While faithful to some aspects of Dickens' original, director Robert Zemeckis takes a story rich in nuance and renders it one-dimensional, more antic than thrilling.

The main thing that distinguishes this re-telling is its technique – in 3-D, using motion-capture technology. What this means to the audience is mostly a lot of swooping – roller-coaster-style – over and around the rooftops of London. The soaring initially is exhilarating, but used repeatedly it becomes monotonous.

While the technology may allow for more whiz-bang effects, it flattens emotional complexity. One of the main problems with motion capture is how it wrings the life out of faces. Rather than resembling their real-life counterparts, characters have an inhuman appearance.

Jim Carrey plays several parts: He's Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. In the process, he runs through a range of accents and attitudes. But lots of acting doesn't equal good acting.

As anyone surely knows, Scrooge is a nasty miser. He hates Christmas and everyone who celebrates it. In Dickens' tale, Scrooge is offered a chance at redemption when visited by supernatural forces.

The ghosts who visit Scrooge are surprisingly humdrum. Perhaps the most annoying is the spirit of Christmas present. As played by Carrey, he spends most of his time guffawing.

The film focuses on the fantastical, at the cost of narrative depth and character development. Scrooge's failed romance with Belle (Robin Wright Penn) was deeply scarring. In this incarnation, their heartbreak is rendered as matter-of-factly as a business deal gone sour.

A re-telling should either present a resonant or fresh thematic take. This Christmas Carol seems like a pale ghost of Dickens' magical Christmas classic.

Enlarge Disney Enterprises Jim Carrey plays Scrooge and the three ghosts of Christmas in the 3-D Christmas Carol.