But, hey, Zemeckis had to do something to keep the kiddies awake. Another problem with the new "Carol" is that it is infernally dark and grotesque. Granted, this is a ghost story, but sheesh.

While we all know the story backwards, and this is no less than the 21st screen adaptation of the story, A Christmas Carol still feels fresh thanks to Robert Zemeckis's terrific direction.

Based on the Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure TV special, the app follows the Latina heroine as she travels through time to teach the mischievous fox Swiper all about the spirit of Christmas.

Mickey's Christmas Carol is presented in 1.33:1 full frame. The encode here is a little gritty in spots, showing some compression grain likely due to the cramped single-layer presentation.

The rather lovely "Muppet Christmas Carol" comes to DVD with some new extra features that are both quite fun and informative on a technically complex production. Picture If you're worried about ...

The comedian — whose new DVD, "The Carol Burnett Show: Christmas With Carol" (StarVista), offers holiday episodes of her classic variety show — cut her teeth doing early television in New York.

While A Christmas Carol: The Musical sounds very good on both its 2.0 and 5.1 tracks, I didn't feel that the surround capabilities of DVD were used to their full capability.