We took our 11 and 7 year old to see this film and as parents we came
away dissapointed with the lack of Jim Carrey humour and the incredibly frightening 3D images of the 3 spirits and Scrooge's ex partner. We realise that this film is PG but you don't expect a Disney film to be disturbing!
My 7 year old jumped out if her seat at times with fear as the ghosts literally leap at you. There were many other young children in the cinema, who probably like us were not expecting the really scary scenes . Even our 11 year old found them disturbing and he is not easily upset.
Word of caution- do not take younger children !!!

It seemed funny - weird even - to be celebrating Christmas & getting all Christmassy at the beginning of November, however, I was one of the lucky people to see the world premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol last night (3rd Nov 2009) at the Odeon Leicester Sq, in London. It was simultaneously premiered at the Empire Leicester Sq & the Odeon West End. The atmosphere was buzzing outside the cinema so I only hoped that the actual film would live up to the hype - well in this reviewers eyes, it did. Right from the start of the film, I knew that they had got the tempo just right between following the original Dickens story & dialogue coupled with the most breathtaking 3D imagery I've seen - when the snow flakes began to fall, you could almost be forgiven for thinking they were real. The story - even though it has been told & re-told over many times before in films, musicals & stage plays - seemed new & fresh with the "Robert Zemeckis" special touch about it (Zemeckis other films in this genre include Polar Express & Beowulf). Having to wear 3D glasses for the film was a bit of a problem, but it really didn't spoil my overall enjoyment of the film - that said, I really hope that some day someone will invent a better way of viewing 3D films! The other issue or warning really, is to families with young children. Some of the 3D images were so powerful, that, when they linked with the excellent sound system of the Odeon Leicester Sq, some of the scenes were quite scary for young eyes & ears. I even saw a young mother take her child out after about 10 minutes & they did not return. Consequently, I would say this should have a 12 rating at least - however, you might have brave little ones that can last the duration (which is about 93 minutes). Overall, I can honestly say that this was one of the best films that I've seen this year & would think that eventually, it would become staple viewing on terrestrial TV each year at Christmas. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, but I