I laughed at scrooge when I was young, and I laughed at the Disney version. Scrooge is meant to be laughed at to be a more acceptable miser. After all, look at all the jokes about misers in every culture. For instance, he stuck a quarter between his butt cheeks and got 2 dimes and a nickel. It is a way for you to like scrooge in the end after he has changed instead of still thinking he is such a horrible person.