This film is one of the best adaptations of the Charles Dickens classic I had ever seen. The classic tale becomes a visually stunning animation starring the voice talents of Kate Winslet, Nicolas Cage, Simon Callow and Beth Winslet. This animated adaptation retains the essence of the timeless tale while introducing some fresh interpretations.
The film begins with a live-action sequence set in Boston in 1857, the site of a live reading by renowned novelist Dickens. As he begins his ‘story of ghosts’ a woman in the audience screams because she has seen a mouse and Dickens points out that this is appropriate since his story begins with a mouse. At this point the story turns into the animated version and Dickens explains that the mouse, named Gabriel, carries a glimmer of hope amidst the glaring co-existence of rich and poor in the streets of London. Throughout the subsequent unfolding of the well-known story Gabriel acts as a miniature Greek chorus, providing younger members of the audience with a point of entry into the story and, in the case of the potentially frightening elements (the Ghosts of Past, Present and Future), a place of refuge.
