I have to admit that I was planning on being outraged by A Christmas Carol. I assumed that Jim Carrey, the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts, would hijack the film and turn it into an embarrassingly forgettable comedy. I had a devastating rant planned, complete with a military-grade arsenal of Fun with Dick and Jane jokes just begging to be deployed. Because Jim Carrey isn’t funny anymore. What was his last funny movie? Bruce Almighty, in 2003? No, that wasn’t funny at all. Seeing it made me realize that just because everyone else thinks Jim Carrey is funny, it doesn’t mean I have to.

When I talk trash about Carrey to my friends, the response is always, “You’re an idiot — what about Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura?” Yes, they were funny, but the former was released in 1994, and the latter in 1996. Now look at Carrey’s IMDB page, and prepare to be astounded. Is there a single good comedy since Ace Ventura (or, if I’m being generous, since Liar Liar in 1997), or just a good movie at all since 1998’s The Truman Show? Look at the list — you tell me. Did anyone like Yes Man? No, man! How about Horton Hears a Who? No, Horton couldn’t hear the Whos over the groans of the audience. Me, Myself & Irene and The Majestic? Dumb and dumber. I’m pretty sure the title of The Number 23 refers to the number of people who actually bought a ticket to go see it, none of whom stayed until the end. For all we know, the last 10 minutes are just Carrey walking around in a toga humping random trees and cars while doing an over-the-top Jack Nicholson impression. We would be none the wiser.

Some people liked How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but it got a 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and although a few people loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it was hardly a hit, and wasn’t really a comedy. That is over a decade without an indisputably good movie, and yet Carrey is still considered an A-List actor. I don’t get it. Is there some kind of shadowy international conspiracy going on here? Doesn’t Richard Roeper look suspiciously similar to Carrey’s buddy Jeff Bridges?

Unfortunately, however, I can’t go on my Jim Carrey rant, because Carrey wasn’t given the opportunity to anger me. A Christmas Carol, writer and director Robert Zemeckis’ (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express) 3-D, computer-animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famed Christmas tale, focused much more on stunning the audience with visual imagery than on its relatively minimal dialogue, denying Carrey any of the chances to insert his tired shtick.

I imagine the film would’ve turned out similarly if Dickens himself were the director. A Christmas Carol sticks loyally to the plot of Dickens’ story, and more importantly to its feel. Finally, someone realized that not every movie made for children has to be funny. If you think about it, even the ones masquerading as more adult-oriented dramas are full of light-hearted moments intended to get laughs, such as Up and Wall-E. And realistically, much of the humor in children’s movies is meant for the parents anyway, from the stoner sea anenome in Finding Nemo to the thinly-veiled sexual allusions in Lilo and Stitch.

A Christmas Carol is most noteworthy because of its visual beauty. I had never seen a movie in 3-D before, and I was expecting it to be gimmicky and distracting. But I was blown away. It was awesome. The opening sequence, in which the audience is whisked through the streets of old-timey London, was downright epic. Seeing snow in 3-D is not to be missed. The entire movie had a great visual style to it, and the physical appearances of the ghosts were very well thought-out, especially the Ghost of Christmas Present.

And I really can’t complain about Carrey’s performance. He put on a convincing British accent without overdoing it, and either by choice or by force was only able to insert one or two purposefully humorous lines as Scrooge. And he did a pretty good job voicing the ghosts. It didn’t sound anything like him. Actually, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure they just got some random British guy to do it all, and gave Carrey a few sacks of gold bullion to keep quiet.

But, the film definitely has its downsides. This wouldn’t be a Disney movie unless it had a ridiculously out-of-place extreme sports sequence, and A Christmas Carol doesn’t disappoint, giving viewers a gratuitously long shot of Scrooge using an icicle as a skateboard. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. Also, it seemed to be a little too scary for its target audience. There were two or three times when the mother sitting a few seats away had to assure her 7 or 8-year-old son that everything was going to be okay.

Overall, it was a top-notch film. I may have liked it so much because I had such low expectations coming in, and because it was my first 3-D cinema experience. Whatever it was, I was pleased. If you read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and liked it, or if you just want to see a good movie, don’t hesitate to see this. It is the rare film adaptation that would make the original author proud.