Joyless, bland, and boring—Ebenezer earns no Christmas redemption for story or star
Ebenezer. // Courtesy Paramount Pictures
Johnny Depp has returned to Hollywood in Ebenezer, a remake of A Christmas Carol. It has been eight years since we’ve seen this actor on our screens, and it’s clear he’s attempting to get back in the public’s good graces.
If you have somehow never heard this story before, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a story about generosity, forgiveness, and the Christmas spirit. Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old man, who hoards his wealth and looks down on the poor, sick, and anyone with a “bad” work ethic. On Christmas Eve, he is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, who take him on a journey through time and show him the transformative power of compassion. When he wakes on Christmas morning, he realizes the error of his ways, and he vows to spend the rest of his life to be more charitable and filled with holiday cheer.
It’s a classic for a reason; we can always use the reminder to be kinder to our neighbors, especially during the harder and colder months. It’s why the story has been remade time and time again over the years. Unfortunately, Ti West’s 2026 adaptation does little to add to the story.
The official trailer for the movie boasts, “Think you know his story? Think again.”
However, Ebenezer is beat for beat what we have seen before. In the beginning, Scrooge is a curmudgeon. In the middle, he is visited by ghosts. In the end, he is regretful of the way he’s acted. If you have seen any other iteration of A Christmas Carol, you’ve pretty much already seen this movie.
The only real addition to the tale is the aesthetic West utilizes, harkening to his background of indie horror films. The director is known for the hit horror trilogy of X, Pearl, and MaXXXine. He paints 1800s London in a gloomy and Gothic light, and attempts to weave in jump scares with the ghosts that follow Scrooge.
However, these spirits severely lack in visual quality on the big screen. The ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s dead business partner (Ian McKellen), is a weird CGI creation, where the head does not look like it belongs to the body. His jaw hangs unnaturally open, but his mouth is just a black hole with no depth or dimension. The rest of the apparitions that follow Scrooge resemble what you might see in the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney.
Tramell Tillman was a standout in his role as the ghost of Christmas Present. His booming voice was one of the only that actually shut Scrooge up. The spirit also had a fascinating arc in his appearance, his skin cracking and resembling tree bark towards the end of their visit. The creepiest sequence of the whole movie was when he revealed the children named Ignorance and Want–they weren’t just hiding under his coat, but fully imprisoned inside of his ribcage. Of course, the illusion shattered once they broke through the bones and began chasing Scrooge, as they once again looked like holograms at an amusement park.
Depp’s performance was the least interesting part of it all.
He wears a prosthetic nose like Danny DeVito’s Penguin in Batman Returns, and he just blunders around, making silly faces and noises. He falls out of bed and uses “Humbug!” as a punchline.
He voices exactly what is happening in the scene and how he feels about it instead of using any physicality to express it. It’s a toned-down version of Captain Jack Sparrow, a role that skyrocketed him into the cultural zeitgeist.
Depp’s Scrooge shouts, “Allow me my redemption!” at the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He screams, “I’m a changed man!” as he falls into his own grave with dirt shoveled on top of him.
It’s clear to me what this movie is trying to do.
This is Depp’s first major studio project following the high-profile court case with his ex-wife, Amber Heard, in 2022. Despite winning the case, thousands of people can no longer stomach supporting the former star. This is both Depp’s and Hollywood’s attempt to reintroduce the actor we used to love, framing it within Scrooge’s own story of redemption and forgiveness.
Will Depp follow in his character’s footsteps and atone for his wrongdoings? Has he himself been visited by ghosts and shown what went wrong? We may never know.
What I do know is that there are better interpretations of this Christmas story. Michael Caine did a better showing of Scrooge with his felted co-stars in 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol. Kansas City Repertory Theatre will have live theatrical performances of the tale until December 24th at the Spencer Theatre. With feelings for the main actor aside, Ebenezer is uninventive and just plain boring. It’s a safe cash grab for the holiday season, shoehorning Depp’s own redemption arc into the masses.
