognizes him.
This is an intense, and humorous, but lengthy adaptation; I recommend it only for hard core fans of adaptations of A Christmas Carol and/or science fiction.
11. "Winnie the Pooh": "A Very Merry Pooh Year" (2002)(G):
Featuring the voice of Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, this adaptation allows viewers to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve with Pooh and his friends, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Gopher, Tigger, and Christopher Robin.
It's essentially two films in one. First, Pooh's friends visit him on Christmas Eve, and then there are several fiascos as they try to send letters to "Sandy Claws," and Pooh pretends to BE "Sandy Claws." Fortunately, Christopher Robin saves Christmas. Then the scene opens on Pooh and his friends preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve. More fiascos ensue as Rabbit becomes so flabbergasted that he decides to move away, so Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger stop behaving like themselves, but start behaving like each other. Finally, Rabbit decides to stay and they all end up singing their version of "Auld Lang Syne" together, originally written by Robert Burns, with additional lyrics by Carly Simon.
I have this on DVD, which includes music videos cropped out of the film. Original songs included are "Winnie the Pooh," written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, and performed by Carly Simon and Jim Cummings; a Tigger-ific adaptation of "Jingle Bells," written by James Pierpont, and arranged by Mark Waters; and three songs written by Michael and Patty Silversher: "Snow Snows," "Happy Pooh Year," and "Hunny, No Not for Me."
Also included is a virtual, animated fireplace, with forest sounds from the Hundred Acre Wood, and optional, instrumental, Christmas music.
12. "Prep and Landing" (2009)(TV-G):
Featuring the voice of Dave Foley as Wayne, this 3D animated, short film is one of the most high speed, fast-action Christmas movies I've ever seen! It features Santa and his elves and reindeer like I've never seen them anywhere else - as government employees and members of militaristic special operations, such as the preparation and landing of Santa's sleigh. The excellent humor, like the action, is non-stop.
A similar, animated film, featuring the voices of Hugh Laurie and Eva Longoria, in which Santa's elves also serve as government employees and special, paramilitary forces, is Arthur Christmas (2011), which I also highly recommend.
AIR ASSAULT! And AIRBORNE!
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