This movie is definitely not for the kids. There is no vulgar language, but some scenes are too scary for kids; enough so that I was surprised that it wasn't PG-13. With that said, I don't believe that you can tell the story accurately without the scary moments intended to compel Scrooge's reform.
The interpretation of the story was excellent, apart from the occasional deviation from a realistic telling of the story for a few cartoonish moments, which were minimal. The animators did a great job keeping the facial expressions of the characters from going flat (common with animations that are meant to look more like live action).
Over all this was a very well executed movie, from directing, to voiceovers, to animation, to story telling.