Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Directed by Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, MI-5) from a screenplay by Susan Coyne (Slings and Arrows, Anne of Green Gables) adapted from the book of the same name by Les Standiford, The Man Who Invented Christmas is an imaginative telling of how Charles Dickens came to write his classic novel A Christmas Carol. The performances by the cast are excellent, but two in particular stand out above the others: Christopher Plummer as Scrooge and Jonathan Pryce as Charles Dickens' charming but hopelessly irresponsible father, John Dickens. Note: it is absolutely vital that viewers have either read A Christmas Carol or at least seen a good film adaptation of it (the best IMHO being the 1951 version with Alistair Sim as Scrooge) before seeing The Man Who Invented Christmas. Otherwise they're going to miss most of the connections and references that occur in the film, particularly the more subtle ones dealing with where and how Dickens got his ideas for his characters. It is also helpful if viewers know something about Dickens' life, but the film does a fairly good job of filling in the background in that area. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who likes movies about the story-behind-the-story accounts of famous works, for anyone who's a fan of A Christmas Carol and/or Charles Dickens, and for any writer who's had to struggle with financial pressures, deadlines, writer's block and characters that refuse to do what you want them to do.