Mickys Weihnachtserzählung (Short 1983)

Mickys Weihnachtserzählung: Directed by Burny Mattinson. With Alan Young, Wayne Allwine, Hal Smith, Will Ryan. The classic Disney animated characters play the roles in this animated retelling of the Charles Dickens masterpiece.

“Over a quarter of a century before a motion-capture Jim Carey muttered u0026quot;Bah Humbugu0026quot; for the house that Walt built, Mickey and numerous classic characters from the Disney stable got dolled in their best Victorian attire for an adaptation of Charles Dickensu0026#39; classic Yuletide tale: u0026quot;Mickeyu0026#39;s Christmas Carolu0026quot;. A sort of cartoon costume drama, Mickey plays the underpaid Bob Cratchitt to Scrooge McDucku0026#39;s Ebeneezer Scrooge (what clichéd yet inspired casting!). The usual chain of events follows, complete with a whole range of Disney characters from Donald Duck to Jiminy Cricket playing the roles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis featurette is by all means a charming holiday piece that can appeal to young and old alike. The animation and art direction, although relatively unspectacular given its unambitious nature, are quite stellar considering the fact that the animators working on this special, the future creators of u0026quot;The Little Mermaidu0026quot; et al, were essentially newcomers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat is not to say u0026quot;Mickeyu0026#39;s Christmas Carolu0026quot; is without fault. One slight issue is that the film does not seem to always know whether it wants to be a fun piece of nostalgia or a genuinely involving and inspiring adaptation, and it does become a u0026quot;Whereu0026#39;s Waldou0026quot; of Disney characters at times. This can be charming, but equally, some of the castings do seem a bit off; I canu0026#39;t help but think Goofy ended up in the role of Jacob Marley simply due to the fact that they felt that he needed a part. Also, at only around 25 minutes, the story progression does seem a bit hurried. The concept may have been a bit stretched as a feature film, but between five and ten minutes extra on the running time would have fleshed some of the rushed flashback scenes out.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, this gets a recommendation, either as a fun Disney Christmas special or as an introduction to Dickens for children.”