As always, the film tells the story of greedy moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge, who refuses to embrace the joyful and generous spirit of Christmas like everyone else. He's then visited by his former partner Jacob Marley, who tells him he will be visited by three ghosts who will attempt to convince him to change his ways. Joined by his dog Prudence, Scrooge is shown his humble and well intentioned beginnings, how his present day actions affect those around him, and how he will be remembered in the future.
This film provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Early in the film, Bob Cratchit gives away a little of his earnings to street performers shortly after Scrooge had deducted his wages, with both Scrooge and Bob's daughter showing some annoyance at this. Given that Scrooge's father ended up in debtor's prison due to his own foolish spending according to Scrooge, this seemed to set up a subplot where people need to be smart about how much they spend and how they can't always be generous due to having personal responsibilities. However this never happens and the moral of story remains the same.
- Accidental Misnaming: The Ghost of Christmas Past can never seem to get Mr. Fezziwig's name right.
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: As in all versions, Scrooge thinks Marley's Ghost is this. His traditional line of "There's more of gravy than of grave about you" is cut, but he does say "I'm dreaming. Serves me right for eating cheese so close to bedtime."
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Downplayed as the ending is pretty similar to Scrooge (1970) and other versions, but the exact details of Bob's and Tim's ending are changed and expanded. Instead of just giving Bob a raise as well as helping get the right doctors for Tim, he makes Bob his partner and a glimpse of the future shows that he becomes a Honorary Uncle to all the Cratchit children instead of just Tim, seemingly making him an actual part of the family. It's also different from the ending of Scrooge in that, instead of going through the streets giving away presents and cancelling debts, he hosts a Christmas party at his house, to which he invites the Cratchits, Harry and Hela, and the people who owed him money, and shows them his newfound generosity there.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: While a Lonely Rich Kid in the book, here Scrooge had to become the provider of his family when his father ended up in debtor's prison.
- Adaptational Attractiveness:
- Some reviews point out that Scrooge is depicted here a bit more handsome than in most adaptations. And definately more attractive than his literary counterpart, where he was given a rather unflattering description.
- Mrs. Fezziwig is usually portrayed as Big Fun like her husband, but here she's a slim, conventionally attractive woman: their daughter Isabel takes after her.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the original novella, Scrooge was a Lonely Rich Kid and had an abusive father who abandoned him to a boarding school instead of letting him spend Christmas with the family. Here his father ended up in debtor's prison, seemingly because of his own foolish decisions, forcing a young Scrooge to work on Christmas to make sure his mother and sick sister wouldn't starve. This change was likely done to give a more clear explanation for why Scrooge became obsessed with being more financially stable, and to give him a more humble background that shows his similarities with the characters who owe him money.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: The Ghost of Christmas Past has a much wackier personality here.
- Adaptational Diversity: There are more people of colour in this adaption, with Harry's wife Hela apparently being Indian (with her voice actress being of Indian descent), Fezziwig is portrayed as Scottish and the Ghost of Christmas Past is portrayed as female rather of being of ambiguous gender.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Scrooge is more openly hostile to his nephew than in the book and most other versions.
- While Jacob Marley being a greedy miser just as bad or worse than Scrooge is the entire point of his character and his warning, this is one of the few adaptations where we actually see firsthand how cruel he was with him coldly foreclosing on Cratchit's father's bakery and even admonishing young Scrooge when he tries to show sympathy to the man.
- Adaptational Name Change: Like with the 1970 film, Scrooge's nephew goes from Fred to Harry, his ex-fiancée goes from Belle to Isabel, and Bob Cratchit has a daughter named Kathy, which might not be a proper example as not all his children were named in the original book. Like the Screen-to-Stage Adaptation of the original film, Scrooge's sister's name goes from Fan to Jenny.
- Adaptational Nationality: For a first time, Fezziwig is portrayed as Scottish, even being voiced by Scottish actor James Cosmo.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Scrooge shows signs of regretting his decisions before Marley even appears. After reducing Bob Cratchit's earnings to ten pence due to him taking Christmas day off and spilling ink, Scrooge sees Bob comfort his son when he starts to struggle breathing. Scrooge then looks down at the five coins in his hand, but doesn't end up giving the money back. Nor does he say that the poor should be consigned to prisons and workhouses or else die and decrease the surplus population.
- While his nephew does make fun of Scrooge, it's mixed with genuine regret over their bad relationship and a hope that one day they can be on good terms.
- Scrooge's unseen father goes from a cold man who shipped him off to boarding school and refused to welcome him home for the holidays to a well-intentioned man who couldn't be there for his children because he was in debtor's prison.
