# Encode output.
# Use the encoding that's appropriate for you.
binmode STDOUT, ':encoding(UTF-8)';

my $lines;
{
   # Decode input.
   open my $log_fh, "<:encoding(UCS-2)", $file
      or die($!);
   local $/ = undef;
   $lines = <LOGFILE>;
}

print "...\n", $lines, "...\n";

##</code><code>##

$ perl -e'open $fh, "<:encoding(UCS-2le)", \"\x00\xD8"; <$fh>'
UCS-2LE:no surrogates allowed d800 at -e line 1.