Director Ti West, a filmmaker known for his horror features such as The Innkeepers, X, Pearl, and Maxxine, has been tasked with adapting Charles Dickens’s story, A Christmas Carol. As usual, the question is: do we need yet another adaptation of this story? The answer is no, not at all. Yet, here we are with another telling of the iconic Christmas story. The result is a solid film that leans into the story’s more horrific aspects while still maintaining its moral message. That said, West and his casting director could have cast a better actor to portray the titular character, as Johnny Depp seems to have fallen into a state where he plays a character without real depth and relies on idiosyncrasies.

For those not familiar with the story, A Christmas Carol tells the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge (Depp), a grumpy, penny-pinching businessman who seems to have no sympathy for anyone struggling financially. On Christmas Eve, as he tries to sleep, three ghosts visit him and help him reflect on his past, present, and potential future if he remains intent on his attitudes toward the lives of others and himself.

Obviously, this is a story that cannot be told any other way. Screenwriter Nathaniel Halpern maintains the integrity of Dickens’ material, but West and his team emphasize the more frightening elements of Scrooge’s journey. The result is a movie that comes across as a Tim Burton knock-off. The imagery, as well as Tyler Bates’ score, which sounds eerily like Danny Elfman’s music, gives the impression that the studio demanded a Burtonesque-style movie. While that style mostly works well enough, the adaptation doesn’t reflect any genuinely original creativity for West and his crew. It just seems like the director was hired to do a specific job, and not deliver anything that resembles his own work.

To this movie’s credit, Ebenezer has a strong cast who perform well in their roles. The film stars Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, and others who do an adequate job as their characters. Johnny Depp is fine, but honestly, the filmmakers could have cast someone better to portray the main character. Depp seems to rely on his quirky tendencies and comes across as yet another cartoonish character rather than a real person.

There are so many other adaptations of A Christmas Carol that are much better, and this latest one seems like a weak attempt to cash in on an iconic story. As fine as this movie is, I don’t really recommend Ebenezer. While it isn’t a horrible movie, several better versions of the story are available for holiday enjoyment.