- A subtle difference from the book is that Scrooge is less concerned to learn that people will celebrate his death, and instead he's more upset to discover that Tim will die. He then asks the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to send him back to the present simply to change Tim's fate, claiming that even if he himself is already doomed to this fate that doesn't mean the same is true for Tim. This means that Scrooge's redemption is less about changing the future for his own benefit, but so that other people can live happier lives.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: It turns out that as a young man being business partners with a young Jacob Marley, Scrooge closed down a baker family's shop due to the baker failing to pay his debt. That man was the father of Bob Cratchit who was a baby at the time, and Scrooge is horrified to realise that he has no memory of this. While not confirmed, it's possible that this is the reason for Bob's family currently being in poverty which therefore makes Scrooge indirectly responsible for Bob being unable to afford medicine for Tim. For bonus tragedy, Isabel witnessed the whole exchange, and it's implied that it caused her to realise how Scrooge was becoming more cruel and resulted in their break up.
- Adaptational Personality Change:
- Scrooge is a slight Adaptational Nice Guy from the beginning, and his slight Deadpan Snarker tendencies from the book are greatly enhanced.
- The Ghost of Christmas Past is much more cheeky and playful than the usual serious, ethereal figure
- In Scrooge (1970), the Ascended Extra Cratchit daughter Kathy is a Cheerful Child whose main character trait is longing for a doll she saw in the toyshop window (which of course Scrooge buys for her in the end). In this remake, she's a few years older, and becomes a feisty and sometimes irritable yet good-hearted preteen.
- Adaptational Sympathy: This has one of the most sympathetic versions of Scrooge due to his Adaptational Backstory Change. Unlike in previous versions where Scrooge simply hates Christmas while having grown to become greedy overtime for seemingly no reason, here he's given many logical and valid reasons for his current attitude. His hatred of Christmas stems from having to work during the holiday as a child after his father ended up in debtors prison and his sister dying in childbirth on Christmas Day, and his childhood is also the main reason for his greed as he desired to be financially stable in order to take care of Isabel.
- Adapted Out: As usual, the less family friendly Ignorance and Want are left out of this version. Old Joe and Mrs. Dilber are also not seen. The oldest Cratchit son Peter and unnamed second son are left out too; instead Tiny Tim is the only boy in the family, with seven sisters.
- Ambiguous Situation: Does Bob Cratchit know that Scrooge and Marley are the reason his family lost the bakery when he was a baby? Scrooge wonders if he does, but he doesn't ask when they reunite at the end of the film.
- Animated Adaptation: Of A Christmas Carol, specifically being a remake of the 1970 film.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: In the Bad Future where Scrooge remains unchanged until his death, Tom Jenkins leads several townspeople in a raucous funeral parade celebrating the old codger's demise. No one attends the funeral aside from the priest, the gravediggers, and Prudence, with the latter being the only true mourner. And when the priest admonishes Jenkins for unceremoniously dumping Scrooge's coffin into the grave, Jenkins amusedly retorts that no one is sad to see him go and saunters off with his companion, singing a jaunty tune.
- Ascended Extra: One of Bob's daughters, here named Kathy, is often seen alongside Tim and the two earned some money through singing and playing music at the start of the film. She also appears as Tim's constant companion in Scrooge (1970).
- Bowdlerise: The original film had Scrooge's ultimate fate as becoming the Devil's clerk in Hell if he didn't straighten out. In this film, Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge that he will become a restless spirit wrapped in chains like Marley.
- Canine Companion: Scrooge in this version has a dog named Prudence, who used to belong to Marley.
- Cold Flames: Marley's ghost is made of vivid blue fire that freezes everything it touches.
- Composite Character:
- Here, the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Yet to Come are combined. After Present finishes his lesson with Scrooge, he goes through a Painful Transformation into a skeletal figure, all the colour drains out of him, and his fairy companions become fiery demons. That being said, it's heavily implied that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a completely different entity from Present, as Scrooge himself guesses.
- In Scrooge (1970), two Canon Foreigner characters are Tom Jenkins, a hot soup vendor, and the more minor role of Pringle, a toyshop owner. Here the two characters are combined and Tom Jenkins becomes a toyshop owner.
- The Corrupter: Scrooge learned all Evil Debt Collector ways from Marley.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As a child, Scrooge had to work to provide for his mother and sister when his father ended up in debtor's prison, which is why he become so obsessed with wealth later in life. His beloved sister dies during childbirth on Christmas, leading him to develop a strong dislike for his nephew and a hatred for the holiday as it only reminds him of what he had lost. Finally, he drove away the love of his life in his need for financial stability, leaving him to end up a bitter man who is hated by pretty much everyone.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed as several darker elements are left out, but instead of just seeing his grave Scrooge actually gets a glimpse of his future self as a ghost, with chains just like Marley.
- Deadpan Snarker: Scrooge is even more of one than usual in this version – virtually every other line he speaks is a sarcastic quip.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Ghost of Christmas Past is made of candle wax and can take the form of anyone Scrooge has ever met (and does so with liberty), but picks a singer Scrooge has seen on posters as her default form.
