Bah, Humbug: 5 Better Scrooges Than Jim Carrey -- and 5 Worse Ones

For those of us who thought Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf was a vast improvement over The Polar Express, A Christmas Carol (out this week from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) wound up being a disappointing return to the rubbery, dead-eyed characters of that earlier Christmas flick. But at least give Jim Carrey points for trying -- he provides the license-to-ham role of Ebenezer Scrooge with his full arsenal of grimaces and twitches and, if nothing else, totally pours himself into the character. (He's a little less successful playing all the ghosts, but none of his doubling comes close to the creepiness of seeing Gary Oldman play Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.)

And while this animated A Christmas Carol won't rank among the more memorable adaptations of the classic Dickens novella, Carrey never embarrasses himself completely. Having spent quite a bit of time immersed in Christmas Carol movies as part of the research for my new book Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (on sale now!), I've seen enough screen Scrooges to name the ones who play the role better -- and worse -- than this latest penny-pincher.

Five Scrooges Better than Jim Carrey

Alastair Sim (1951): Probably still the grand-daddy of all cinematic Ebenezers, Sim's Scrooge perfectly captures the character's greed and cruelty while nimbly handling the story's sentimentality.

Albert Finney (1970's Scrooge): Finney might not be the first performer you'd think of to star in a musical version of the tale, but he's one of the few non-animated actors to play both young and old Scrooge, giving the story more of a wallop. (And his singing-in-character voice isn't all that bad, either.) Another terrific singing Scrooge? Mister Magoo.

George C. Scott (1984): When a go-big-or-go-home actor plays the legendary skinflint, the results are either stunning or catastrophic, but Scott's bluster (and hints of sadism) result in this made-for-TV version boasting one of the best Scrooges ever.

Michael Caine (1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol): The songs aren't up to the usual Muppet standards, but Caine cuts a fearsome figure, even surrounded by beloved, brightly colored characters like Kermit the Frog (as Bob Cratchit). Trivia bonus: Look for the store called "Micklewhite's" -- Caine's pre-fame real name was Maurice Micklewhite.

Vanessa Williams (2000's A Diva's Christmas Carol): The 1990s saw a slew of Scrooge-as-ambitious-career-woman reboots, but the best would have to be this VH1 movie starring Williams, camping it up as pop star Ebony, who has selfishly climbed to the top of the pop world. The film's sharpest updating of the Dickens text would have to be using an unflattering episode of Behind the Music as its Ghost of Christmas Future.

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