In "Disney's A Christmas Carol," Robert Zemeckis takes on what many fans call the greatest holiday tale ever written.

He also dares challenge the two best movies ever made of Charles Dickens' classic: the 1938 version starring Reginald Owen and the 1951 remake featuring Alastair Sim.

That alone would have inspired the willies in most directors.

Not in Zemeckis.

From start to finish, Zemeckis remains faithful to the toasty Victorian charms of Dickens' 1843 novella. The dialogue. The characters. The ghostly, time-travelling scan of Ebenezer Scrooge's sorry existence.

Zemeckis' 21st-century adaptation is all that Dickens imagined.

But, the instant this film opens and the hunched, stick-man Scrooge grabs the coins off his dead partner's eyes, we know that Zemeckis, not Dickens, is running this show.

Thanks to remarkable 3D effects and the motion-capture film technology Zemeckis has employed since "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express," Dickens' cozy old chestnut comes to life with unearthly reality.

The lavish production also gets a darker, more ominous spin.

Before Scrooge (voiced by Jim Carrey) can spit out a surly "Bah humbug," Zemeckis whips us through a windswept tour of London's snowy streets. The shopkeepers, horse-drawn carriages and locals rich and poor give the opening of this yuletide revamp a vibrant, pulsing heart.

The bold effects are so hypnotic, you'll almost smell the snow Scrooge trounces as he lurks off to his dark, barren lodgings -- and the creepiest greeting from Marley's ghost ever brought to film.

Marley's grimacing, chain-rattling figure is so frightful, Scrooge and audiences recoil in sheer terror as the spectre announces the ghostly visits that await him.

Just like clockwork, Zemeckis' high-tech spooks storm Scrooge's candlelit room and his conscience to brilliant effect.

Jim Carrey gets real with Scrooge

The Ghost of Christmas Past appears as the disembodied head of a flame, flickering his words at the disbelieving Scrooge with an eerie, echoing whoosh.

The towering, robust Ghost of Christmas Present calls on Scrooge cloaked in St. Nick furs and holly. But, when the specter's time is up on Earth, his flesh and bones turn to dust with speedy, staggering vivacity.

It's a powerful sight and Zemeckis' reminder to young and old that no one escapes death's icy touch, not even in this Disney-fied world.

The final spectre, the Ghost of Christmas Future, slinks before Scrooge in big, shadowy, ominous silence.

Think of the vampire Count Orlok and his iconic shadow creeping up the walls in 1922's "Nosferatu." That's the kind of chilly magic Zemeckis employs to scare the crap out Scrooge before it's too late.

Yet, for all their paranormal majesty, the real star of Zemeckis' show is still Scrooge.

Carrey's Scrooge is every bit a scolding, sharp-tongued stinker. He also views all of humanity, including his nephew (Colin Firth) and employee Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman), with the eyes of irked cobra.

What makes Carrey's portrayal so wonderful is that you don't even know he is there.

Carrey ditches all the crazy vocal gymnastics that made him a Hollywood star. The strategy is a wise one, leaving all our attentions to focus on this lonely old misanthrope and the rediscovery of his heart.

Even if Tiny Tim isn't given much time here (the film's only fault), "Disney's A Christmas Carol" is a tale of redemption that's tough to beat.

It's festive. It's filled with heart. And thanks to Zemeckis' daring, this tale of yore catapults into realms of fancy that would have blown Dickens' mind.

Three and a half stars out of four