- Freudian Excuse: Having grown up destitute, it's no surprise Scrooge came to value money. He originally wanted to earn enough to take care of his loved ones, but there's no such thing as "enough" money. So, by the time he was rich and successful, everyone he loved was gone.
- Gender Flip: The Ghost of Christmas Past is portrayed as female rather than being of ambiguous gender and even Prudence is a case of this, having a forerunner in the 1997 animated film who was male.
- Green-Eyed Monster: "Tell Me" suggests that, on top of all his other issues, Scrooge is bitterly jealous of how everyone else is able to be happy and merry at Christmas time when he himself is unable to due to all the bad memories he associates with the holiday.
- Honorary Uncle: When Scrooge takes steps to mend his relationship with the Cratchits, a flash of the future shows that he will become one to Tim and his siblings.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Tiny Tim in the present and Scrooge's sister Jen in the past suffer from a chronic cough. The "death" part is subverted both times, as Jen didn't die of her illness, but it left her too frail to survive childbirth, and Tim's life is saved by Scrooge's Heel–Face Turn.
- Innocently Insensitive: Harry could be seen as this. While fussing over Scrooge's pet dog Prudence (formerly Jacob Marley's pet) Harry makes a rather snide comment about Marley to Prudence in front of Scrooge. While Marley was a cruel man, he was also the only friend of Scrooge who has been dead for 7 years.
- Ironic Echo: When trying to sidestep the issue of Cratchit's minimal pay, Scrooge excuses his behavior by saying to Bob that "Times are hard, and my financial burdens are considerable. Now, should I add to them by paying for the upkeep of your entire family?" . Later on when visiting the past, Jacob Marley uses the exact same phrase to excuse his own motivations when foreclosing on the Cratchits' family bakery.
- A more heartwarming variation occurs near the end of the film. During the Bad Future, Jenkins performs a song called "Thank You Very Much" mockingly and disrespectfully thanking Scrooge for dying and freeing Jenkins and the rest of the townsfolk from their debt burdens in the process. Later on, when a redeemed Scrooge invites everyone to his house for a Christmas party and cancels all of Jenkins' debts as a present, the man says this exact sentence to him in response, only this time in a completely genuine and heartfelt manner.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: One of the first things Scrooge does after his Heel–Face Turn is say he's grateful to know Isabel found happiness after she left him.
- I Will Show You X!:
- After failing to convince Scrooge to brighten up with his musical number, the Ghost of Christmas Present urges a thoroughly annoyed Scrooge to "Hit the town" with him.
Scrooge: "Hit the town?!" I'll hit something else in a minute!- When Bob Cratchit calls Scrooge "the founder of [their] feast", his wife Ethel sarcastically says "I'll give him something to feast on!" while raising her clenched fist.
Ethel: He'll have indigestion all through January! - Kick the Dog: During the last bit with Past, she shows him that Isobel is living happily with a man she met after leaving Scrooge, commenting that that could have been Scrooge's life, had he taken the chance.
- Last Disrespects: In the Bad Future, not only does Jenkins do this in song form, he does so while dancing on Scrooge's coffin.
- Lighter and Softer: The film omits or tones down some of the darker or more dramatic elements from the original book, adding more humor. Scrooge is somewhat less meaner (even before his Heel–Face Turn), and he has a pet dog instead being completely alone and miserable as he was in the source material.
- Manly Tears: Scrooge sheds tears over Tiny Tim's possible fate, Bob Cratchit sobs in anguish at Tim's grave in the Bad Future, and Harry sheds tears of sadness as he thinks of his mother on Christmas Eve, and later of joy after Scrooge gives him the Santa Claus doll his mother made as a child.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Scrooge openly blames Harry for his mother's death, with the latter being aware of this and how Scrooge doesn't like him. However he later feels bad about this when the Ghost of Christmas Present shows him that Harry wants to bond with him because his father told him stories of how close Scrooge was with Jen, and Scrooge realises that Harry lost Jen just as much he did.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Scrooge is horrified to discover he has been unwittingly ruining Bob Cratchit's life for years. The Cratchit family is poor because Scrooge and Marley closed Bob's parents' bakery, and Bob's salary can barely put food on the table, much less get medical care for his sick son. The realization that, if Tiny Tim dies, he will be to blame for the senseless death of a child, much like the one his sister barely eluded, is the final push that turns Scrooge into a good man.
- My Greatest Failure: The song "Later Never Comes" is all about how Scrooge never made time for Isabel, simply saying that they can talk later only to continue working until she leaves him. This becomes his greatest regret and present Scrooge ends up joining the song halfway, and later tries to tell his younger self that there won't be a later if he leaves her again for work.
- Mythology Gag: This film burrows references from previous films of Charles Dickens's famous Christmas story:
- Several songs from Scrooge (1970) such as Happiness and Thank You Very Much are inserted in the film.
