Mickey : La Magie de Noël

This movie wasn't awful by any means but it was pretty boring. The main problem I have with this movie was that there's really no story whatsoever, it's just a bunch of shorts linked together. Whoever decided to make this was really lazy and he/she put little effort into the film.

I have no idea what this was supposed to be, but the end result was atrocious. It certainly seems to fit in nicely with the current Disney run of "cheapquels" being cranked out at furious pace to squeeze a few more dollars out of their "properties", quality be damned. Certainly whoever produced this misaligned heap of bouncing blobs set to jarring and annoying music was hired by ghouls in suits or possibly accountants to do a dirty job, and no love went into it whatsoever.

The direct-to-video animation is clumsy, the characters are ghastly and vague impersonations of themselves; worse, the storyline is retarded, so much that even my 5-year-old nephew (who made me watch this awful thing) could see that it was dumb and didn't "feel" like any of the classics. The characters all have the same personality of ill-defined bouncing blobs without motivation, and the "story" couldn't have taken more than a few minutes to work out. Indeed, this thing has all the sincerity of a street hustler and all the charm of a corporate powerpoint presentation.

The music was apparently provided by a handful of lounge entertainment dinosaurs armed with cheap Casio synths.

First off, I thought all the animated shorts they played throughout this movie were great. 'Mickey's Christmas Carol' is one of my childhood favorites. 'Pluto's Christmas Tree' is another oldie and goodie. The two new cartoons were great too. It was pretty funny to see Donald being chased by an ice crack of all things in 'Donald on Ice.' And Disney's new rendition of 'The Nutcracker' was quite original and funny, especially with Donald playing the Mouse King (as you can tell, Donald is my favorite cartoon character).

It's the in-between part that's a little dicey. I'm a relatively new fan of the 'House of Mouse' series on Disney Channel, but truth be told, I was a little disappointed by this special. I could tell that many of the scenes were just taken from previous episodes.

Also, while I find most of the episodes to be pretty clever and funny, this one just seemed to be lacking some comedic pep. Maybe this was done to concentrate more on Christmas sentiment. However, I will say I was pleasantly surprised by the last musical number. I thought it would be pretty corny and sappy, but it turned out to have the right amount of heart, and it made me laugh when the villains participated.

So while it's not necessarily a Christmas classic, there are some moments throughout the movie I think you'll definitely enjoy.

My IMDb Rating: 7/10. My Yahoo! Grade: B (Good)

Before I rip this thing apart, let me clarify that I do NOT, as many have accused, hate the Disney Company. It's just that they're kind of like what a real-life Godzilla would be like. WAY too big and often making mistakes that shouldn't ever been allowed to happen. This video is one of them.

I got a little disillusioned with the Mouse when their direct-to-video-sequel thing started. They're rumored to have about eight more planned for the next few years. At some point, I guess, somebody decided it would be funny to have EVERY Disney character ever in one movie. And so we have... this THING. This monstrous THING!!!

If the "Snookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show" couldn't do it for you; if the ZOOG things that stole the Disney Channel couldn't do it for you; heck, if you are *looking forward* to "Back to Neverland"; then this will break you into a weeping blob of protoplasm faster than you can blink. This here is the magic bullet for any Disney detractor. You Disney fans finally know what we Looney Tunes fans went through with "Space Jam".

The only saving grace is that for some reason, some wise fellow decided to use "Pluto's Christmas Tree" and "Mickey's Christmas Carol", in their entirety, to pad out this video. Fast-forward to those parts and only watch them if you are forced to sit through this.

Okay...so I'm a Disney fan.

This is a great holiday movie with a touching lesson. (that may be a bit overused in holiday movies. Christmas is all about friends and family)

I have to admit, the whole reused segments and in between animation is kind of boring, but they are classic tales from Disney and the in betweeners are fun to watch! It's not everyday you watch movies with loveable characters side-by-side. I think it's great that the other characters are able to chat with each other and take a break from their movie lives. It's just like actors and actresses getting together at a club and watching other performances for a change.

The classic tales retold with that Disney magic is great and the classic features mix well with the newly animated (though not the best animation) shorts.But...

What are you other people talking about??? You obviously haven't seen the Saturday morning show, HOUSE OF MOUSE, which the movie is based on!!!! Watch the show and you'll understand why all the characters are there and why cartoon shorts are shown! Mickey and Donald run a CARTOON club! Of course there will be cartoons shown!

With that said...this was okay for a Disney movie. It wasn't the Disney company's best holiday movie(Once upon a Christmas was much better!!), but they seem to be running out of material. I mean- Cinderella II, Hunchback II, Lady and the Tramp II, etc., coming soon- Dumbo II, Mulan II, 101 Dalmations II: Patch's adventure[or something like that], Tarzan and Jane...okay, it's weird I know all this stuff...Disney is running low on their magic.

Anyway, to sum it up...Magical Christmas was great and shouldn't be shunned so much by people who probably think Anastasia was Disney movie(believe me, most people think it is)