Le Noël de Mickey

Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) is a miserly greedy duck. His clerk Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse) is overworked and underpaid. His nephew Fred (Donald Duck) invites him to Christmas dinner. He is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley (Goofy) who tells him about the approaching 3 spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket) shows him the past and the origins of his miserable ways when he foreclose on Isabelle (Daisy Duck) for being an hour late rather than marrying her. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) shows him the hardship faced by Bob Cratchit and his family. Then the Ghost of Christmas Future shows him the funeral of little Tiny Tim.

For such a short running time, this is a well made version of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'. It is snappy and quick. It's the essential highlights. It doesn't add anything new but it's done with great sincerity. It's a nice distillation of the original material that the kids will be able to follow.

After seeing the impressing TV movie A Christmas Carol from Clive Donner with George C. Scott as Scrooge I wish Disney made their version into a full classic. With today's DTV releases there's a market for it. Because this version is so wonderful, Scrooge McDuck is Ebenezer Scrooge and Mickey makes a fine Bob Cratchit. The spirits are good chooses casting Willie the Giant as Ghost of Christmas Present, Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket) and Pete as Ghost of Christmas Future

With animation by people as Mark Henn, Glen Keane, Randy Cartwright. It's my opinion that this short deserves a remake into a full DTV sequel.

This short film holds a special place in my heart as I remember watching it every Christmas on ABC. Then my parents bought the movie, and we would play it every year while we were decorating the Christmas tree.

Now, I get to watch it again on the 'Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse' DVD, and it's as good as ever! The use of classic and obscure Disney characters in this timeless Charles Dickens story is fantastic! Major characters like Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Jiminy Cricket fit in nicely to their roles, as does the rare characters (Scrooge McDuck, Pegleg Pete, The Giant, and the cast of Mr. Toad).

For Disney fans, animation fans, and Christmas fans, this movie is a great addition to your collection. For me this is truly a magnificent Christmas classic, and will be a favorite of mine for years and years to come!

My IMDb Rating: 9/10. My Yahoo! Grade: A (Outstanding)

Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

**** (out of 4)

Disney kept Mickey Mouse off the big screen for nearly three decades but they certainly picked the right story to bring him back in. This wonderful adaptation of the classic story has Mickey playing Bob Cratchit, the poor worker whose boss Scrooge is about to get a lesson on treating people the right way. In my opinion this is Disney greatest moment and also one of the greatest shorts ever made. Even though the film only runs 20-minutes, there's enough heart and spirit to carry a dozen feature films. I've loved this movie since first seeing it as a child and I'm pretty sure I could watch this once a day and not tire of it. What amazes me most and always has is that the animators got all the right characters in the story being played by the right Disney character. Goofy as Marley, Willie the Giant and Jiminy Cricket as a couple of the ghosts, Donald Duck as the nephew and of course Mickey and Minnie. The entire story is a very familiar one but it's given so much life by these Disney characters that one really could argue that this is the very best version of the story, which has had several good adaptations over the past hundred years. I loved all the animation, the music and of course the ending is incredibly touching and funny.

In this Disney short film adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, the role of Ebenezer Scrooge is played by none other than Scrooge McDuck. Makes sense, really. The film is only 26 minutes long, but yet it manages to pack in all the essentials elements of a Christmas Carol, as well as a lot of good humour, touching drama and excellent Christmas spirit. Frankly it amazes me that they manage to juggle all these differing elements so skilfully. The film can go from joyous joke cracking to an honestly scary moment and from there straight to plucking your heartstrings.

The voice acting and animation are both superb Disney quality. The film is colourful and has aged barely any at all. It's also rather interesting to see Scrooge and Mickey, playing the role of Bob Cratchit, sharing a screen together. All in all the film is called Mickey's Christmas Carol and the character cast leans more towards Mickey and his supporting characters. They probably went with Scrooge because, well, he's named after the original character. There's really no other possible choice.

When a film works, it just works. This film isn't very long, but what it lacks in runtime, it more than makes up in charm, heart and sheer quality. Easily recommended.