The Man Who Invented Christmas

This is the fictional story of how the great British novelist Charles Dickens came to write his classic tale that many hold responsible for making Christmas one our most popular holidays. When we first catch sight of Dickens (Dan Stevens) he is touring America at the height of his fame. When he returns to London, the success entices him to buy a big town house which he starts to furnish rather extravagantly.�

Now having to run his large household, matters start getting very dicey for him when his next three books are flops and the money starts to dry up.� Desperate for a new idea for his next novel he picks up on a bedtime story that his new house maid is reading to his young children. This plants the seeds for what will eventually become his classic "Christmas Carol."

His publishers, however, do not share his enthusiasm when he recounts the outline of the bare bones of the plot, so an exasperated Dickens storms out of their office declaring he will finance the project himself. It is not just the expense that is the obstacle, but also the fact that they are only a few weeks away from Christmas.

Director�Bharat Nalluri,�working from screenplay by�Susan Coyne�(which she adapted from�Les Standiford's book), shows Dickens' imagination mixing the magical element of the story as the characters literally come alive. The odd thing is that as he still seems to have some sort of writers block, the ideas don't flow to him, but come in a series of 'aha' moments that are much more Hollywood than Victorian.

It's no secret that not only does the struggling author overcome all the obstacles but the book gets published on time and becomes an instant best-seller that has not waned to this day.

This earnest, but very lightweight, movie will no doubt be a great crowd pleaser during the Christmas season when everyone is in good spirits and wants a happy ending. It has an excellent cast, most of whom, like Simon Callow and Miriam Margolyes, have very little to do, and the one real star turn is Christopher Plummer who plays an excellent Scrooge. Dan Stevens, fresh off "Downton Abbey," however, was woefully unconvincing as the great man of letters himself and one of the reasons why at 104 minutes this overly long movie seems to drag. And this is not a case of simply calling Humbug!