Hello, friends!
Welcome to the final day of the fifth annual Christmas in July Blogathon! Over the last several years, several bloggers have become regulars of my festive annual blogathon. None more so than Rob from MovieRob, who has participated all five years! If you are unfamiliar with Rob and his blog (which I don’t know how you can be), he has a vast library of film reviews, totaling in the thousands! Really impressive work that you have to see to believe. Head over to his site to see what I mean. Today, he adds to his colossal archive with a fresh review of a more recent Christmas film: The Man Who Invented Christmas.
“Humbug!” – Scrooge
Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 Jul 2018)
Brief Synopsis – As famed author Charles Dickens’ attempts to write a new novel, he is struck with writer’s block and must find a way to come up with an extraordinary idea for an original story.
My Take on it – What better choice for a film review for Christmas in July over at Drew’s then perhaps a story about the events and man who helped make Christmas as festive and joyous as it is.
This film is based on the premise that Charles Dickens needed to search his innermost self in order to find the right elements to create one of his most popular novels: A Christmas Carol.
This film weighs heavily on information included in that novel, so it probably is more helpful for the viewer to understand this film much better if they already have a familiarity with that story (or some version of it since there have been so many over the years).
Dan Stevens does a pretty good job in the lead but he is outshined by Christopher Plummer who plays Scrooge.
Stevens manages to do a fine job showing an author trying to find his way through the maze of plot and characters in order to create something comprehensible and plausible.
The fact that he gets advice from his characters along the way is a great touch here.
The story itself works well to show us the inner workings of the mind of a literary genius while at the same time showing that there is a fine line between truth and fiction that gets very blurred during such an exhaustive writing process.
Bottom Line – Very interesting idea that works better for those who are more familiar with Dickens’ take A Christmas Carol. Steven does a nice job in the lead and manages to give us the feeling of an author trying to create a great story yet needs help from his characters to help make them seem plausible. Plummer is wondrous as Scrooge and steals every scene that he appears in. The story works quite well as a way to perhaps see into the mind of a celebrated author while at the same time understand how the lines between truth and fiction can be blurred during this process. The give us a great look into how (possibly) the holiday of Christmas became so much more festive and joyful due to the themes of this book. Recommended!
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – At 87 years old Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to ever play Scrooge. In fact Scrooge is apparently elderly in the book while in the previous films Scrooge is played by various middle aged actors. (From IMDB)
Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)
For our little party, Rob has invited Mary Stuart Masterson!
Lovely pick, Rob!
And that’s it for my guest participants! Later today, I conclude the blogathon with a review of one of my favorite Christmas films. I’ve dropped a few hints on my twitter so head over there if you want a peak at which one.
Until next time, cheers!
Drew's Movie Reviews 
tnx Drew for including me!
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You’re welcome, Rob! Thanks for joining in. 🙂
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I felt the film could have done more, but overall it did do its job pretty well.
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