A grouchy old man walks the streets of London. He has been even more angry after his friend Marley has died. By just saying the one word this man is known for, “Humbug,” anyone could guess the man depicted is Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge to be exact. He is the main character in the very well known book, “A Christmas Carol,” written by Charles Dickens. Because “A Christmas Carol” has been such a success since it was published, there have been many movies made based on the book. Some have been true to Dickens’ novel but others have been unrecognizable to the original story.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of the many Christmas Carol versions that did not depict the story accurately. To show the true message that Dickens wants to convey, the characters and plot have to be portrayed accurately. Although Scrooge’s character is presented in The Muppet Christmas Carol as he is in the book, the movie lacks the dark message that the ghosts were trying to get across; the movie is certainly not like the book. Unlike the dark mood that is portrayed in “A Christmas Carol,” the movie’s characters, as well as its setting, stress the exact opposite. The dark mood of the book sets the tone for the ghosts of the past, present and Christmases yet to come and for Scrooge.
The movie showed the spirits’ cheerfulness. Whether they were singing while dancing along London streets or Scrooge singing to Belle, the Muppet movie aimed for a children’s audience altered the major plot lines to those that a younger audience would enjoy. A happy mood was created by Fezziwig’s party and Belle’s larger role.
The spirits, the second most important characters other than Scrooge, are not presented as they appear in the book. The characters in the movie carry very similar traits as the ghosts in the book, but their emotions differ greatly. There are not only characters added, but other characters are left out of the movie altogether.
In the movie and the book, Scrooge is portrayed as a person who was feared among the townspeople. The movie’s version of Scrooge has many of the same attributes and reactions of the original Scrooge in Dickens’ book. In the movie, Scrooge goes through many of the same scenes depicted in the book, including his rejecting a donation to the poor and his promise to honor Christmas. Scrooge also shares the same attitude in his dislike of Christmas as well as his disdain of the poor and homeless, just like the book.
But what was the problem with the portrayal of the characters? Each spirit had slight or sometimes drastic changes in their appearances compared to those described in the book. The Ghost of Christmas Past’s appearance was dramatically different than the book. The book described the Ghost of Christmas Past as a male, but the movie version’s ghost is female as anyone can tell by her voice.
Although the Ghost of Christmas Present’s appearance was almost exactly as described in the book except for some minor details, he was portrayed as jolly and cheery which he was in the book. The movie’s singing scene with Christmas Present, however, differed from the descriptions of the spirit in the book.
The book version of the Ghost of Christmas Future is very dark and evil and almost

never speaks, which is also depicted in the movie. The movie also added characters, such as a second narrator, “Rizzo the Rat” and his partner Charles Dickens.
The plot in both the book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and “The Muppet Christmas Carol by Jim Henson very greatly. The Muppet Christmas Carol executes the portrayal of Scrooge’s character correctly, but the portrayal of the scenes and what scenes are included are based on the audience. In the movie, multiple scenes are left out that play an important role in the book. The scenes left out include the scene at Caroline’s house with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the Ghost of Christmas Present with the two children Want and Ignorance presenting to Scrooge and the scene of the ghosts or government officials chained together. The scenes omitted from the Muppet movie help the audience to better understand the greed of Scrooge and the rich people at the time and the selfishness and ignorance of the poor. Instead of the original themes shown in “A Christmas Carol” using Scrooge to show what the people at the time should be like, the Muppet Christmas Carol uses the cheery mood shown through the singing of a day in London and other songs to show hte transformation of someone who had a bad attitude about Christmas to good.
As presented, the “Muppet Christmas Carol” not an accurate depiction of “A Christmas Carol.” The cheery mood is an inaccurate portrayal of the spirits leading to large difference in plot. Overall, a day in London was too joyful and cheery with a nonexistent dark mood to be a called “A Christmas Carol.”