Mr. Magoo is a Broadway star in this adaptation of the Dickens holiday classic. The entire movie is really a play of the Christmas Carol, with Mr. Magoo playing Scrooge.
So the plot is pretty much straight forward. Ebenezer Scrooge is a crotchety, rich, unlikeable old geezer. He has lots of money but never spends it. He also treats everyone around him like crap. Needless to say he is alone and is his only comrade is now dead. It's Christmas Eve and lots of different charities come asking for money but he refuses one after the other. He won't even let his employee Bob Cratchet have another candle.
That night he is visited by a ghost of his old pal Jacob Marley, who brings word that three spirits will visit him tonight and that he should pay attention or else he will end up with chains and baggage in the afterlife. First we have the Ghost of Christmas Present stop by. This guy looks like Santa Clause and is very decadent. Shouldn't the Christmas Past have come first??? Tsk Tsk. Anyway, Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the house of the Cratchets where he learns what a dire situation Bob and his family really are in. They are very poor, with many children, and their last child Tiny Tim is a cripple.
Soon the Ghost of Christmas Past comes to visit, and this ghost looks like a little boy. He shows Scrooge as a young boy who is sad and all alone. Then we fast forward to when Scrooge was a young man and apprentice for a man named Fezziwigg. He was still a pretty decent human being (and also a ginger!) At the Christmas Eve dance, the most wonderful girl in town named Belle chooses him out of all the other suitors to dance with. Overtime Scrooge becomes obsessed with money and starts to turn into a bad person, so Belle breaks up with him.
Then the Ghost of Christmas Future, who almost always appears as some sort of devil/grim reaper figure shows up. He shows that Tiny Tim will be dead by next Christmas, as will Ebenezer. Nobody will care about Scrooge's death and will in fact loot his property and steal his belongings.
So Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning with a changed attitude and goes out and does good. He gives money to charities, and spoils the Cratchets with a wonderful Christmas.
There were some really really terrible songs in this movie. Because it was Magoo playing Scrooge, there were some Magoo-ey elements, like him being super blind and a clutz that attempted to add humor to the movie. It didn't work. Overall this was pretty boring. There are so many versions of the story, I'm pretty sure that its the most adapted story of all time. I've never really been a huge fan of this Carol, perhaps because of all the many ways in which it is regurgitated year after year. So, if I'm gonna like this story, there has to be something really special about to keep me intrigued. We are watching the Muppet version next, in like 10 minutes, so maybe it will be better.
Andrew's Closing Thought: The Muppets do it better!
Up Next: A Muppet Christmas Carol
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