I’ve been seeing the posters and ads for A Christmas Carol eh-heeverywhere recently, and it gives me the creeps like whoa. Because from where I sit, this version is deep, deep into the uncanny valley. How can this image not give you the chills? Geesh:
For the uninitiated, the uncanny valley is that weird zone where humanoid characters go from cute and adorable to scary and off putting. Wall-E? Adorbs. That thing? See you in my nightmares. We like stuff to have human characteristics up to a point, but then those characteristics get weird and we stop liking it — until they get so human-like that we can’t tell the difference, and then we like them again. That close-but-not-quite-a-person creepiness even popped up on 30 Rock when Tracy tried to make his pornographic video game and Frank explained the valley using Star Wars characters. It turns out even monkeys experience an uncanny valley response.
I think Christmas Carol is valley-bound. Check out Popular Science’s video about the concept after the jump, and tell us PopWatchers: Where does it fall for you?
Image: Disney
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I agree – creepy. Still haven’t made up my mind whether I’ll see it or not.
Disney’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL is just as creepy as POLAR EXPRESS was…I get too weirded-out from this kind of film technique! It’s just toooo bizarre!!!
I just dont understand why Zemeckis is doing ANOTHER Christams Carol movie. He already did Scrooge with Bill Murray, now this? Why oh why?
“Scrooged” was actually directed by Richard Donner.
However, I wish Zemeckis hadn’t spent so much time doing another holiday-themed, motion capture, semi-creepfest. I know there’s big money, but this is the guy who directed “Back to the Future”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Forrest Gump.” (I also enjoy his “Cast Away” and “What Lies Beneath”)
What I’m trying to say is make a movie with real people again, Zemeckis!
“Scrooged” was Richard Donner, not Zemeckis.
The motion-capture animation useed in this version of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Polar Express” seems less human than traditional hand-drawn animation does, or even the computer animation used by Pixar. Nemo and WALL-E were more human than the characters in these movies. I think this may also be a problem in the upcoming “Avatar”, with the weird blue fairy people.
THANK YOU.
I’m so glad someone’s bringing this up, because this was the first thing I noticed when I saw all the trailers. I tend to turn them off when they come on TV.
I think that A Christmas Carol is way creepier than Polar Express. WAYYYYYYY creeeeeepier…
Not only have these character designs fallen deep into the Uncanny Valley,but the Scrooge looks decidedly syphilitic besides. Yuk.
I don’t think its a fear of dying but the lack of “soul” in their eyes that makes me feel so creeped out. The saying – his eyes went dead – when talking about a killer works really well here.
I’m not so sure. Why do the muppets resonate with us more than these weird CGI characters when Kermit’s eyes are ping-pong balls?
Jim Carey is creepy enough in person! Long live the Muppets Christmas Carol!
It creeps me out because it is too early in the season for a Christmas movie.
I agree about the uncanny valley, but that’s not the only reason I won’t be seeing this. Another is that Jim Carrey is annoying. The main reason is that we don’t need any more “Christmas Carol” movies. The 1984 version starring George C. Scott did it to perfection.
I understand that being creeped out seems to be a common reaction to the technique, and I’m not criticizing anyone who does find it creepy, but I don’t see it as a problem. I found Polar Express breath-taking because it was like they brought those gorgeous Chris Van Allsburg paintings to life and it resonated with me in a very primal way. As for Christmas Carol, well, it’s meant to be creepy. It’s a holiday ghost story. I’m actually really looking forward to it.
It worked okay for Beowulf because that was well…creepy. But a beloved Christmas story. I would have much rather seen Carrey in a live action adaptation….c’mon it’s not like they can do anything with his face and body on a computer that he can’t already do.
I’ve gotta disagree on this one. The uncanny valley is a bad bad thing and i’ve seen what’s fallen in there. I was kinda worried going into this movie about it. Turns out, not so much to worry about. Polar Express was down in the valley. Big steps have ben made. I did see soul in the eyes actually. Every once in a while you get a little sense of the “too real. if i wanted to see real people i’d watch real people” vibe, but it’s mostly nonexistent. and this movie was really very good beyond that. creepy, a little scary. good stuff. so the motion capture works well here. otherwise, not the biggest fan of it.
the 3-D was some of the best i’ve seen though.
I don’t understand why people are so weirded out by the animation. As with the video, I’d definitely put animated “people” lower on the human likeness scale than the robotic people with facial expressions and “muscles”. I find the robots creepy, NOT the animation. It’s just animation. Who cares?
Me. I care. It’s distracting when animation tries to look real. When I watch a movie, I want to enjoy the visual experience. I don’t want to be following a story and have the underlying internal dialogue be, “Oh, that looks real–wait, that’s obviously not real–ew.” I don’t enjoy the movie when I keep getting the creeps. I think the trailers for this movie look better than the trailers for Polar Express, but I’m not sure my love for the story can get me into a theater seat.
Polar Express did fall in the uncanny valley but A Christmas Carol does not. The eyes of the characters are no longer soul-less, and in some bits you can actually see Jim Carrey or Gary Oldman’s “spirit” or “spark” as if it was the real thing. I don´t think CG characters will ever replace live actors, the same way I believe robots will never have feelings or soul, but I am the first one to admit that A Christmas Carol is a big step since The Polar Express. (And a huge leap since that nightmarish baby in that Pixar short…)
For me, this is past the uncanny valley. They look pretty much human.
Of course it does … there’s only one use for Zemeckis’ mo-cap puppets:
http://www.celebrityfreakshow.com/robert-zemekis-to-make-mo-cap-zombie-film/