The Night Before Christmas

This is a nostalgic cartoon short from Walt Disney, bringing back memories of my childhood.

This short features Santa Claus sneaking into a house full of little sleeping children and begins to work by decorating the Christmas tree, using the toys he brought to life from his bag. He then fills the little children's stockings with gifts and leaves right before the children awaken and run downstairs.

As with anything Walt Disney, this cartoon is filled with magic and wonders. Add in the spirit of Christmas, the peacefulness of a starry and snowy night and the innocence of little children, this is one of the most beloved and adorable cartoon shorts.

The animation is great for a picture made in 1933 and the sound and singing are beautiful, perfect for this short. Just the part of the live toys decorating a once bare Christmas tree makes you believe in miracles.

Grade A

The Night Before Christmas, could easily be looked at as a "sequel" to another Christmas Silly Symphony: Santa's Workshop. You will see a lot of the same toys and the same style Santa in both shorts. Both shorts are filled with comical gags and jokes. Although 50+ years before my time, I could imagine this idea of Santa and Christmas Eve was exactly what people thought of in the 1930s.

Look for some Mickey Mouse toy placements! Even back in the 1930's, hidden Mickeys were a thing!

While the cartoon does have a dated feel to it in spots, the animation is excellent (a Disney strength during the 1930s) and it still largely works for the most part, although probably not as well for the age group raised on jump-cut, fast-pace edits and Matrix style special effects. Well worth watching. Recommended.

'Twas THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and Santa arrives at a home with nine little children. Quickly he sets up a Christmas tree and takes a few moments to enjoy the toys' tiny celebration upon the placing of the star. But now the noise has awakened the children...

This follow-up to SANTA'S WORKSHOP (1932) is a very enjoyable cartoon. As in its predecessor, the March of the Toys is both colorful & fun to watch - although the playthings coming out of the bag are completely different from those we previously saw marching into it. (Notice the Mickey Mouse toy which Disney cannily included.) Query: do bad little kiddies live in all the many houses which Santa flies past & ignores?

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

The Night Before Christmas is a sweet Silly Symphony based on the humorous, charming poem that has amused my family for as long as I can remember. True, some of the animation is a bit dated, but that is forgivable as it was made in 1933. We still have the Santa we know and love from Santa's Workshop, which is really delightful. I loved the soundtrack, and the toys even do a toy march before decorating the room. Seeing those children enjoying themselves with those toys, especially that sweet baby, brought tears of joy into my eyes. it actually reminded me of a Mickey Mouse cartoon called Mickey's Good Deed, where Mickey sacrifices his Christmas to make it enjoyable for a poor family, it is a forgotten treasure that broke my heart. Anyway, back to Night Before Christmas, I also liked the song at the beginning, and refrains at the end. Overall, delightful! 9/10 Bethany Cox.