Of course seeing that Kelsey Grammar was in the lead role made me curious enough to watch this movie when it first appeared. But I was hooked immediately in the first scene when I heard the music and saw the incredible energy emanating from the screen. The music was very lyrical and moving, the characters were not at all scary (When I was a child, all of the original Christmas Carol movies scared me because the spirits were too creepy and Scrooge was too mean) and I was amazed at the musicality of the leads. Grammar is obviously a well-trained vocalist. And there was not one weak performer in the whole bunch. I enjoyed the movie so much that I taped it later on and my children and I watched it over and over again until we all walked around the house singing the songs. This was a wonderful way to introduce my kids to Dickens and a classic holiday story. If you watched this film as a "purist" as one critic proclaimed, you set yourself up for a let-down. Dickens never intended for his writing to become musical productions. If you watched it for the spirit of the holiday season, you were left dancing and singing long after you turned off the television. My family can't wait until it comes out on DVD! Like the lyrics repeatedly rang out - "and God bless us everyone!"
