Around this time there are a slew of movies celebrating
Christmas. Many are usually of the saccharine-sweet comedic variety
showing the ‘joys’ and ‘magic’ of the season. A few dare to put a darker
spin such as the ‘Bad Santa’ films. Based on Les Standiford’s book, ‘The
Man Who Invented Christmas’ is a blend of those styles. Neither dark nor
light, its’ shades of grey makes for refreshing viewing. Mixing fact and
fiction, it weaves its own Christmas sparkle without the typical sentimental
overload.
Suffering from the commercial failure of his recent books,
Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) is in a bind. It’s October 1843 and he
needs to find a way to support his young family. Nearing the Christmas
period, he decides to write a novel called ‘A Christmas Carol’. Basing
its characters on real life, including his father John (Jonathan Pryce) as his
fictional character Scrooge (Christopher Plummer), Dickens is on a creative
roll. As his work of fiction takes shape, his mind wanders between fantasy
and reality as his own ghosts of past, present and future spur him to the
finish line.
‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’ is a consistently enjoyable
yuletide yarn. While it drags towards the end, the screenplay cleverly
blends the classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ tale with Dickens’ life. The
fictional elements may seem fanciful but this perfectly mirrors ‘A Christmas
Carol’s’ fantastical strands that made it stand out. Viewers will have to
take the factual moments with a pinch of salt as well. The script may not
be quite accurate in this regard but it makes for interesting speculation as to
how Dickens came up with such a timeless tale.
The strong performances enable ‘The Man Who Invented
Christmas’ to ground itself in some form of reality. Although this may sound
strange, it’s crucial in making the fantasy bits work. Dickens’ world
isn’t too glossy and proper with dirt and grime clearly seen. Despite a
few moments of sentimentality, the script has a quirky sense of humour and
isn’t afraid of venturing into darker aspects of the human psyche.
Stevens conveys the frustrated genius of Dickens well with Plummer making for a
very snarky Scrooge. The production design is great with the unobtrusive
score effectively highlighting scenes.
As sure as night follows day, there will always be a
Christmas movie around that time. Whilst most are to be avoided, ‘The Man
Who Invented Christmas’ isn’t one of them. Those from the ‘bah humbug’
school of charm may even enjoy it as it sprinkles some whimsy across movie screens.
Movie Review Rating out of 10: 7
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
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