Movies

Go behind the scenes as the cast discuss Johnny Depp’s transformation into Ebenezer
Featurette: Paramount Pictures

Ebenezer
Directed by Ti West
Rated PG-13
Scrooged 13 November 2026
#EbenezerMovie

At least Ebenezer has more to offer than a lump of coal.

The Profile

If Simon Sinek, the popular career and life coach, author of books, speaker of podcasts and poster of LinkedIn, were to assist that crotchety, “pickled old skin flint” and lender of money known to neighbors, foes and customers near and afar as Ebenezer Scrooge, he’d advise him (as he has so many others) to first do one thing: “Find your why.”

To which, no doubt, Scrooge (nobody calls him by his first name; his last name is now synonymous with “cranky” and “miserly”), would say, “Find my what? My ‘why’? What the devil is a ‘why’? Who are you, you scrat? When did you get here and from where did you come? BAH HUMBUG!”

The momentous events that happened way back in 1836-1843 and so meticulously documented by Charles Dickens are certainly relevant today, in 2026. Of particular interest is that fateful Christmas Eve of 1843 when nasty ol’ Scrooge encountered four ghosts. The first, Jacob Marley, his business partner of 21 years, who died seven years prior, warns Ebenezer (we’ll be kind and call him properly by his forename going forward, because, well… you know) to let the next three ghosts in and follow their lead. If he does, he can avoid the horrible fate that befell Marley (yeah, surname references only for him). He’s doomed to be eternally shackled to the chains and weights he forged during his own not-so-wonderful life.

And so it is Ebenezer encounters three ghosts – representing Christmases Past, Present and Future – and one really big question: Why?

Ebenezer – the latest in a fairly consistent stream of interpretations, reimaginings and what-have-you – dutifully retells Charles Dickens’ classic story, this time supported by some nifty CGI and fine performances from a great cast.

But it doesn’t add much new; it doesn’t feel fresh. More troubling, it doesn’t pack much punch.

So, the question remains: Why?

Why make this remake this way?

The Horror

From a jaded point of view, Ebenezer is less about the remarkable spiritual transformation of a money lender to a money giver and is more about the reinvention of Johnny Depp (in the title role) as he seeks to rehabilitate his career following a dark downturn involving his torrid, nasty relationship with Amber Heard. Depp’s always been a bad boy and he’s great at portraying them on the screen. As for the “rehabilitated” Ebenezer, well, at least he’s not too cringy.

There seem to be tonal conflicts of interests within the movie. Director Ti West is best known for his X horror trilogy starring Mia Goth. Watching Ebenezer, there’s a haunting feeling he’d really like to turn this ghostly story into a full-tilt horror show.

There are some cool visual effects to support that notion. The spine shows through on the Ghost of Christmas Past (Andrea Riseborough). There are two children creepily (and eerily, effectively) jailed behind the ribs of the Ghost of Christmas Present (Tramell Tillman). Additionally, Christmas Present is wrapped in ivy and vegetation; he’s drying as he dies. And Ian McKellen looks O so scary both as the living Jacob Marley and his tortured ghost. There’s also an interesting scene in which a crow flies out of ghostly Ebenezer’s mouth.

Those visuals are well done and pack some power. They lend to that sensation West really wanted to go hard core on the horror, but mightier interests reigned him in and those forces deliver a tone that too often feels more like a ride through Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

If left to Ti, it’d be terrifying.

And that’d be something to run out and see.

Want to top it off with something even better? Ditch the CGI and make the effects practical. Make it real.

Kudos for the on-location exteriors. But freeze those Shadowbox soundstages. Make Depp’s breath frigid; transform CGI from Computer-Generated Imagery into Carbon-Generated Ice.

The Staves

Those visual flourishes start early, with the very first frames, as the famous Paramount mountain logo shifts into the topper of a London streetlamp blazing with a warm flame. It’s a great Hollywood tradition with filmmakers finding clever ways to make that transition through the decades. (In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, for example, it was a mountain on a gong in Club Obi-Wan.)

As Shakespeare so wisely advised in Hamlet, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

And yet that’s Ebenezer’s sweet spot. He lends money and he’s relentless in getting it back.

So, what to do? What to do?

Nathaniel Halpern’s screenplay is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dickens’ classic, timeless novella A Christmas Carol (buffered by some of the lore subsequently attached to it). It even follows the old-school formatting of “staves” with a title card announcing even new verse (or chapter). It’s a wholly unnecessary touch, but it’s apparently an attempt at some sort of authenticity and tone setting.

That said, the inclusion of a tender performance of Silent Night by Ebenezer’s one true love, Belle (Ellie Bamber) is an effective moment of classic Christmas sentiments that is much appreciated.

As is the wealth of talent on display from the rest of the cast, including Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit and Sam Claflin as Ebenezer’s nephew, Fred.

The Future

Maybe it was a mistake to keep this story in its original time period. Even the marketing materials poke fun at the situation and use the modern version of being “ghosted” in social and professional settings to play off Ebenezer being ghosted three (actually four) times in one night.

There was an opportunity here to tell this story in this classic fashion but updated to encompass more of today’s society, lifestyles, technology and issues.

The debtor’s prison is low-hanging fruit for the affordability challenges that have headlined this year’s midterm elections.

Those themes of the daily grind and not just corporate loyalty but all-out corporate allegiance, of lost identity and solitude are every bit as relevant today. But it would’ve been nice to bring it all home with more power. Especially consider the rants of the world’s first trillionaire in the modern era.

The encroachment of AI into everyday work and thought (and misinformation). Could that’ve been refashioned as those ghosts?

The solitude of the outcast young Ebenezer and his rescue by his sister to bring him back into the family fold, which is to say with an abusive, drunken father and in a motherless household. Could that be tied to social media and mobile devices?

There are so many possibilities to keep the traditions and values of Dickens alive and well today.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.

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