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YMMV / A Christmas Carol: The Musical

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  • Ho Yay: Scrooge and Marley already had some of this in the book, but the musical and especially the film version take it even further. Here, besides being business partners, they're genuinely good friends to the point where Scrooge seems more upset at Marley dying (and watching his past self hold Marley's body in his arms) than his fiancée leaving him. The first thing Marley's ghost does upon appearing is burst into tears and hug his "dear, dear Scrooge," he looks nostalgic and puts a hand over his heart when talking about the Ghost of Christmas Past (who in this version shows Scrooge his partnership with Marley among other things), and his younger self does a lot of staring when Scrooge is with Emily.
  • Narm Charm: Kelsey Grammer's performance, especially his singing, is overdone at times but a lot of fun.
    • When the Ghost of Christmas Present introduces the Ignorance and Want characters, the closeup we are given of the buck-toothed, cross-eyed child representing Ignorance threatens to undermine the dramatic effect of the scene.
    • In the climactic chorus of "God Bless Us Every One," the spirits of Scrooge's mother and sister appear, gazing with pride at the newly redeemed Scrooge. It's a moment that should be Glurge, but it manages to be heartwarming and a tearjerker, because it feels so very earned.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • During the number “Link By Link”, several ghosts appear in Scrooge’s bedroom and sing about how they wasted their chances to do good in their lives. Some also look quite disturbing like an old colleague of Scrooge and Marley’s being a skeleton and one man carrying around his decapitated head under his arm. To further drive home their point, the ghosts throw their chains around Scrooge and tell him that this could be his fate if he doesn’t change.
    • In the movie, Mrs. Mops and the undertaker selling Scrooge's goods to Old Joe includes a shot of her yanking the pillow out from under Scrooge's dead body, letting the viewer see his upper half and face. Mops's role up to that point had been as a kind person with comic relief, making her spiteful glee at his death even worse.
  • Nightmare Retardant: Because it goes with an elderly woman in white rather than the traditional Grim Reaper look, this film has one of the least fearsome Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come of any adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

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