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The animation is nice and festive even if it sometimes feels like a Hershey chocolate commercial. The voice acting and singing were well done, however I think Luke Evan's singing voice is more suitable for Cratchit or Fred (named Harry for some reason). It's not elderly sounding and too theatrical.

There are too many flashy visuals and it shies away from the heavy moments lacking any substance that made the original a classic. It can never let a moment just play out naturally because they think they'll lose the interest of little kids watching. The shallowness makes me think it's trying too much to be like a modern Disney production

A personal gripe of mine for many adaptations of A Christmas Carol is if they make the ghosts too goofy. This version is no exception. Even Mickeys Christmas Carol had more dignity than these ghosts.

This skips over some very important lines and themes from the book. You never get a sense of oppression or poverty from the characters surrounding Scrooge. No one even seems to be intimidated by him. It never gives us a good reason to hate him either since it skips over a lot of the nasty words that Dickens so masterfully wrote.

And the pandering dialogue... I can't deal with it.

This is essentially a stoner teen comedy on the surface, but Dazed and Confused has a lot more to offer than just teens doing dumb things like most other comedies of this nature.

It's charming, raunchy, heartfelt, and it's very funny.

Despite focusing on several characters at once, the film is good at balancing out each of their stories and making them relatable. There are certain characters that are more one-dimensional, like some of the bullies, but they don't overstay their welcome and they get a good amount of laughs as well.

The seniors, juniors, and even middle school kids are all going through major changes in their lives. These are relatable dilemmas that don't feel tagged-on or overly sentimental. They let it play out naturally and I really appreciate this film for handling it in a realistic, albeit mostly humorous way.

I think that not having Led Zeppelin's Dazed and Confused play at the end of the film was a missed opportunity, but that's only a nitpick. This movie is still great!

The main couple make a choice to not celebrate Christmas and it's meant with relentless hostility. It doesn't help that they are jerks to pretty much everyone. So, you'd think that it's the neighbors we're supposed to be rooting for. But instead, they harass the main characters and use peer pressure to get what they want from them.

Here's the thing: traditions, especially during the holidays, are wonderful and they can bring people together. But that is not the core value of why we celebrate during this time of year.

The thing is: sometimes people obsess over things that aren't that important or try something new when they probably should have left good enough alone. This movie could have easily taken a funny, satirical approach to why traditions don't always work. But instead, it says "force people into your own traditions, even when they don't want it."

It's a mean, lazy, and sometimes uncomfortable holiday film that is guaranteed to put me in bad mood.