Richard Fortner

Brings to mind the the old musicals like Oliver. Good songs, good cast, good choreography...I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of Kelsey Grammar's silly "mean" face. Eyes squinty and a super frown. Like a face a child would make to imitate a mean person. So bad I almost went to 3 stars, but the musical numbers were so good.

Cumberbatch working so hard to do an American accent and do a "funny" voice he forgot to create a character. The reason I gave 3 stars instead of one was the beautiful art direction. Fun to look at.

I had high hopes when I saw so much homage paid to the original in the first few minutes, complete with a Dr. Loomis fledging out the original's ending to start the movie! Then it quickly lost it's way with too many characters and trying to create a morality message about mob mentality. It's better than some of the sequels, but I guess nothing will ever live up to the original. And apparently no one will ever be able to get a sequel right.

Good production values and acting with an interesting storyline and mix of characters from different Dickens novels. I started to grow weary of the pace. A lot repeated and similar situations and exchanges between characters while the main story barely moves.