A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Seriously, it is the job of the reviewer to point out the horrific and the extraordinary.The most fun is pointing out the extraordinary.Imagine that: 1. You are possibly the greatest living TV writer. The jury will not be in of course until you pass off this mortal shell, but the evidence at hand is substantial.2. The year is 2010.3. Among your many past accomplishments is that you have taken a children's show from the BBC archives and given it a worldwide stature that exceeds both Star Trek and Star Wars. That is cool. Like bowties are cool.4. And that is merely your day job. At X-Mas, you get to have extra fun by writing "specials" that fans around the world await.5. Again, the year is 2010. You decide to go for broke and write something which will not only be as good as Dickens but, hey, why not try to improve on the original? 6. Your logic is something like this. Even the BBC executives won't see how ambitious your work is, because the "Christmas Carol" theme has been done to death in movies and TV, and no one ever has come close to the original. So you proceed under cover of stealth. And cynicism.7. And you nail it. A perfect supporting cast that includes no less than Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins.8. And writing to die for. Writing beyond belief. There is a scene where Gambon, realizing that the Doc is playing him, challenges the doctor to "go ahead, show me the future" and the Doc replies, "That is what I am doing" ... pan camera to show that the younger Gambon is already in frame and the dialog with the older one was for the benefit if the younger. So, in effect, the future has already been shown.9. And THAT is just a sample of the writing. The fact that this comes at the end of a Amy/Rory arc -- now considered (2014) to be the best arc in the series EVER -- is merely irony. Piling greatness on greatness.10. Memo to IMDb staff (as if they are EVER going to reply, even if this is being written at X-Mas) -- we need a higher rating than "10."Just for special occasions. Like this one.

This was the first full episode of Doctor Who I watched (I had previously caught bits and pieces and enjoyed it, but last Christmas I sat down and watched this one), and it was a beautiful thing. I love Matt Smith as the Doctor (don't love the series quite as much as with Tennant, but he was helped by a wealth of amazing companions, both in the Tardis and back on Earth), and he is at his best in this episode. When he's allowed to act on his own, without Amy constantly harping on him, he is brilliant.A couple reviews have discussed the unfortunate broken rule of time travel, that you can't go back on your own timeline. Thankfully, they have not repeated this error. Also, upon discussing it with some other fans, we decided that this episode shows what happens when you DO violate that rule. Kazran, even after what should have been a happier adolescence, still ends up bitter, unhappy, and basically exactly the same as he started. Going back on your own timeline doesn't work - it wasn't until the Doctor helped him in the present that he became happier.Either way, it is a beautiful, poignant story, with Matt Smith at his best.

I know Doctor Who is made in Wales. I know that Katherine Jenkins is Welsh. I know she is very pretty. I also know that she has a wonderful singing voice.Now we have the things in her favour established let's us talk about her acting ability. She has none, I honestly thought this was the most wooden and forced attempt at acting that I've seen in a long time. Evenby their latest standards I actually had to wondered who the hell it was as I couldn't imaging them picking such a bad actress unless she was someone famous. Please BBC, find better talent or don't bother.I could go on and on about this but I would only be filling up line after line of text just to get to the ten line limit, I could never be so shallow as to do that and therefore I won't go on and on.4/10

Highly entertaining and perfectly fitting for Christmas.Takes an old tale and masterfully reinvents it, meshing it seamlessly with the Doctor Who look and feel. Where many try to simply shift the story into a new setting, and by so doing botch the underlying message of the tale or make it so blatantly obvious as to strip it of all of its poetry, the Doctor Who team have managed to make it entirely their own while keeping its simple elegance.This once again reaffirms my belief that Doctor Who is one of the best series on television in quite some time, even after having watched now for five years, each new episode continues to be new and refreshing.One comment on the music ... beautifully executed, and magnificently sung by Katherine Jenkins ... did anyone else get the impression that "Abigail's Song" was strongly influenced by Philip Glass' "Open the Kingdom"?