The film is set in Daggerhorn, a picturesque medieval village complete with rough-hewn wooden houses and a town square covered in sand and complete with strange totems intended to ward off the evil that is The Wolf. It never looks like anything other than an elaborate sound stage, however, and even in the midst of snowfall, the inhabitants continue to be dressed in lightweight clothes and dancing shoes. Boots? Coats? Apparently they weren't invented yet.

The story centers around the lovely Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), who has an obvious Twilight-like choice to make between her long-time heartthrob Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) and Henry (Max Irons), the blacksmith's son to whom she has been promised. Surprise! Peter and Henry don't like each other. Surprise! Peter (as in "Peter and the Wolf", get it?) might be the werewolf and is the bad boy orphan of the village, more apt to break the rules than follow them. Henry, by contrast, is a somewhat meek boy who bemoans his lack of courage in the face of adversity.

Once every twelve years a blood moon appears and during that time, the mysterious werewolf's bites turn its victims into werewolves, rather than just killing them. Of course, the werewolf has to restrain its murderous rage and not eviscerate these same victims, but... who in the village could be the werewolf?  Grandma, living outside the village in her cute little A-frame?  Peter, the bad boy?  Henry?  Valerie herself?

If I were a sixteen year old girl, I might find this load of nonsense mildly engaging due to the inclusion of big-eyed Amanda Seyfried and the handsome Shiloh Fernandez (who looks remarkably like Edward (Robert Pattinson) from Twilight) and Max Irons, but none of them actually act, the dialog is campy and self-conscious and there are way too few scares for what's billed as a sort of teen horror film. I don't know if I'd even recommend you watching this on cable, it's that bad. It's one of the few films I've seen this year that just begs for a Mystery Science Theater 3000 commentary track. 'nuf said.

The 23rd Psalm of the Bible, in case you haven't memorized the entire Old Testament, goes like this: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...

The 23rd Psalm is also the inspiration for the dark, moody film The Book of Eli, and though it takes quite a while to move beyond its Mad Max roots and get into the main storyline, it is ultimately a dark, modern religious parable.

Denzel Washington is the main character, Eli, and he's spent thirty years slowly walking through a vast American wasteland, carrying the precious Book of Eli, a mysterious leather-clad tome that he dutifully reads every day and hides from anyone else who might see it. He walks into a cliché post-apocalyptic bar full of ruffians owned by scroungy tough guy Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who has spent years questing for The Book. And so begins the battle of good and evil that is at the heart of the film.

The premise is interesting and as a parable, a story told in broad sweeping strokes, The Book of Eli is reasonably satisfying, but it's also deeply flawed with poor pacing, unceasingly gloomy cinematography and surprisingly poor acting on the part of just about everyone in the cast. It's the cinematographic equivalent of hard Christian rock, awkwardly balanced between the religious message and the desire to be an aggressive post-apocalyptic film. It doesn't quite succeed on either front.

This is also the starting point for the lackluster but amusing Planet 51, starring the voice talents of Dwayne Johnson (as NASA captain Charles Baker), Justin Long (as the boy Lem), Jessica Biel (as Neera), Gary Oldman (General Grawl) and John Cleese (as dorky Professor Kipple).  It seems NASA has mastered galactic flight and has sent the dashing Charles Baker across the universe to explore an uninhabited, but Earth-like planet.

Later we find he's following the Wall-E inspired "Rover" probe, which vanished once it landed on the planet, but at the beginning the film starts by showing us an idyllic suburban small town a la Hill Valley in Back to the Future. The setting is mostly the 1950's (hence the "51" in Planet 51, presumably, because it's hard to imagine a stable solar system with over fifty planets) though there's a bit of 60's hippie bleedover, including a VW van covered in peace slogans and the long-haired teen rebel Glar (Alan Marriott).

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic Christmas tale, where he's the stingiest, most unhappy man in Victorian London, responding to cheery "Merry Christmas" wishes with "bah, humbug". As voiced (and acted) by Jim Carrey, he's a suitably sour person, an accountant who has long since given up on humanity and instead prefers the tangible benefits of gold and money.

The look of the film is a visually stunning but surprisingly flat (even in 3D), and it utilizes the same animated motion capture of live action that was first unveiled in the awkward and unsuccessful Polar Express, and unengaging Beowulf, both also directed by Zemeckis. A tip to you, Mr. Zemeckis: motion capture isn't really working. You're getting caught up in the technology and the results continue to be unpleasantly lifeless.

More to the point, though, there aren't just a minute or two of terrifying imagery in A Christmas Carol as you transition from one scene to another, there are sustained scenes where the imagery is more suitable for Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell than a Disney animated feature being released for Christmastime.  If you have kids, you'll definitely want to skip this one.