Traditionally Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving with Santa bringing up the rear of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; but not anymore. A mere six days after Halloween, the season kicked off with Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” hitting theaters.There have been dozens of adaptations of Charles Dickens’ famous tale, and aside from “The Wizard of Oz,” it may be the best-known story in the world. Such familiarity demands that a new adaptation bring something unique to the table. Rather than re-imagine the story or approach it from a new angle, this version strives to set itself apart by using motion capture technology as well as 3-D effects. “Carol” is directed by Robert Zemeckis, the director of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and “Forrest Gump.”

The motion capture technique is the same Zemeckis employed to bring “The Polar Express” and “Beowulf” to the screen, and his efforts improve with each outing. The characters have become more refined and the zombie-eyed look is nearly gone this time, but there is still an eeriness to it all. Perhaps the theory that humans will be repulsed when adaptations look too lifelike still holds true.

Scrooge looks fantastic — he is a fully realized character who feels like a genuine performance — but none of the other characters look nearly as good.The most challenging part when it comes to tackling “A Christmas Carol” is selling Scrooge’s transformation. Unfortunately, Jim Carrey can’t match the best of his predecessors: Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart and Bill Murray. Carrey’s Scrooge appears to transform not to celebrate the human spirit or good will towards men, but merely out of want of heaven and fear of hell. Tiny Tim, one of the main reasons Scrooge traditionally changes his ways, is given hardly any screen time and his famous line is said not once but twice. The real kicker is that this sentiment makes up all of his dialogue. He doesn’t have a single other thing to say.Why bring out a story that has been done to death? Zemeckis adds nothing new to it, save for some slightly cumbersome chase sequences.

The 3-D effects and motion capture are nothing but new wrapping paper that hides the fact that he’s regifting us a story we know better than the back of our hands. As a technical exercise it’s visually arresting and interesting enough, but as a compelling narrative it’s a failure of epic proportions. If these motion capture films prove anything it’s that Zemeckis, like George Lucas before him, has lost his mind in the depths of a hard drive, putting visual splendor over narrative intelligence.Ultimately, “A Christmas Carol” commits the biggest cinematic sin of all — it’s boring. Not overly ambitious and not a missed opportunity, it feels as though it is destined to sit on the shelf at Wal-Mart for many Christmases to come, passed over for better versions of the same tale, stewing in its own mediocrity, forgotten like the many attempts that came before it. On the otherhand the special effects are just spectacular.