A Christmas Carol: Difference Between Muppets and Original

What changes to Dicken’s novel, A Christmas Carol were made in the movie, ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol?’
Explain why you think these changes were made and how effective they were?

In the movie ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ many changes were made to the original version of Dickens’ novel ‘A Christmas Carol’. The changes were made to help a younger audience understand and enjoy the novel, which they may not have even attempted to read. “The Muppet Christmas Carol” is different from the book because it has music and songs, it also has many comical moments and some characters have been added to the story in the movie.

Throughout the movie there is singing and dancing by the Muppet characters. The songs and dances make the movie more entertaining to a younger audience. The words of the songs are all in very simple everyday language and this helps to tell the story in a way that younger people will understand. The writers of the movie also have different characters sing to show the true nature of the particular character and bring about changes in other characters. In the movie at the Christmas dinner ‘Tiny Tim’ sings about how grateful he is for his own life even though he is sick, and also grateful for his loving family. As Scrooge watches the family and listens to the song he is very moved and realises the importance of family and kindness to other people. Therefore including music in the movie is a very important because it adds understanding and emotion to the story.

The movie also has many funny scenes, which are not part of Dickens’ novel. These comical moments make the story fun and light hearted in contrast with the seriousness of the ghosts in the story. The humour captures a young audience and keeps the story interesting and fun. Like the scenes with ‘Rizzo the Rat’ in which he falls through the chimney and lands on the Crachit’s Christmas goose while it’s cooking on the spit and dances around with burnt feet or when he is afraid to jump down from the...