Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle�s Sherlock Holmes and William Shakespeare�s Hamlet, Charles Dickens� Ebenezer Scrooge is one character from classic English literature who has had more than his fair share of cinematic incarnations. From feature films to television productions to animated cartoons, Scrooge has been portrayed by everyone from Albert Finney to Vanessa Williams to Mr. Magoo.

Following earlier versions starring Mickey Mouse and the Muppets, Disney took another crack at the yuletide chestnut last holiday movie season, and was even so bold as to title it Disney�s A Christmas Carol (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray). Yet, despite that family friendly stamp of approval, this Carol is not for the little ones with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

Dickens� original book was billed as a �ghost story� after all, and writer-director Robert Zemeckis (Academy Award winner for Forrest Gump) not only doesn�t shy away from that fact, he whole-heartedly embraces it. This is one spooky Christmas Carol, and parents should heed its PG rating.

Altered title aside, Dickens purists will be happy to note how faithful the film is to the original text, with dialogue lifted straight from the page. However, Zemeckis saw fit to pad the oft-told tale with superfluous action sequences obviously designed to exploit the theatrical engagement�s 3-D, which will be lost on all who have not shelled out for the new 3-D televisions and Blu-ray players.

This Carol�s main reason d�etre is yet another chance for Zemeckis to show off the motion capture process that he first used in another Christmas movie, The Polar Express. Like that film, Carol isn�t too successful in making viewers forget that they are watching something out of the ordinary; the inherent falseness of mo-cap is just too unavoidable when there is this much of it.

The all-star cast, led by Jim Carrey as Scrooge and all three Spirits of Christmas (and also including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes and Bob Hoskins), are vaguely recognizable under their virtual make-up. Vain attempts are made to inject life into these digital doppelgangers, at the expense of injecting any life into this all-too-familiar story.

Simply put, this is one Christmas Carol that didn�t need to be reprised.

Blu-ray bonus features include �Behind the Carol: The Full Motion Capture Experience�, a picture-in-picture viewing option (with or without Zemeckis� audio commentary) that allows you to see the �raw� mo-cap footage alongside the completed film. With its stark white stage and black jumpsuit-clad actors, this footage looks like something out of Tron Meets Sleeper.

Other extras include a rather juvenile �making of� featurette (�Capturing Dickens: A Novel Retelling�), a �Countdown to Christmas� Interactive Calendar (in other words: a digital advent calendar), six deleted scenes and a Timon and Pumbaa cartoon (commercial) shilling, you guessed it, 3-D Blu-rays and TVs.