Does the name "GoodTimes Home Video" sound familiar to you?
If you're an animation fan, it probably should. Given that this is the infamous production company that churned out all of those cheap Disney knock-offs. With the hope that consumers might then get confused and accidentally buy the GoodTimes version of "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty & the Beast" and/or "Aladdin." Rather than the legitimate Disney versions of these same stories.
Copyright GoodTimes Home Video
Now it may seem like sort of a cheap shot to bring up this aspect of GoodTimes' production history while discussing this production company's version of "A Christmas Carol" …
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
… Except that the introductory sequence for this GT Media DVD basically flaunts GoodTimes' whole "We're-the-animation-studio-that-rips-off-Disney-films" history. Given that — before we see Frame One of "A Christmas Carol" — we're treated to an image of GT's version of "The Lion King" sharing a seat on a roller coaster with GT's version of "Pocahontas." And who's riding in the car directly behind these two characters? The GoodTimes Home Video version of "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs."
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
The impression that the folks at GT Media would like you to get from this opening montage on their "Christmas Carol" DVD is that this animation studio tells classic stories well.
Well, if that were really the case, and GT Media were a production company that actually prided itself on delivering quality work … Then how do you explain this error? Though this version of "A Christmas Carol" is clearly supposed to be set in 1840s London, the furniture in Scrooge's office is clearly modern. Danish modern, if I'm not mistaken.
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
That — in a nutshell — is what's wrong with GT Media's version of "A Christmas Carol." This animated version of Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale was obviously thrown together quickly. With the production crew at GoodTimes Home Video cutting corners wherever they could.
Of course, to be fair, I guess I should also point out that this particular adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" does feature a seldom-used piece of Dickens' original text. Which has Ebenezer catching brief glimpses of Jacob Marley on the tiles over his fireplace before Scrooge's long-dead partner officially makes his entrance in this holiday tale.
The fact that the folks at GT Media included this particular moment in their "Christmas Carol" adaptation, rather than just sticking with the old tried-and-true Jacob's-face-on-the-doorknocker stuff, suggests that there was at least a half-hearted attempt to turn this 49-minute-long cartoon into a decent version of Dickens' classic tale.
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
But — for every thing that GT Media gets right on this DVD — there's yet another obvious thing that this animation production company gets wrong. Take — for example — the Ghost of Christmas Past sequence in this version of "A Christmas Carol." Which (due to some sort of bizarre technical screw-up during production) actually shows Ebenezer & this holiday spirit flying backwards as they head into the past to visit Scrooge's youth.
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
Mind you, the GoodTimes Home Video version of "A Christmas Carol" does manage to get the bigger moments of Dickens' classic holiday tale right. In that the Ghost of Christmas Present still brings Ebenezer to the Crachits house so that Scrooge can then experience what this holiday is really supposed to be about.
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
Likewise, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Be still brings Ebenezer to the graveyard. So that Scrooge can then see that — unless this miserable miser changes his ways — he's going to die alone and unloved. Which prompts Ebenezer to beg this holiday spirit for just one more chance.
But — as I mentioned earlier — for every thing that the GT Media version of "A Christmas Carol" gets right — there's another part of Dickens' story that the production team gets horribly wrong. I mean, was it really necessary to show Scrooge taking the Crachit family out on a shopping spree?
Copyright 2003 GoodTimes Home Video
Cutting right to the chase here, folks … If you're a real fan of "A Christmas Carol," you're going to have a bad time while watching the GoodTimes Home Video version of this classic holiday tale. Which is why I advise you to give this particular DVD a very wide berth.
Tomorrow … Kelsey Grammer & Alan Menken team up to bring us "A Christmas Carol : The Musical." Is this tuneful TV movie really worth tuning in for?
Your thoughts?