Bah, humbug?
There is no doubt that The Man Who Invented Christmas is a fabulously festive flick, nor that it is a ton of fun for the whole family. It's fast-paced, relatively straightforward, flashy and colorful, and campy as a drag queen in a Hallmark special. Director Bharat Nalluri (who made the giddily enchanting Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) riddles the film with theatrical effects and works seamlessly with his production designers and cinematographer to craft a dazzling fantasy. Whether it's a roving spotlight or stark white back-lighting, or in those moments that the ghosts pop into presence, the film enacts liberties on our awareness of visual reality.
And that's where my consternation begins. This flamboyant flouting of reality undermines the basis of the film: that is, the supposedly real-life story of how Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol and thus changed the holiday of Christmas into what we celebrate today. This film does make the case that that short book did indeed alter the holiday, and its playful way of shaping the novel's characters, dialogue, and themes in the character of Dickens's mind is convincing if contrived. But, due to the theatrical artificiality of everything on screen, I just didn't believe that any of it is based on reality. I must admit that I don't know much about Dickens or how he wrote anything -- because I'm not a fan and just don't care -- but this film is so silly and so outrageous that I certainly don't believe anything it tried to teach me. Maybe that's for the better, generally, but for a movie advertising itself as a true story, it's an arresting dilemma.
That said, I cannot deny the pure entertainment value here, nor can I say this film won't make its way into my holiday film canon. Its final effect -- if you ignore its claims to historicity -- is to playfully re-present the mythic tale of Scrooge. In many ways, we see the story of A Christmas Carol re-enacted by its own author, who is haunted by the characters he creates in the days leading up to Christmas. Here we see Scrooge's basis not only in interesting people Dickens (played by a frenetic Dan Stevens) meets and observes, but also in his own manic mind. As he develops his tale out of necessity rather than inspiration, its characters spring to life in his mind's eye, interacting with him and forcing him to confront his hidden past and reconnect with his family. None is more effective, as you might guess, than the old miser himself, played by a gleefully wicked Christopher Plummer (though I confess a little confusion here as well; Scrooge is simply bitter and doesn't take pleasure from his cruelty, but Plummer certainly plays him as if he does).
For some fabulous holiday fun, and quality PG-rated entertainment, you could do a lot worse than The Man Who Invented Christmas. And God bless us, every one!
IMDb: The Man Who Invented Christmas
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