- At one point early on, some snowballs are thrown at Scrooge's window as he looks out of it, momentarily giving him what looks like a Santa Claus beard – this probably alludes to the finale of Scrooge (1970), where Scrooge dresses as Santa Claus to hand out presents.
- Like the 1997 animated version starring Tim Curry, Scrooge has a dog for a pet with both serving as comic relief.
- Like the 2004 musical starring Kelsey Grammar, Scrooge's father goes to prison for being in debt (Which happened to Charles Dickens in real life) and in both versions the young Scrooges are forced to work to make ends meet (Again something Dickens faced in real life).
- Like the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim, Scrooge as a young man is lead astray by the lure of better pay, in this case Marley. The only difference is that it is suggested Mr. Jorkin likely got away with his embezzlement while obviously Marley paid for his sins in the afterlife. note
- Like the 2019 version staring Guy Pearce, Scrooge begs at the foot of his grave for Tiny Tim to be spared, instead of begging to sponge away his name on his gravestone.
- Like the 1999 version staring Patrick Steward, The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come's eyes are visible.
- Like the 2009 version starring Jim Carrey, The Ghost of Christmas Past has a candle like appearance. The Ghost of Christmas Present clutches his heart in pain during his final moments. The difference is that the ghost in that version slowly turns into a skeleton before disintegrating. This one has the ghost transforming into Yet to Come itself. Marley's ghost has coins for his eyes. Similar to how in the opening of the 2009 film, coins are placed on his eyes when Marley is laid to rest.
- Like the Muppet version, the Cratchit children include identical twin girls and Tiny Tim has a chronic cough.
- Like Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooge sees his own burial carried out by two cheerfully disrespectful men.
- Like the 1935 version staring Seymour Hicks, Isabel (Belle in the 1935 film) witnesses Scrooge (and Marley in this version) being merciless to a couple who are in debt.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- Bob Cratchit's wife is named Ethel
- The Nephew's wife is named Hela. She and Harry's last name is Huffman.
- Once More, with Clarity: The purpose of the trip to the past. Scrooge recalls his past with jaded eyes, and the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him there was good times as well as bad when he was a child, and how it was his fault, not Isabel's, that their engagement fell through. The Ghost also points out that he only remembers the times he lost money, which is why he doesn't remember how he put Bob Cratchit's family out of business.
- Race Lift: Scrooge's niece-in-law, here named Hela, and Tom Jenkins are portrayed as Indian and black respectively.
- The One That Got Away: Isabel was this, as his desire for financial stability and growing cruelty eventually pushed her away. The Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge that she eventually married another man and had children while mentioning that this could have been his life. Despite this, at the end Scrooge simply says that he's glad that she found happiness while hoping that it wasn't too late to find his own.
- Politically Correct History: The film doesn't draw much attention to the fact that Harry has an Indian wife and several ethnically diverse friends at his party, despite still being set in Victorian London. The same is true for Fezziwig, who threw a Christmas party with some of the guests being people of colour. That being said, during the Victorian era, India had been part of the commonwealth for almost four hundred years, and London was by far the most populated trade city in the world.
- Related in the Adaptation: Like with the 1970 film, Isabel is the daughter of Scrooge's old boss Mr Fezziwig while in the book Belle's family wasn't mentioned.
- Same Character, But Different: In the book and film adaptations Jacob Marley was Scrooge's business partner. In this film Marley is actually Scrooge's boss and mentor and it is also implied that Marley is much older than Scrooge instead of the two being roughly in the same age group.
- Shout-Out:
- At one point, there's a poster advertising a theatre production of Oliver Twist.
- The Ghost of Christmas Past gives Scrooge an Armor Piercing Slap to prove that she's not just a dream, and when he complains that it hurt, she tells him "The past can hurt... But it can also heal, if you learn from it." Almost exactly what Rafiki says to Simba after whacking him on the head.
- The Ghost of Christmas Present introduces himself by thundering "Who dares disturb my slumber?!"
- Strong Family Resemblance: Harry looks a lot like his uncle Ebenezer as a young man, albeit more sturdily built.
- Tragic Keepsake: Scrooge continues to carry the engraved pocket watch Isabel gave him long after their romance ended. He also still has Jenny's homemade doll which he gives to Harry after his redemption.
- Unable to Support a Wife: As a young man, this was Scrooge's excuse to put off marrying Isabel. Of course, it really was just an excuse, the truth being he had come to care more about his career than her. When questioned by Past, Scrooge sounded unsure when he claimed he was going to marry her.
- You Must Be Cold: A platonic version: in the flashback to Scrooge's childhood, young Ebenezer gives his sister Jen his own jacket when, due to their poverty, she comes to visit him in a short-sleeved dress in winter while sick with a bad cough.
