Crowd-pleaser but no classic
The Man Who Invented Christmas (PG) Home Alone, Die Hard, It’s A Wonderful Life and, my personal favourite, Scrooged.
There have been lots of classic Christmas movies that many of us take great pleasure in watching every time Santa Claus plummets down our chimneys.
The Man Who Invented Christmas doesn’t quite fall into that category, but does deliver enough festive-flavoured fun to make it a worthwhile stocking-filler.
Based on Les Standiford’s book, it tells the story of the journey that led to the creation of Charles Dickens’ timeless tale A Christmas Carol.
Fresh from his roaring turn in Beauty and the Beast, Dan Stevens stars as Dickens with the legendary Christopher Plummer popping up as Dickens’ imagined take on Ebenezer Scrooge.
Indian director Bharat Nalluri (Spooks: The Greater Good) keeps the spotlight on Stevens in virtually every scene and the actor’s foppish charm registers well as he embodies Dickens with energy, vulnerability and a sense of wonder.
Susan Coyne makes her movie writing debut adapting Standiford’s novel and sticks closely to the source material.
A clever plot device sees Dickens conjure up characters that he’s looking to feature in his story from people in his everyday life and that allows for Plummer to take the ball and run with it.
The 87-year-old is a pitch-perfect Scrooge that measures up to the miserly icon’s finest portrayals as he growls several tasty putdowns.
Fellow veterans Jonathan Pryce (John Dickens) and Simon Callow (Leech) lend gravitas, if a little too much hamminess in the former’s case, while Morfydd Clark dazzles as Dickens’ pregnant wife Catherine.
Like its leading man, there’s a frenetic pace to Nalluri’s film as Dickens faces a battle to create and finish his next work to get books into the shops ahead of the arrival of Christmas.
But the director’s decision to shoot on a Dublin soundstage comes back to haunt him as it makes his movie feel more like a West End play, when utilising more creative camera work and visual techniques could’ve turned it into a true cinematic event.
There’s a lot going on as well and there are moments that skip by faster than Santa on his sleigh, making it difficult for us to take everything in.
However, Nalluri does sprinkle magic dust on the scenes where Dickens’ real and imagined worlds collide as A Christmas Carol plays out in his mind.
And, like the very best festive flicks, it takes pleasure in crowd pleasing with the true meaning of Christmas and showcasing the goodness in people resounding messages.
No instant classic ala Scrooged, but a long way off turkeys like Jingle All The Way, The Man Who Invented Christmas is a fresh take on a familiar adventure that will warm hearts this winter.