Watch A Carol Christmas For Free

Waste of time

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

With a bigger name cast than most year-end Christmas TV movies, "A Carol Christmas" should have been better than just a fair film. William Shatner, Michael Landes, and Gary Coleman are among the better-known actors. And, the plot of this film is a modern day "Christmas Carol" story. The title even is a play on words of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." In this case, the Carol isn't a song or poem but a person. The Hallmark plot reprises the Dickens format of three ghosts - past, present and future. But, unfortunately, it is treated heavily with humor and a light touch. Without the drama it's almost whimsical at times. Carol Cartman's trips with the ghosts become much less believable as having any real effect on her. Tori Spelling plays her character well enough, especially in the first part as a modern day Scrooge. As Dickens described the character, Spelling plays well "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner."Her heavy use of makeup, especially lipstick, helps shape her image as a cold, frozen, bitter, totally self-absorbed person. When she changes toward the end, the heavy makeup is gone, her complexion softens, and she appears clean and kind. Good job, that. But again, the light-hearted treatment of the ghosts runs counter to this and detracts from Spelling's character as being seriously flawed. So, instead of a possible modern remake of "A Christmas Carol," this film turns out to be a modern tale that resembles the original format, but with comedy and humor that all but smothers the original story and its values. The original "Christmas Carol" is a timeless classic. So, it should lend itself to a modern adaptation, but one that keeps to the original story format. It would be set in modern times and with a super wealthy person who exists solely for wealth and power but who could have taken a different path in the past.

A Carol Christmas is a modern version of scrooge. An egotistical presenter learns the error of her ways via some spirits of Christmas past, present and future. Despite a relatively high profile cast ( cameo performances from William Shatner and Gary Coleman)for a TV movie this one falls a bit flat. Tori Spelling does a decent job as the lead but the terrible dialogue and production is just too mushy and it just seems the film is going through the motions. To be honest the only emotion this film evoked from me was boredom.Whilst it's not horrendous and is at least watchable I'd save your mulled wine for better Christmas films.

Certainly not just the 3rd female scrooge! What about Vanessa Williams in A Diva's Christmas Carol or Cicely Tyson in Ms. Scrooge, who was great by the way... Both worth watching! Cicely was fantastically mean and miserly, almost stomping on a child's fingers to stop him from picking a quarter up from the street. She got the quarter, of course. And Vanessa as the rock-star diva was cute too, another great variation of the classic story. I'm biased in that I would watch any variation of A Christmas Carol, including the animated versions, (I love the Mr. Magoo one also). It's an uplifting tale that can warm the heart of any Grinch, including me...

One thing that brings this movie down, is it being one of the thousand movie remake of A Christmas Carol.Certaintly the best movie ever, best is one of my very few favorite Christmas movies. This one is number one on my fav list. Tori Spelling really showed her acting, finally someone wrote a script that would suit Spelling. Instead of her getting a script that always make her look like an awful actress.Was like Bill Murray in Scrooged (1988), which this movie in someways a lot of like it. Tori Spelling character was like Bill's a Scrooge after the famous life in the media changed them. I actually watch half of the A Christmas Carol and liked it better than Scrooged. And I love watching Scrooged all the time. Spelling love interest is Jason Brooks (Of Baywatch Hawaii)who both star in the tv movie The Alibi which Spelling and Brooks had a storyline in it too.Just didn't like William Shatner in the movie.Nevertheless a great movie for the whole family to watchI give it 5 stars