"Scrooge," released on Netflix this December, is a weird combination of things. In some ways, it's an animated adaptation of 1970's "Scrooge" (which we'll get to later on the list). It uses some of that movie's most famous songs, including "Thank You Very Much," and also some of the less famous ones, like "I Like Life," but gives them new arrangements that I think take out some of the joy and fun. It also mixes in new songs written just for the movie. Scrooge is voiced by Luke Evans, with Olivia Colman as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Jessie Buckley as Scrooge's lost love Belle, and Johnny Flynn as Bob Cratchit.
Despite the all-star cast, something about this movie doesn't click for me. Part of it is that Evans's vocal performance doesn't feel believable for an old man. It also adds in new scenes, and a lot of them — especially one where we find out Scrooge caused Bob's dad to lose all his money — just don't work, and the movie emphasizes Scrooge's past relationship with Belle too much. The end of the story is classic — Scrooge shows up at the Cratchits' house with a Christmas goose — and this movie decides to stage its own, way less emotionally affecting ending. Something I realized watching all these movies is that I pretty much always have a crush on Bob, and though I already love Flynn, it didn't happen here (though Flynn's "Christmas Children" is the highlight of the soundtrack).
At the same time, after I watched this, I got lots of TikToks of people thirsting over animated Scrooge and especially his very sad duet with Buckley, "Later Never Comes." So maybe you'll like this one!
Watch "Scrooge" (2022) on Netflix.
