Will somebody please stop Robert Zemeckis?!

I just saw the trailer for the upcoming performance capture feature, A Christmas Carol. I had the same reaction to this trailer that I did when I watched The Polar Express and Beowulf. Why can’t Robert Zemeckis just make a live action movie?

It’s sad to watch the great director of such classics as Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Forrest Gump lose his way. I know Zemeckis wants to change cinema and be an innovator of something new, but this is just not working.

The sad part is that The Polar Express and Beowulf are really good films. It’s the performance capture/crapture technique that, for me, makes them forgettable. I can’t stand looking at the dead eyes of these performance crapture actors. They remind me of the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I really wanted to love The Polar Express and Beowulf. I really tried. I just could not get close to them. If Beowulf were an actual live action film, imagine how much money it really could have made.

Here’s an idea. Since the actors have to actually be present in order to accomplish this performance capture technique; why can’t Zemeckis -- I don’t know, actually make a movie while he’s at it?

Watching the trailer for Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol, I couldn't help but imagine how brilliant Jim Carrey would have been in a live action version of this story. He was born to play the part of Scrooge. He could have played multiple roles, like Eddie Murphy did in The Nutty Professor.

Sadly, A Christmas Carol will probably make half a billion dollars this holiday season, and we will be subjected to future Zemeckis performance crapture films. But, then again, most holiday themed family films do very well anyway.

I’m sure if I had some kids, I’d be the first in line to see A Christmas Carol. Thankfully, I don’t. I don’t know about you, but if I am going to be entertained this holiday season by an animated adaptation of the Dickens' classic, I am going to pop in the DVD of the immortal Mickey’s Christmas Carol.