But his family, and especially the wife, hates his guts, but love him later after the money flows. Granted Scrooge is a dick but at the same time the story really points out that people like you more if you are free with your money.
I think it depends on the presentation of the story. The first sound film version, in 1935, was very Christian in tone. “Bob” is as important a character as “Scrooge.” “Marley” is not a horror, but a spirit invisible to all but Scrooge, come to bring him back from the brink. The most touching scene is Bob grieving over the dead body of Tiny Tim, who is laid out in the bedroom of his house. One would have to have a heart of stone no to be moved by it. It, more than his own doom, moves Scrooge to repentance, and, unpon waking the next day, to sheer joy at being alive. For Scrooge was dead but is now alive again.