By Roger Moore

The Orlando Sentinel

The new Disney "A Christmas Carol" is another epic achievement in motion-capture animation, advancing the art form closer to photo-realism than "The Polar Express" or "Beowulf."

But like those earlier films, and certainly to a greater degree given the pathos, warmth and wit of the story, "A Christmas Carol" lacks and needs -- desperately -- that human touch.

Cinematic literalist Robert Zemeckis gives us Dickens straight, no chaser. He grasps the tone of the Charles Dickens novel (darker than most film versions). He lays out the familiar story beats and even more familiar touchstone lines.

But as Jim Carrey slings an English accent for Scrooge, an Irish one for the Ghost of Christmas Past and a vague Scots one for his Ghost of Christmas Present, as his skinnier, more curmudgeonly digital self does little Scrooge dances and collapses into grief, I wanted to see the real Jim Carrey perform that.

And I really missed having the great and real Gary Oldman, as Bob Cratchit, registering grief at Tiny Tim's fate, and heartfelt shock at Mr. Scrooge's conversion.

What Zemeckis delivers is a spooky "Christmas Carol," aptly released just a week after Halloween.

The laughs are few and very far between. Carrey's Ghost of Christmas Past is a candle and the animated version of the actor goofs around with the idea of "flickering." But that begs the question -- "Why cast Jim Carrey if you're not going to get him to be funny?" Turning him into Bacchus (the standard way of interpreting Christmas Present) and making him laugh and laugh is no substitute for the playfulness each of those roles allows.

The digital avatars for Carrey, Oldman (Bob Cratchit), Colin Firth (as Scrooge's nephew Fred) and Robin Wright Penn (as Fan and Belle) aren't particularly flattering to the actors, who are recognizable but given Dickensian features.

But by Fezziwig, that story still works and tugs at the heart. It would even if each ghost's visit weren't scored with overly-suitable Christmas carols.

The chilling moments are many, as this gorgeous-looking "Christmas Carol" embraces, better than most, the novel's cautionary and always timely message. When it comes to money, love and compassion, stinginess is no virtue. You simply cannot take any of them with you.

'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'

* Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

* Rating: PG for scary sequences and images.