For the past few years, director Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") has strictly made films created through motion capture computer animation. He started with 2004's "The Polar Express," which was an extended adaptation of a well-known picture book. While it lacked a strong storyline, the animation was beautiful and there were enough suspenseful moments to keep me engaged.

Next, Zemeckis released "Beowulf" in 2007. In this computer-generated world, he could make any shot from any point of view, leading to action scenes never before conceived in a motion picture.

Now, Zemeckis has put his own spin on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Unfortunately, this movie is not nearly as engaging as his previous two. The performances are great and the animation is high quality, but there have been so many "A Christmas Carol" movies that this movie is engulfed with a "been-there-done-that" effect.

The story is always the same. A man named Scrooge is grouchy and mean to everyone around him. One night, three ghosts visit him. They show him his past, present and future. He wakes up from his "dream," learns his lesson and loves Christmas. The end.

It does not matter if the various movie versions have muppets or if they star Bill Murray as a Christmas-hating TV executive, the plot line always remains the same.

In TV interviews, Zemeckis said he made this movie because it is such a beloved story and the state-of-the-art technology could finally do justice to Dickens's novel.

While I certainly agree that the animation does add a little excitement, particularly when Scrooge is shot up into the sky like a rocket, I did not feel these moments added to the overall plot. As soon as Scrooge encounters the first ghost, I was ready for the movie to be resolved and for Scrooge to run out of his bedroom dancing around town.

Familiar plot aside, there were aspects that really impressed me. First, this is easily Jim Carrey's best role, or best roles I should say, since "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." He plays Scrooge and all three ghosts. The way he changes his voice to accommodate each of his characters is simply amazing. I was expecting him to be good, because even in Carrey's bad films he is always the high point, but here, he is magical. He makes Scrooge devilishly menacing in a crotchety Grandpa sort of way and makes his voice almost unrecognizable when he voices the ghosts. Gary Oldman, who in my opinion is one of the greatest character actors ever, also does a fantastic job. The man is such a chameleon that I didn't even know he voiced Marley and Tiny Tim. I only recognized him as Bob Cratchit because the character was modeled from his face. The performances as a whole were so strong here, it is a shame they were not in a better film.

"A Christmas Carol" certainly is not a bad film. It is enjoyable from start to finish and the performances really help carry it along. However, this is essentially a 3-D animated version of a movie that has been done countless times before.

So unless you love the story or you have never seen any adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," I advise saving your $10 and waiting for a movie truly worth seeing.